Staff Answer
Sep 15, 2021 - 02:26 PM
Honestly? Bone meal isn't the best option when it comes to succulent fertilizer. Not only do succulents require very little fertilizer, they like a balanced fertilizer. A "balanced" fertilizer is one where the ratio of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous are roughly equal (this ratio is commonly called an NPK ratio).
Bone meal, unfortunately, is both strong and unbalanced. To put its strength into perspective, when fertilizing a garden with bone meal, you use roughly 1 tablespoon of it for every 2 square feet of soil. It's powerful stuff! Also, bone meal has an NPK ratio of roughly 3-15-0, which means that for every 3 parts of nitrogen in the bone meal, there's 15 parts phosphorous. There's also no potassium in bone meal.
If you really want to use bone meal on outdoor succulent beds, first test your soil and see if it's low in phosphorous. Then, test the pH of the soil and make sure it is below 7. If the pH is above 7, you'll have to amend the soil to lower its pH because bone meal is ineffective in alkaline soil. If you find that your soil is both phosphorous poor and has a pH below 7, go ahead and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the bone meal over your soil for every 2 feet of space your succulent bed takes up. Then rake the soil to mix it in before sprinkling a little water.
If you have house plant succulents you want to use bone meal on, I really cannot recommend that. It would be such a pain to use, that you'd be better off just buying a more balanced fertilizer. You'd have to buy a different fertilizer anyway to make up for the bone meal being low in nitrogen and totally lacking potassium. If you want to use an organic fertilizer, I'd recommend compost tea instead.
Bone meal, unfortunately, is both strong and unbalanced. To put its strength into perspective, when fertilizing a garden with bone meal, you use roughly 1 tablespoon of it for every 2 square feet of soil. It's powerful stuff! Also, bone meal has an NPK ratio of roughly 3-15-0, which means that for every 3 parts of nitrogen in the bone meal, there's 15 parts phosphorous. There's also no potassium in bone meal.
If you really want to use bone meal on outdoor succulent beds, first test your soil and see if it's low in phosphorous. Then, test the pH of the soil and make sure it is below 7. If the pH is above 7, you'll have to amend the soil to lower its pH because bone meal is ineffective in alkaline soil. If you find that your soil is both phosphorous poor and has a pH below 7, go ahead and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the bone meal over your soil for every 2 feet of space your succulent bed takes up. Then rake the soil to mix it in before sprinkling a little water.
If you have house plant succulents you want to use bone meal on, I really cannot recommend that. It would be such a pain to use, that you'd be better off just buying a more balanced fertilizer. You'd have to buy a different fertilizer anyway to make up for the bone meal being low in nitrogen and totally lacking potassium. If you want to use an organic fertilizer, I'd recommend compost tea instead.
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