guano burning?

[intellenoob]

I've heard that guano takes a long time to break down in soil, but I've also heard people say they burned their plants with guano. What's the story? How much should you top dress if you need some P in flower so they won't get burned but will still have access to all that good P?

 

[HighBrixMMJ]

Typically guano is added to soil along with other amendments and beneficial fungi and effective micro organisms and left to cook for around 6 weeks. This gives the guano a chance to break down and become useable to the plant. If you want to supplement your soil mid grow, There are some liquid forms that are already chelated that you can use. Or you could make an aerated compost tea with the guano in which you would place it in water with an air pump and stone add some em-1, and molasses and give it a few days at about 74-76 degrees. When a nice thick foam forms on the top the tea is ready to be fed to the plant. When using organic mediums you certainly can make things too strong and burn them, however when properly done the plant will use what it needs when it needs it, no need to buffer ph as organic substrates do this on their own. Hope this helps. Green mojo.

 

[pcduck]

I use Guanos in my soil, my spikes, and my teas with no I'll effects. I do let my soil cook for 5 weeks before using after adding it as an amendment.

 

[snugglebud]

Also remember all guanos are not made equal. They will have different NPK amounts depending on what part of the world they come from, whether it comes from bats or birds and what the diets of those bats/birds was. Some guanos have more N and very little P so may not be best suited for flowering.

I remember trying some Peruvian seabird guano years ago and it was very high in N. It did burn my plants a wee bit. Bat guano would be better for flowering.

As the others said leave it to cook for a few weeks or use it as a tea. Top dressing is a waste of time imho.

 

[Rosebud]

I use guano's different NPK ratio's depending... but i top dress with it as well as add it to the soil. l have never burned anything with it.