Bloodmeal

[Eleven11]

Okay, so adding bloodmeal to your system raises iron levels and also nitrogen.

I bought the Miracle Gro Organic Choice

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R ... reId=10051 (http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100583722/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=bloodmeal&storeId=10051)

It has 12% nitrogen which I could use about now. The problem is.... it is insoluble.

I added about a tablespoon to each grow bed near the water inlet and buried it about an inch down. I guess the nitrifying microbes will break it down and make it available to the plants?

It doesn't mention iron on the label but I imagine that since it is bloodmeal that it's a given that it contains iron.

[davidstcldfl]

I was wondering the same 11:11....? I just used the same stuff last week, when I was helping at Sahib's research farm. Also added a little organic bone meal too.
Like you, I added some to the grow beds. On the systems with just rafts....I added it to the top of the bio-filters.

[Eleven11]

Today's water tests are very interesting.... I have attached a pic.

The ammonia is up slightly but is normally zero.

The nitrites are close to what I see normally.

The nitrates are MUCH higher than normal. I was usually seeing 10 ppm but today it looks like at least 80ppm plus.

Not bad for insoluble nitrogen that was just added about 18 hours earlier.

System stats:
250 gallon fish tank
(10) large tilapia poop machines
(2) 5 inch Koi mini poopers
(5) 45 gallon (flood and drain) grow beds each populated with various veggie plants

[attachment=0:2dv6aomo]2.14.12 Water Tests.JPG[/attachment:2dv6aomo]

[urbanfarmer]

If it's insoluble how would plants get it in soil?

"AHA!", exclaimed the wise man. "It must be those little tiny invisible critters everyone keeps talking about!", he explained in delight.

[Eleven11]

Right, the only thing that makes sense is that the microbes have to process it first.

[Eleven11]

A slightly better quality picture of today's water tests.
[attachment=3:2ee6mlau]2.15.12 Water tests.JPG[/attachment:2ee6mlau]

Not much different than yesterday.

Here's a pic of the radishes and broccoli. Seeds planted Christmas day.

[attachment=2:2ee6mlau]2.14.12 Bed1.JPG[/attachment:2ee6mlau]

[attachment=1:2ee6mlau]2.14.12 Bed1.2.JPG[/attachment:2ee6mlau]

Here's a pic of the Swiss Chard which was planted Christmas also.

[attachment=0:2ee6mlau]2.14.12 Bed2.JPG[/attachment:2ee6mlau]

[Eleven11]

The plants seem to be doing much better with the addition of the bloodmeal. The slow growing plants like the peppers, cilantro, and tomatoes have perked up and the pale plants like the salvia are greening up now.

Here's a pic of today's water tests. The nitrate level is coming down so I think I'll add a little more bloodmeal.

[attachment=0:1bm7p9ks]2.16.12 Water Tests.JPG[/attachment:1bm7p9ks]

[Eleven11]

Captain's log.....

Today's water tests.... I added another teaspoon of Bloodmeal to each grow bed yesterday after seeing that the nitrate level was going down and ammonia and nitrites were ok. I was expecting higher nitrates today but instead the nitrites came up. I guess I'll go easy on the fish food for today.

[attachment=1:3tt350rq]2.17.12 Water Tests.JPG[/attachment:3tt350rq]

Nitrite test 2 a few hours later....

[attachment=0:3tt350rq]2.17.12 Nitrite at 12pm.JPG[/attachment:3tt350rq]

[Eleven11]

It amazes me that the plants are consuming the nitrates so quickly.

[attachment=0:2hf158qb]2.18.12 Water tests.JPG[/attachment:2hf158qb]

[urbanfarmer]

"Is it the plants?", asked the tinkerer perplexed by the ancient water.

"It must be those little tiny invisible critters everyone keeps talking about!", he realized in amazement.

:mrgreen:

[Eleven11]

Yep, amazing growth spurt after using this stuff. Looks like the last dosing is winding down again though.

[attachment=0:27oq4k56]2.20.12 Water tests.JPG[/attachment:27oq4k56]

[Eleven11]

Captain's Log... 2.27.12

It would be interesting to compare the growth with and without bloodmeal but here are the results I've had "with".

