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  1. #1
    Members aquaarche's Avatar
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    I need suggestion

    Hey everyone,

    My Aguaponic green house project got postponed but I am doing a smaller one using Barrelponics from Travis H.

    anyway my plants seem to be lacking iron. what is a simple, quick and easy fix. here in Palawan Philippines there are no chelated Iron fertilizer or supplement.

    any suggestions for natural methods of adding iron to the grow beds or fish tank to help improve the iron content for the plants?

    Chette

  2. #2
    Moderator jackalope's Avatar
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    Re: I need suggestion

    Quote Originally Posted by aquaarche
    Hey everyone,

    My Aguaponic green house project got postponed but I am doing a smaller one using Barrelponics from Travis H.

    anyway my plants seem to be lacking iron. what is a simple, quick and easy fix. here in Palawan Philippines there are no chelated Iron fertilizer or supplement.

    any suggestions for natural methods of adding iron to the grow beds or fish tank to help improve the iron content for the plants?

    Chette
    I think a while back that badflash suggested good, old-fashioned rust! I'm not sure if he was kidding or not, everything perked up so I didn't try it, but you might PM him if you get no other responses
    I use the Linux Operating System ...... Free as in beer!
    You're never too old to learn something
    Aquaponics - food'n'fish at your doorstep

    Helena, Montana - Home of the Northernmost Monument to the Confederacy

  3. #3
    Moderator badflash's Avatar
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    Re: I need suggestion

    Bloodmeal is a good source of organic iron. Use sparingly. Add a little each day rather than a lot all at once, otherwise it will foul the water.
    The best fertilizer is the farmer's shadow

  4. #4
    Members aquaarche's Avatar
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    Re: I need suggestion

    there is no blood meal here in the Philippines.
    what is blood meal?
    how can I make it?

  5. #5
    Moderator jackalope's Avatar
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    Re: I need suggestion

    Quote Originally Posted by aquaarche
    there is no blood meal here in the Philippines.
    what is blood meal?
    how can I make it?
    I don't know if you have WalMart Stores in the Phillippines, but I found this on a Gardening website here, if it will help:
    Blood meal is indeed a good high-nitrogen additive for gardens. You can use it to speed up decomposition as it is about 12% nitrogen, which is the highest nitrogen content you will find in an organic amendment.

    I used it the first two years in preparing beds in my vegetable garden. I used it sparingly--at about half the recommended rate as I didn't want to take any chances on having too much nitrogen in the soil.

    You can usually find it at nurseries and at big box stores like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc. It is usually with other amendments like bone meal, cottonseed meal, etc. Sometimes it is in boxes, sometimes in bags. Sometimes Wal-Mart has it on the same row as their chemical fertilizers like Peters, Miracle Grow, etc. It comes in fairly small sizes like maybe 3 or 4 lbs. I have never seen it in a really large bag.

    You can overuse it, so follow the label directions carefully. Young plants are very easily 'burnt' and blood meal that is overused will burn them quickly.

    Also, if you have dogs....or if your compost pile or garden beds are accessible to dogs.....the smell of blood meal (and bone meal as well) will attract dogs and they will dig around trying to find it. I mean they will dig and dig and dig some more.

    Also, I usually have vultures circling overhead within a hour or so of putting out blood meal. The first time this happened, I didn't know why the vultures were there and I kept looking around the area for a dead or dying animal. On the second day, when applying blood meal to another garden row, the vultures came back and I made the connection. Sure enough, any time I use the blood meal I have vultures flying around forever. Of course, I am in a very rural area and have lots of vultures around anyway.

    As a bonus, blood meal somewhat repels deer and rabbits.
    This is from Wikipaedia:

    Blood meal is dried, powdered blood used as a high-nitrogen fertilizer. It is one of the highest non-synthetic sources of nitrogen and if over-applied it can burn plants with excessive ammonia. Blood meal is completely soluble and can be mixed with water to be used as a liquid fertilizer. It usually comes from cattle as a slaughterhouse by-product. It can be spread on gardens to deter animals such as rabbits,[1][2] or as a composting activator. It may also be used as an animal food supplement.[3]

    Blood meal, bone meal, and other animal by-products are permitted in certified organic production as soil amendments, though they cannot be fed to organic livestock. In the United States, fear of BSE (mad cow disease) and the related Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease prompted Demeter International, which certifies biodynamic farms, to fully prohibit use of bone meal and blood meal, since these could be routes of infection for BSE.

    Blood meal is different from bone meal in that blood meal contains a much higher amount of nitrogen, while bone meal contains phosphorus.

    Nitrogen is more typically missing from soils than the other elements provided by most fertilizers (phosphorus and potassium). Plants grown in soil lacking proper amounts of nitrogen will yellow from the leaves down due to nitrogen deficiency. Applying blood meal will help plants become green again.
    From what the Wiki says, I wouldn't be using it in my aquaponics system, although, I would probably use it on my square foot garden

    Hope this helps!

    Jackalope
    I use the Linux Operating System ...... Free as in beer!
    You're never too old to learn something
    Aquaponics - food'n'fish at your doorstep

    Helena, Montana - Home of the Northernmost Monument to the Confederacy

  6. #6
    Members aquaarche's Avatar
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    Re: I need suggestion

    In the Barrelponic system I put a small handful of 2 inch nails under the down spout in the grow bed. this allows teh water to carry iron salts off the nails into the bed and saturate the water with iron. it seems to be working.

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