GRRRRRR!!!!! I put bone meal around my Clematis, working it in to about 3 or 4" on Friday. Just went outside to mow and noticed Honey(my dog) behind the roses with her nose to the ground next to the fence where Will Goodwin is. She had to go through some pretty thick roses to get back there. Worried she'd step on him and break him, I went to get her out. Well, she's diggin right around the plant!!!!!! I let out a Sharp "NO"!!!!!! She's not a digger, so I went around the garden and she's been diggin around all the Clematis!! The only thing I can think of is the Bone Meal sinse I've never used it before Friday. So now what????? Do I need to dig all the bone meal treated dirt and replace or do you think if I mix enough dirt with it to delute the smell? After I finished mowing I was gonna put more dirt around them anyway to build the soil line up.
Anyone else have this trouble with their dogs??
Debbie
Bone Meal and Dogs=Digging
I have trouble with my cats and bone meal (as well as blood meal and fish fertilizer). I just keep them away from the area for a couple of days. I water the treated areas really well and I turn the bone meal into the soil with my rake/hoe. I hope this helps!
LD :)
LD, that's just it, I worked it into the top 3 or 4" and I think it's the watering that got her. I have the box of bone meal in the house, on the floor and she hasn't touched it. For the most part, she lives in the house. She's in the house while I'm at work, so she's had 4 days and hasn't touched the box in the house. Water must activate the smell that attracts her.
BTW, is there a place to put an automatic signature so you don't have to type your name every post?
Debbie
Debbie,
I like to give my roses a fish skin or head whenever I am cooking with some.
My greyhound will dig the fish head out of the dirt and take it and lay it on the ground. She doesn't even want to eat it. Both my dogs will dig and eat organic fertilizer (you know, the one that smells like poo?)
I found that putting the dyed red mulch down over the top of these additives (fish, bone, blood meal etc) masks the odor enough so the animal can't detect it there any more.
Nope, I don't know what's in that red mulch, but I do know it decomposes within 6 months and helps to enrich the soil. It also helps to maintain coolness and moisture beneath in these hot summer temps and this mulch doesn't stick together to form a crusty barrier against water like the cypress does.
Probably a bit more than you wanted to know.
I go now.
Molly,
P.S. Don't think we have a signature thing here at Daves.
Hey Molly, thanks for the info. I have some of that mulch and I'll try it on 1 plant to see if she finds it. She had dug to where you could see the roots on every single Clematis I had. I removed all the dirt that was mixed with bone meal and replaced with new. But I'll give the red mulch a shot on 1 of em.
Debbie
I think my dogs can smell Bonemeal a mile away. I think it's poison for the animals. They'll dig everywhere I put Bonemeal even in potted plants.