Bone Meal / Stone Meal Etc

[lingling]

Has anyone used bone meal or stone meal for soil improvement here, what were the results, where do you get it, price etc etc?

[chownah]

Bone meal is not used alot in gardening in Thailand because people use bones to make soup. My wife says that the only thing from a pig that doesn't get sold is the sh1t and the hair....people buy everything else. My wife says that the bones cost 40 baht for one kilo.....she says if you wanted to buy alot of them you might be able to get them for 30 baht per kilo but she doesn't know for sure.

Bonemeal is great stuff and I used it regularly in the US. It is available in two grades...raw and steamed. The raw is just dried and then ground...it even smells a bit like bone. If you used that here I think the bugs would eat it so they might remove some of it from your garden...I don't know for sure as I've never used it here. The steamed means that the bones are steamed (obviously) which removes the fat content and sort of cooks the bone...then they are ground to a fairly fine consisstency. Steamed bone meal is higher percentage wise in nutrients than raw mostly because the fat has been removed and in the States it costs more too. Steamed bone meal is fast acting since its already cooked and ground fairly fine. I don't think the bugs would recongnize it as food as easily as the raw but I don't know since I've never used it here.

Bone meal is high in phosphorus and is excellent for use with flowers (especially bulbs) and any vegetable that must flower to produce the edible portion like cucumbers, beans (especially green beans aka haricots), tomatoes, eggplant, etc.

Bone meal is excellent stuff and can produce some spectacular results.

Chownah

P.S. I've never used ground rock and have heard mixed reviws on its value...ground rock phosphate is supposed to be pretty good stuff but I have no direct experience with it. If anyone should find a supplier for rock phosphate in Thailand I would certainly like to find out about it.

Chownah