Fresh Fish Compost?

flytier

Well-Known Member
Hey Everybody. I work at a salmon hatchery and we compost our dead fish. Now today I took some of this compost that was done last year and mixed it about half and half with peat moss. My plan is to pot a couple plants to put out by the door when it warms up a bit. I guess I'll get some perlite and/or vermiculite and add it to the mix before planting in it.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has used homemade fish compost for their plants, and if so, is there anything else I should add to the mix to get it ready? Also, would I even need to use any plant food in this rich mix, and would this stuff be too potent for my weed? I'll be growing White Widows in it, if that makes any difference. If there is anything anyone can think of that's not covered in my questions, any and all info would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
Well fish meal is the bomb and I mean literally... it's loaded with nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and calcium. I never used a compost though, so it's very hard for me to say what the numbers are, however while organic matter is composted it usually drops down to low numbers due to bacterial and fungal action. Considering that fish emulsion is usually listed as 4-2-2 or 5-1-1 or 5-2-2 I'd expect something of a 2-0,5-0,5 or maybe 3-1-1. Peat moss on the other hand is something like 2-0,3-0,3, but contains a lot of humic acid which plants love. Now mixing both 50/50 doesn't seem like a good idea, cause cannabis doesn't need that much nitrogen or potassium in veg and it comes both from the lab as well as personal experience. I'd play it safely to have a perfectly balanced medium, so I'd cut it like that: 80% of peat moss, 10% of perlite, 10% fish compost with a little bit of oyster powder, powdered egg shells, lithothamnium or another source of calcium/magnesium on the top :thumb:
 
Thanks for the info; I thought it would probably be too rich for cannabis. I was actually considering "diluting" it with some potting soil as well. Maybe something cheap, without too many nutrients added to it. I have a 5-gallon bucket mixed up, so there's lots to go around anyway. If I start playing with other plants I can put it to widespread use. I want to put a couple of my WWs outside on the deck and I'd like to get some other plants to kind of camouflage them.
 
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