Fish emulsion or fish fertilizer?

[QuintinBonsai]

So I just made my first batch of fertilizer cakes. Cottonseed meal, bone meal, blood meal, flour, water, and fish emulsion (by a brand called Liquinox.) As far as the fish emulsion goes, next time I will definitely get a hold of the deodorized kind. It's got my entire balcony reeking! The smell has calmed down a lot in the past 3 days. Last night I must have had some kind of critter get into my cakes because 3 of them were scattered across the balcony into pieces. My guess goes to the raccoons. I've been hearing that fish fertilizer is a better alternative to emulsion because it of the cold process that is used to make it. Keeping enzymes intact whereas the emulsion is a heat process which loses a lot of the good.

 

[berobinson82]

Aw man! Last year I bought all the cake ingredients, posted about it, and got so much flack for it. Folks told me that it'd be a smelly, messy, critter-filled mess... They were right. I tossed the stuff and went for a more convenient solution. My garage doubles as my gym and was uninhabitable for a good week. *grumble grumble* I felt bad for my garbage men.

 

[BigDave]

So I just made my first batch of fertilizer cakes...

Way to go Q, your trees will love you for it,

neighbors...
not so much

 

[jk_lewis]

And all the cats for six blocks around you will simply adore you.

There are SO many better (and easier) ways to fertilize your trees.

 

[JudyB]

And the larger issue is that the raccoons and other critters will dig in your soil once you start to use it on your trees. They can cause serious damage, and will knock over pots....

 

[QuintinBonsai]

I bought some of the deodorized fish fertilizer today. It doesn't smell any more delightful than the plain emulsion. Now what do I do with this crap? As far as the critters getting into my cakes, the good news is they haven't knocked anything over. Yet... May have to try sprinkling my soil with cayenne pepper. I can't say for sure if it's a raccoon or cat, but I do see them hanging around the dumpster area at night.

I've got some rapeseed cakes coming in the mail. Hopefully they don't give me the same experience.

 

[Beng]

Tried cayenne pepper before it's only mildly effective, tried blood meal, garlic, all the home remedies. Believe it or not the best repellent i've found is the Green Dream fertilizer sold by Colin Lewis. It's a good fertilizer as well, but that aside squirrels won't come within 50 feet of any tree with it nearby. Even if you don't want to use it on your trees it's worth putting it in a tupperware container to deter pests. I don't use it on all my trees but I use it on a few and it keeps them away. Wonder whats in it that deters them so, must be some kind of urine or animal stool. From what I heard it's imported from the UK.

 

[JudyB]

I use Green Dream, and have not had any problems with critters getting into it. My dogs always seem to want it, but they'd never dare go into the pots for it. Didn't really know it was a deterrent, just know that it's not an attractant, like some of the fishy stuff is. Green Dream is readily available at many sources.

 

[Beng]

I use Green Dream, and have not had any problems with critters getting into it. My dogs always seem to want it, but they'd never dare go into the pots for it. Didn't really know it was a deterrent, just know that it's not an attractant, like some of the fishy stuff is. Green Dream is readily available at many sources.

It's definitely not marketed as a deterrent, just as a fertilizer, just a lucky coincidence it works as one.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I remember I tried to mix up a batch of bone meal, blood meal and rapeseed, and I made way to much of it and decided to fertilize some of the landscaping bushes and trees. I think it was the blood meal smell that stopped the rabbits and squirls. They would freeze with an absolute look of horror as soon as they caught whiff. Maybe I was anthropromophizing, but it makes sence.