Fish emulsion vs hydrolysate

[Cable]

Yesterday I listened to the Bonsai Mirai Asymmetry podcast "Modern Soil Science with Ian Hunter" and they were talking about promoting a healthy biomass in the soil. Ian stated that liquid kelp and fish hydrolysate were two good organic ferts to use. He also said the fish hydrolysate was better than fish emulsion because it is cold pressed. I don't recall why.

Last year, I started in early spring with liquid kelp and then switched to Alaska fish fert when the kelp ran out. I seemed to get very good results with lots of strong growth. I'll be interested to see what spring brings but it appears I had a lot of root growth as well.

Has anyone seen better results with the fish hydrolysate? I'm thinking of getting GS Plant Foods' Organic Fish & Seaweed Blend this year since it has both kelp and fish hydrolysate in it. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Stan Kengai]

I don't think there is any difference between the two, as far as your plants are concerned. Your plants can't use either fertilizer until it is broken down by microbes. The heating process used to make emulsion probably gives the microbes a head start by beginning the break down process. But one could argue that not using heat to break down the hydrolysate leaves all of the break down to be done by microbes, which could be a benefit for the plants.

I don't think you will see any difference between the two, based on how they are made. I would go with the cheapest.

 

[Steve21]

That’s a good podcast. Ian stated the heated process denatures good components of the fish hydrolysate. The cold pressed version doesn’t.

 

[bwaynef]

He also said that the process renders the nutrients nearly soluble and directly available to the plant. The hydrolysate requires the fungi to break it down.

 

[Wilson]

As stated by others above, the cold pressed fish encourages fungal growth and doesn't feed the bacteria. Where as fish emulsions were small polymer, and available to bacteria. I believe it was along those lines.

 

[Wilson]

It really was a super interesting discussion, worth a couple more listens!

 

[Cable]

Yes it was. I plan to listen to it some more, especially the first half. My shoddy internet research doesn't 100% support his claims but they made sense at the time and I want to give it a try.

 

[Ronnan Lowe]

Very interesting podcast indeed
here's a link for those interested:
https://soundcloud.com/asymmetry-podcast%2Fmodern-soil-science-ian-hunter

Would you use Fish and seaweed fertilizer together with biogold applications? or its too heavy-handed?
*I just started growing bonsai (1 year ago) and I have 10 young trees

 

[Colorado]

Excellent, excellent PhD level discussion on soil microbiology. I’m no bonsai expert, but I do work with scientists regularly in my career and this was clearly a high-level discussion. I’m very excited to apply some of these principles this year.

Anyone serious about bonsai should give this podcast a listen.

 

[link]

Excellent, excellent PhD level discussion on soil microbiology. I’m no bonsai expert, but I do work with scientists regularly in my career and this was clearly a high-level discussion. I’m very excited to apply some of these principles this year.

Anyone serious about bonsai should give this podcast a listen.

I couldn't agree more. This is the firs time I literally take notes while listening to a podcast.

I do like whenever Ryan Neil brings science (botany) into bonsai. In the end Bonsai is a synergy between art and botany.

 

[Maros]

Interesting discussion indeed. I was just wandering, as non-native speaker what kind of accend Ian had.

 

[Colorado]

I couldn't agree more. This is the firs time I literally take notes while listening to a podcast.

I do like whenever Ryan Neil brings science (botany) into bonsai. In the end Bonsai is a synergy between art and botany.

Same. Bonsai is a combination of science and art, right? We all get to decide how that combination will be weighted in our own practices.

Personally, at this point in my practice, I’m tremendously interested in the science aspect. And Ryan Neil is one of the best providers of information for practitioners who share my perspective, in my humble opinion. The Mirai podcasts are all quite good. But this one is quite possibly the best.