This is from February 14:
[attachment=4:11fe54dw]2.14.12 Bed3.JPG[/attachment:11fe54dw]

This is the same bed today.... February 27:
[attachment=3:11fe54dw]2.27.12 Growbed 3.1.JPG[/attachment:11fe54dw]

Update March 1 after tasting some of the different types of lettuce... very tasty
[attachment=2:11fe54dw]3.1.12 bed 3.JPG[/attachment:11fe54dw]

Update March 4
[attachment=1:11fe54dw]3.4.12 Grow Bed 3.JPG[/attachment:11fe54dw]

Update March 10 - I've been harvesting from this bed, otherwise it would be fuller looking. Also, some of the tomato plants were pulled because they were malformed with no new growth.
[attachment=0:11fe54dw]3.10.12 Grow Bed 3.JPG[/attachment:11fe54dw]

[urbanfarmer]

Your plants have more color than you. I'd say they're doing alright! :-)

[davidstcldfl]

Your plants have more color than you.
It's not nice to make fun of those poor yankees.... :D

[Eleven11]

So how did your blood meal experiment go David?

I'm planning on holding off on supplements for now and see how it goes. All the plants are looking healthy as hell now. The peppers and cucumbers are still slow growing but have nice color.... yep way more color than me 8-)



Your plants have more color than you.
It's not nice to make fun of those poor yankees.... :D

[davidstcldfl]

So how did your blood meal experiment go David?

Not as dramatic as yours.... :D
The systems I added to are mature systems and pretty large in volume of water ( a few thousand gallons). I only added a 1/2 to 1 cup in each, depending on the gallons.

[Eleven11]

The only other thing I did was add the iron chelate which was about a teaspoon to each grow bed and a bit of hardwood ash which I added on the 11th or 12th I think.

You can see that the nitrogen readings went back to being low after the initial spike and remained low. I would have added more blood meal but I was waiting for the nitrite level to return to blue but it still hasn't returned to blue.

Hopefully the system will be able to sustain itself like this without any supplements. I'll see what happens.

Here's a link to the Iron Chelate that I used...

http://www.amazon.com/Grow-More-7451-2- ... B004G1GDK0 (http://www.amazon.com/Grow-More-7451-2-Pound-Organic/dp/B004G1GDK0)

[Eleven11]

I added a small amount of blood meal to half of the line of bell pepper plants and they are now noticeably larger than the other half that didn't get a dose. Instead of just adding the dose under the water spout, I decided to add some right next to the plants that were lagging. I dug down to the water level and sprinkled it there and then moved the grow media back.

I added some more today, to dose the rest of the pepper plants. Here's the Nitrite test of the fish tank water before adding the next dose of bloodmeal today... I'll be checking it again for the next few mornings.
[attachment=1:30m1k5vu]3.10.12 Water test - fish tank 2.JPG[/attachment:30m1k5vu]

Current pix of Bell Pepper Plants... Can you guess which spots the blood meal was previously added? Hint: Not on the right side
[attachment=0:30m1k5vu]3.10.12 Bell Peppers.JPG[/attachment:30m1k5vu]

[Eleven11]

Captain's log 3.11.12...

Today's water tests look good. Nothing to see here... move along... move along

[attachment=0:27ek76a5]3.11.12 Water Test - fish tank.JPG[/attachment:27ek76a5]

[Eleven11]

I added some strawberries to the beds yesterday so I figured I'd sprinkle a few more tablespoons of BM around and wash it into the media with some water. Looks like just a touch of ammonia and nitrite in the fish tank water today.

[attachment=0:3u4goszx]3.12.12 Water test - fish tank.JPG[/attachment:3u4goszx]

[Eleven11]

Well nothing new to report. Today's water tests look great. My conclusion... Blood meal Rulez !

[attachment=0:uvd276a7]3.14.12 Water Tests - fish tank.JPG[/attachment:uvd276a7]

[jared.plowman]

Eleven11 I added over a tbsp to my 40G system!!! My ammonia went up to ~1ppm... I thought I was going to lose my fish. Now everything is good-to-go! Anyways great tracking and thanks for this information, wish I understood/read it a few weeks ago. Have you been able to run the system on just BM? Maxicrop isn't readily available here in Vancouver and I don't really want to spend $20 for it either.

