A fishy way to fertilize the garden

We all learned the same Thanksgiving story in grade school: The Indians taught the Pilgrims to plant corn, which kept the settlers from starving. The Indians' secret? Plant the seed corn with a fish head.

Fish as fertilizer is making a comeback of sorts. Gardeners are realizing that it is valuable because of its unusually high nitrogen content.

You just have to get past the smell. That's what stopped me.

When I tried to use fish emulsion a couple of summers ago, one whiff of the concentrate made my stomach lurch. That was the end of that.

But I have started to see it in garden centers everywhere, and the labels now shout "deodorized."

"It's not as bad as it used to be," said Carrie Engel, who has worked at Valley View Farms in Cockeysville for more than 30 years. "But I do have to keep the cats away for the first day or so."

Fish emulsion brings to mind the old Bass-o-matic skits on Saturday Night Live, in which Dan Aykroyd liquefied a fish in a blender. The best kind of emulsion is made from whole fish, not fish byproducts, and often includes seaweed or kelp. (There are even recipes on the Internet for making your own at home, although doing that might be more than most of us can handle.)

"I love it for foliage plants, like ferns," said Engel.

That's because fish emulsion has a 5-1-1 or a 4-1-1 ratio of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, while most fertilizers have a higher level of phosphate, which bolsters flowering. Nitrogen boosts foliage growth.

Even though these numbers seem low compared with commercial fertilizers, there are plenty of important trace elements, growth hormones and organic matter in fish emulsion. These elements give plants the boost they need to fight off disease and pests.

And fish emulsion doesn't have the salts that many commercially produced fertilizers have, Engel said.

Despite what it smells like, fish emulsion fertilizer should not flavor vegetables, unless it is applied to the plant instead of the roots and residue remains on the fruit, said Gene Sumi, education coordinator of Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville.

It can, however, chase some critters from your garden.

"The odor of a natural fish product, no matter how faint, may attract some animals and deter others," Sumi said. "I've had customers swear that it will keep deer and rabbits from eating plants."

That's because those animals are herbivores and find fish-based products repugnant. However, cats and raccoons, both of which eat meat and seafood, may find the smell attractive.

"I use it on my perennial beds," said Engel, "and it does take a day or two to dissipate."

Using fish emulsion in a greenhouse, where it would be especially beneficial to seedlings and young plants because it doesn't burn them, can be tough; the warm, confined air makes the smell last much longer.

Valley View Farms carries Alaska Fish Emulsion (planetnatural.com), which has the odor of a fish market - not gag-inducing, but identifiable.

Homestead carries Neptune's Harvest fish fertilizer (neptunesharvest.com), and Sumi describes its odor as "a faint odor of seaweed or what I call the smell of the seashore."

And if you want to make your own? Go to iVillage Garden Web to find a recipe at faq.gardenweb .com.

For a conversation on the topic, a simpler recipe and more advice, go to the Helpful Gardener Gardening Forum at helpfulgardener.com.

There's one more advantage to fertilizing with fish emulsion: It keeps the kids out of the garden, too.

Related topic galleries: Wine, Beer, and Spirits, iVillage Incorporated, Animals, Fertilizer, Dan Aykroyd, Saturday Night Live (tv program), Seafood and Fishing Industry

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