Bonemeal/Growmore/Chicken Pellets

I have a large tub of each.

So what is the best to use for different jobs?

I used one last year to sprinkle over my borders and made a mistake, I cannot remember which one though?

 

I would use chicken pellets or growmore to sprinkle on the borders as a general feed.

Bone meal I think of as more for sprinkling around the planting hole when planting shrubs/trees in the autumn or winter.

 

Chicken pellets seem to contain a fair amount of nitrogen IME, but both that and growmore are fast acting, I think it's too early to apply either, bonemeal is slow and contains more Phosphorus, so good for root growth and some nitrogen I believe.

You could apply some bonemeal and try and hoe it into the surface at this stage if you want to, save the other two for when plants are actively growing.

 

Out the back today where I have sprinkled 5 bags of manure on the borders, so guess a manure mulch. The only problem is that I have covered the daffodils from breaking through, will these still break through?

 

If you have top dressed with manure I don't think I'd be bothering with any fertiliser for a while.
They should be push through if it's not too thick and claggy.

 

I just use bonemeal around roses. Growmore I use around new shrubs. Never used chicken pellets. Otherwise I use phostrogen in planters where there is just foliage. And I just dig in home made compost around shrubs.

Is there a long lasting Growmore? It's much dearer than the one I've got, which is a general purpose short term feed. Haven't been to the GC for ages.

 

It might depend on your intended planting of the said 'borders'. Or are they already planted; and with what ?
Both chicken manure and bonemeal are organic* materials which decay and release their constituents to soil organisms over time. Healthy soil organism populations are the key to plant performance whether you require fruit, flowers or foliage.
Bonemeal , being as yet undigested, takes more time to be effective but persists .
Growmore is a combination of chemical salts blended to give a 'balanced diet' to plants but is likely toxic to soil organisms. It could be considered as a 'one hit wonder' for producing an annual crop.
If your borders have or intended to have, shrubs or perennial plantings then the organic materiala will help them develop by incouraging the essential soil organisms and assisting with root development and water retention etc.
For borders planted with, or soon to be planted with, annual bedding for example, or salads perhaps then growmore would produce a crop.No long term benefit beyond creating material you could compost will result. Harmful effects to soil organisms are possible so the overall benefits could be seen as negative.
* organic of origin but not necessarily Organic in the Soil Assn. sense.

 

I remember from when I was a kid, in the videogame minecraft, if you right click with the bonemeal on a small tree it will instantly become a mature 10m tree. So use it carefully!!!

 

Indeed.
However reality is that waiting 1-4 months for the game to respond would likely cause small boys to become big boys before the game concluded, they would get bored and tahe up gardening instead; an entirely more satisfactory experience....

 

I seem to remember on Gardeners World that Adam Frost who always seems to do episode 3/4 and walks around throwing something around shrubs?

As I said I have put mature out the back on the borders, where I have Apple/Pear tree and philadelphus/salvia. Intend to do the same in the front with manure around my salvia/rose/viburnum. Will hold off on feeding for a while.

So when I renew my many pots, what do I use in that? And what would I use on my tomatos/potato’s in containers?

 

Is there any value in adding manure to pots for summer bedding?

 

You dont want it too rich for summer bedding, otherwise you get lots of leaf and not so much flowers.
IMO, better to go with ordinary compost, either soil based or multipurpose and liquid feed with high potash once the plants start flowering, a few weeks after planting up the containers.

 

Just passed a house with a young sapling in a small bedding in the front garden. Sadly they have piled on a lot of fresh manure and buried part of the trunk in it. I was tempted to knock on the door and explain to them the error of their ways but my OH would not let me.

 

I also passed a house near where I live and that had a nice couple of rhododendron in the border, quite close to the rose bushes, should I knock on their door and have a word? I didn’t bother as could tell by the label on the rhododendron it was a cheap one from Lidls*.

As they say if you like a rhododendron buy a nice pot.

*Nothing wrong with Lidls rhododendrons.