Also I attached a picture of my Kale and Cilantro does this look familier?

Oh one more thing, I am assuming you had an ebb and flow system, did you put the BM where the water could access it or did you just put it on top and allow wind, water additions, etc. move it into the water stream?

[Eleven11]

Did you take a few more tests to see how fast the level went back down?

I only added the BM a few times to my system so never tried to run it on BM alone. Everything has been growing pretty good so I haven't added any more since this last experiment. The peppers are still slow but it's because they are growing in the shadows of the corn and cucumbers which have taken over the place.

I don't see your attached picture.

My system is flood and drain. I added the blood meal right under the water inlet.

[commander]

I too added a bit of bloodmeal to my little blue barrel system to kick start some lettuce I had sprouted. I added mine to the intake side of by swirl bio filter. My thinking was the BM would get trapped by the filter media and the water passing it would leach out the nutrients. The water from the filter goes directly into the grow beds. It seemed to work as the lettuce greened right up and the other plants in the beds took a small growth spurt. I haven't added more as I really want to let the fish do the work as much as possible.

[jared.plowman]

Good call on the pics Eleven11!! I was late and my other half was beckoning me to bed :?

When I added the BM the Ammonia shot up to ~1ppm (I edited this after the first post, I exaggerated) and then the nitrite shot up, within a few days it stabilized. I actually started another thread on the topic because I had no idea what was going on. UrbanFarmer pointed out that insoluble nitrogen breaks down into ammonia. I added a little bit of BM last night and the nitrite and ammonia are still zero, maybe my last "shock" created bigger colonies.

Here are the pictures I mentioned before.

[Eleven11]

Ok, there ya go. You could try adding a bit more each time the nitrite level goes back down close to zero.

Let's see what they look like in about a week.

[jared.plowman]

I tried a little bit yesterday and it didn't effect ammonia or nitrite. I added a bit more to the GBs today. Thanks for all the help, I will let you know how plants do in a week or so! :)

[Eleven11]

You may as well include testing for nitrates as well as ammonia and nitrite.

At first, my nitrates went up big time but the plants adjusted really quick and knocked it right back down and kept it down.

From what I understand.... the blood meal itself is not soluble in water so it has to be broken down by the microbes before any ammonia is released... that will add a delay in your measurements.

[jared.plowman]

Ok so I am at my wits end. I think I might just plant salad greens until my system is matured :( The kale is basically dead, the leaves are becoming necrotic my new spinach sprouts are dying, and the swiss chard is stunted. The tomato plant has brown spots and some of the leaves are necrotic as well. I have been adding little bits of Blood Meal to the system and monitoring the Ammonia and the Nitrites, so far I have recorded no jumps (at all). I have attached some more pictures, does anyone else have any hail marrys? Cheers!

This might be important, but Basil seems to thrive in my system... I looked up the nutrient density of Basil and it seems it doesn't have very much Iron... could that be it? What about the Blood Meal I have been adding. I should look into getting some better Iron Supplement.

One more thing, my fill and drain cycle is very short ~5min drain ~1min fill (depending on the syphons mood) I can't figure out a different cycle time with such a small system, the window is so tiny to get the syphon to work in the first place. Could this be a problem?

Inputs: Banana Peel, Blood Meal, Tropical Fish Food
pH: ~7.4
Nitrite: 0ppm
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: ~30-40ppm

[Eleven11]

Blood meal is suppose to have a good amount of iron in it.

You may need trace minerals. I bought a bottle of trace minerals from Petsmart when I was getting my system up and running. I downloaded a pdf file that UrbanFarmer uploaded, which shows a number of plant maladies and the corresponding mineral deficiency. I can't seem to find it now. Basically though, you'll probably need a broad spectrum trace mineral supplement. The one I used was from SeaChem.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product ... urish.html (http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Flourish.html)

[keith_r]

the only thing i used (or needed) in the early stages of my first system was maxicrop with iron..

[Eleven11]

Maxicrop helped but I still had signs of trace mineral deficiency and slow growth. The bloodmeal sent the growth into maximum overdrive though.