Making fish fertilizer is crazy easy. Here's my simple method. Start composting today - get David's free booklet: www.thesurvival... Compost Your Enemies t-shirts: www.aardvarkte... David's daily gardening blog: www.thesurvival...
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After 6 weeks of vigorous bubbling activity the large snapper heads and gummy shark heads have broken up and disappeared. All the bones from the heads and the frames have been digested rapidly due to balancing the nitrogen in the fish with the carbon in saw dust and the weekly addition of sugar to energize the anaerobes. In the fish emulsion without saw dust the rotting heads are still whole. It is worth adding carbon and sugar to speed up the process. A bonus is that with saw dust added the smell is reduced. Give it a try.
Nice 😎, I found a bag of Oscar fish food I had from some Oscars I had years ago , I ground it up and threw it all over the garden , plants loved it , old fish food is also good fertilizer
This is what I added to make my fish emulsion: 1/2 a bucket of fish heads, frames and guts, 1/2 a bucket of fine saw dust, handful of compost, handful of wood ash, 1/2 Kg sugar. In a 20 litre screw top barrel filled with bore water and stirred. The lid is air tight and not pressure tight. Weekly add 1/2 a cup of sugar and stir. It is very active with lots of bubbles rising to the surface and a layer of froth on top. When the activity has slowed right down I will leave it to fully mature for several months. Looking forward to using it. Thanks for the inspiration.
I am now using the fish emulsion on the garden after 3 months anaerobic digestion. No trace of any bones. Amazing the snapper heads and frames were from fish well over 5 kg. 3 large snapper heads and bones have dissolved completely thanks to adding saw dust (Carbon) and sugar (Energizer).
Thanks David. Now using the Gummy Shark Emulsion. The shark heads, frames, skin, and guts from 2 large gummy sharks went into a 25 litre barrel. The shark livers and and guts were quiet large. Incredibly everything has been fully digested after 3 months of anaerobic digestion.
@@Flow888100 When balanced with saw dust and energized with sugar the smell is not bad, bit fishy and yeasty. It is like compost when C:N ratios are balanced it has a pleasant smell. If N dominates both compost and fish emulsion have a foul stench. When it is actively bubbling the smell is mild and when it becomes less active the smell increases. Add a bit of saw dust and a handful of sugar and as it becomes active with lots of bubbles the smell decreases.
The fish is heavy nitrogen C : N 2.5 to 5 : 1 and the saw dust is heavy carbon C : N 500 : 1. With a handful of compost and then weekly stir and add a handful of sugar the fish emulsion is producing lots of bubbles and froth. The fish emulsion without saw dust is otherwise the same mix and has no froth or bubbles. I am sure am sure that they are all anaerobically digesting the fish but when you see bubbles and froth it must be digesting faster.
I think there might be fewer (or just different?) minerals in freshwater fish, but they're still very valuable as compost/tea material. I also think there's probably less heavy metals in freshwater fish, at least compared to the long-lived ocean fish like big tuna.
David, you're a funny guy. Everything you say and do delights me, especially your songs. Question: What about just burying fish in a hole a few months before you plant a tomato (melon, squash) plant?
When I was boy my father would send me fishing for bullheads specifically so he could chop them up and bury them between the rows in his garden. I imagine getting me out of his hair for a couple hours was a pleasant bonus as well.
I live 1000 miles inland and I think this work great with the freshwater fish available locally. My question is will ocean fish contain enough salt to cause a problem in the soil?
Are inland fresh water fish as good to use, or is it better to use ocean fish? Oh and how about sea weed from fresh water rivers? Sorry I live in Missouri about as far away from an ocean as you can get in the states.
LOL... 3 years ago? Alright David.. you are good. I'm thinking this would be a great addition to the bio-char I'm going to be creating in another week or so
I have 4 fish emulsions in 20 litre barrels. 2 with snapper heads, frames and guts, 1 with gummy shark heads, frames, guts and skin, and 1 with whiting, flathead and leatherjacket heads, guts and frames. The snapper heads and gummy shark heads were quiet large and amazingly they have been fully digested by the anaerobic Microbial Broths in 6 weeks. By adding saw dust (Carbon) and sugar it only took 6 weeks .
i minute plus 6 months.... Can put the guts in an old t-shirt and tie it off and soak it in a bucket of water and use the water to water my plants with the water residue. I live in Alaska and I only have another 60 days and frost will be here. Plants need fertilizer now.
You are the anaerobic king. Thanks to you I have several anaerobic brews. Do you think that the carbon/nitrogen ratios have any value in anaerobic composting and in anaerobic brews?
@@davidthegood I have done 1 small experiment. Made up a new fish emulsion without saw dust and compared it with a fish emulsion with saw dust added. The saw dust is very fine and dusty, it breaks down quickly. After a week the fish emulsion without saw dust is not bubbling and the brew with saw dust has bubbles and froth on top. The methane bubbles and froth are an indicator of microbial activity and the saw dust has produced a more active brew.
Would you compost fish without adding lots of carbon AKA browns? The answer is no! It would be a foul stinking mess that would upset your neighbors. The same thing with anaerobic fish emulsion. Adding saw dust balances the carbon: nitrogen ratio and this reduces the smell and speeds up the process. It is a much quicker process and produces a lot less smell. I have tested this a couple of times and without adding saw dust the stench is foul. With saw dust it still smells but a milder smell. Also with sawdust and sugar it bubbles vigorously as it digests the flesh, bones, scales and guts. Without saw dust it is a slow inactive brew. Give it a try. You will be surprised.
We had flood one year, the big fat carps all over one coner of the farm field near the river mouth. I rescued them all. one was 48 lbs ! Later I heard carps are bad for American waters. If this happened again, I'd like compost them all. 👍
