I feel that there are lots of questions as far as to use a nutrient and or others.
How do I use crab meal? Any help would be greatful. Thanks,
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Mix into your soil to cook for a couple weeks to a month. You can top dress but it would be more for your next cycle.
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The main reason for using that is for the chitosan(?) that causes a defence response in the plant to make it produce more resin. There are extracts that work right away but like @Kushking902 Kush mentioned the real thing needs time to break down to be used by the plant.
AN’s Bud Factor X uses the extract but costs a bunch so if you search around you may find less expensive options.
I’ve long been a bottle baby either doing DWC or growing in soilless ProMix HP using the same AN nutes but find myself gravitating to the organics side of things. For the last couple of years have been adding organics like composted sheep and steer manures and EWC to the mix along with DynoMyco for a bio-herd boost and the plants and myself seem to like it.
Just yesterday I picked up 10Kg bags of mushroom manure and one of Zeolite that’s made here in Alberta to toss into my next mix. Got some GA3 and a mineral spray for pot along with some chelated iron. I already have crab/lobster meal and a few other goodies so will be mixing up a few tubs worth of soil to cook for a while so will be ready for future grows.
I am opposed to using seabird or bat guano as these are very damaging to both their environments and as unsustainable as it gets. If coco coir was available and cheaper I would probably begin using that rather than peat based blends as coco is much more earth friendly and sustainable than peat but it’s a 2 hour drive to get coco and 3 - 4x the price for me.
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I didn’t know crab meal was used as a resin producer. I thought it was used for its nitrogen content
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That was always my take on it’s use but if you want a good source of readily available N then blood meal is good for that. 12%N I believe and fast acting.
I went downstairs to get my meal and found one of my big plants in dire need for water so thanks for that. I likely wouldn’t have gone down for hours yet.
The stuff I have is Neptune’s Harvest Crab and lobster shell. Rich in Ca and Mg with 17% Ca but only 1%Mg which is a poor ratio in my understanding.
N - 5%
P - 3%
K - not mentioned so none I guess.
The Bud Factor X has 0.5% Mg then says, Proprietary blend of crustaceans, Magnesium nitrate, glucosamine and proprietary bloom enhancing plant extract. Also 0.6% Willow Bark Extract.
I didn’t buy the bud factor stuff but was given it at a hydro store in Kelowna a few years ago as a sample and still have about a third of a 500ml bottle left. It’s one of those expensive supplements people always put AN down for and I didn’t notice any big improvements but never did a decent side-by-side to see what happened. I won’t be buying any either. Love my Big Bud tho.
Don’t count on crab meal to supply the N that rapidly growing plants need. More just something good that your plants will like but just a small part of a good soil mix. For potted plants it says use 2% of total volume by weight.
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Thats great info, thanks!
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