[amideutch]

hasshoes, concerning your bonemeal question I posed the question to Thomas G. at T&J Enterprises since the phosphorus issue needed clarification. Here is what he had to say.

If you apply bone meal into your soils so it is not just in a pile on the roots of your plants, bacteria will release the phosphorous slowly and it should work quite well with our BioVam product which contains mycorrhiza fungi and beneficial bacteria. One of the bacteria in BioVam will release the phosphorous from such products as bone meal, hard rock phosphate, and soft rock phosphate. Many people say it takes years to release all the phosphorous in hard rock phosphate, but with BioVam the rules all change. The bacteria in BioVam will release the phosphorous in bone meal and the mycorrhiza in BioVam will bring that phosphorous into your plant roots. BioVam works quite well that way. Just be sure to mix the bone meal into the soil where you are going to place your plants. Don’t leave it in a pile.


This is his reply from my second e-mail requesting further clarification on the phosphorus question per his warning you mentioned that is posted on his site and what bacteria was responsible for releasing the bound phosphate. Here is what he had to say.


When phosphate starts affecting mycorrhiza fungi, then you are looking at quantities of 50-100 ppm or 100 to 200 lbs per acre of available phosphate. The ideal for mycorrhiza fungi is about 37 ppm or 74 lbs per acre of available phosphate. Even though bone meal says 4-12-0 most of the phosphate is not available and won’t pose any problem with mycorrhiza fungi.

Let’s say you had a fertilizer that had high levels of phosphate and it was all available. It’s still possible to use that kind of fertilizer. If we keep the available phosphate at 74 lbs per acre, it doesn’t matter what kind of fertilizer you use. What matters is how much you use. Let’s say the N-P-K of a fertilizer was 28-14-14 and the phosphate was all available and it came in 50 lb bags. The number of pounds per acre we would put down of that fertilizer is 74 / .14 = 528.6 lbs. This would limit the soluble phosphorous to 74 lbs / acre, which is ideal for mycorrhiza fungi. That would be .0121 lbs per square foot (.2 oz) or 12.13 lbs per thousand square feet. As long as you apply the fertilizer properly, according to the 37 ppm limit per acre on available phosphate, you won’t have any complaints from the mycorrhiza fungi. I think you can get up as high as 50 ppm (100 lbs) per acre of available phosphate without any problems.

In BioVam, a number of beneficial bacteria have been added: Athrobacter Globiformis, Azotobacter Chrococcum, Azotobacter Vinelandii, Bacillius Subtillis, Pseudomonas Alcaligenes, Pseudomonas Fluorescens, Pseudomonas Pseudoalcaligenes, and Pseudomonas Putida. I believe it’s Pseudomonas Alcaligenes that will work on bound up forms of phosphate. Not too long ago, the USDA Ag Research Service came out and said Pseudomonas Fluorescens will keep food from spoiling. We discovered that several years ago.

I'll have to do a little research on Earl's Hole method to answer your question. Hope this helps and is not to confusing. Ami