HOW TO USE FRESH FISH GUTS IN THE VEGGIE PATCH...

I have access to and abundance of FRESH FISH GUTS, as we have fishermen in my neighborhood. I've been reading about fish emulsion, and since this bounty would be FREE, I'd like to know how I might incorporate it into my veggie garden.

I was thinking I need to buy a used blender, and just blend it all up into a slurry that I could pour around the seedlings and plants.

LMK.

Thanks!

Linda

Linda, I've heard of native Indians putting fish into their planting holes, and somehow I doubt they had blenders (giggle)

I've never had access to fresh fish guts, but if I did, I would either dig some holes, or a trench, and put the fishy stuff down deep enough that the smell would not attract neighborhood cats or wildlife.

Gymgirl; I have fished for years. Ya bury the guts between rows in growing season any where in the off season Go deep I use a trench spade 16 in You don"t need to go that deep but don't go shallow. do mark or remember where you buried them. you don't want to uncover them for a time. I don't know about down there(weather-worms) but up here it takes about a month for the worms to finish. Great stuff, I don't grind or mess with it (yuck) but I love fish and fishing . I wouldn't make a slurry to pour on the ground . It would gag a maggot in a day or two.

Curt:-)

Linda; A container girl are you. I would skip the fish.

Our neighbors used to just throw the fish heads and guts in the beds....not a pretty sight or smell, but it worked!

Putting it on or near the top of the soil would beckon every local fly, cat, and dog (and in my case, coyote). I'm thinking the stuff needs to be buried.

Frank

It attracts coons, possums, skunks, and buzzards, etc.. There was just a thread about this recently but I don't know where. You have to bury them deep enough that nothing can smell them and dig them up.

Our dogs tried to get through the fence to get it. It was gross! LOL

Ok. This thread is officially closed. No fish guts in the yard. Hmmm I guess the DH was right after all....

Linda - I just noticed this thread and I'd like to re-open it for a comment.

I fish a LOT, that's my other main hobby besides gardening. I've even built a permanent campground-style fish cleaning table in my side yard. It has running water, a sink, a cutting board, a metal slide leading to a gut bucket, overhead lights, and multiple plug-ins for electric knives.

I've been building up the soil in my 35' x 50' vegetable garden for years, and I've done it with compost largely composed of fish parts. Trouble is, that has to be done on a scale that may not be practical for you.

I have three 10' x 10' compost bins made of oak pallets, and each of them will hold a compost pile about 5' deep. I compost grass clippings, chopped oak leaves, cornstalks and such, and fish parts - and that makes really, really good black compost to add to the garden.

When I clean a bunch of fish and have a bucket full of heads and guts, I lift up a big scoop of compost with a tractor and front end loader, dump the fish parts in the hole, and drop the compost back on top. That buries the fish about 3' deep in the compost pile, and if I don't do that neighbor dogs and all kinds of critters will get into them up and make a real mess.

The fish parts break down quickly, and I turn the compost piles often with the tractor bucket. If I had to do all this with a shovel, I don't think I'd do it. The only other downside - don't walk barefoot in my garden, there's lots of catfish spikes in the soil and they're still sharp. lol

Ozark,
Thanks for the feedback, but you're right -- I'd have to do that with a shovel! It's all I can do to move my 5 x 5 pile around with a pitchfork every once in awhile!

But, I KNEW there was some benefit to using those guts. After all, anything that was once alive can be composted into something beneficial!

thanks!

Now that's MAXIMUM benefit to the soil!!!

OK, since we're on this subject here's a horrible, horrible thought I've had for years and never shared with anybody.

Around here, and all through the eastern U.S. where it gets cold, our trees get a lot of "fall color". People even come to the Ozarks in October to see the pretty trees, and our weathermen try to predict the first frost and figure out when the trees will be brightest. Oaks turn brown, hickories turn yellow, and the maples turn red.

I've noticed that the maple trees that turn the brightest red are always in cemeteries. Thinking about how gardeners change the color of hydrangea and other blooms by pouring vinegar on the soil, I have a theory about why those cemetery maples turn so red. Embalming fluid.

And there's your happy thought for the day.

I just found this thread, I compost and as far as fish non edible parts i place them in my composter but I add grass clippings to cover because it will become smelly. Take advantage of the fish because it will be good fertilizer for your flowers and veggies. Belle

We have a three-acre pond on our property, and since my husband bought a filleting knife (another of the many tools he bought because they were cool, without any intention of ever using them!), I'm wanting to fish and it never occurred to me to use the guts for compost. We don't have a compost pile as yet. I wonder if the pile would need to be well established before adding fish guts to the center of the pile. I don't imagine we'll have a ton, and we do have dogs and coyotes are nearby, but it's a really interesting idea!

Eileen

Hi--Just saw this thread about composting fish "parts" (e.g., guts) and just wanted to mention that the Bokashi method should work well with these. I use Bokashi with all my leftover meat and fish food scraps (as well as vegetative scraps). Since it's an anerobic method, you always keep the top of the compost pail tightly covered--probably a very good idea with fish guts! LOL When the Bokashi compost is fully "finished" after a few weeks you bury the results in your flower or veggie beds for the worms to finish off the process.

I had nor heard of bokashi methods of composting but my procedure is about the same. I compost everything, meats, veg etc etc from the freezer and in spring I dump the compost on my beds. my last lasagna bed is mostly compost and had thousands of earthworms for my kois. they love it and saves me a lo of $$$ to buy worms as an occasional treat. Belle

Thanks, guys! My sister's name is Belle!