NPK Values

[opabinia51]

Alfalfa Hay: 2.45/05/2.1
Apple Fruit: 0.05/0.02/0.1
Apple Leaves: 1.0/0.15/0.4
Apple Pomace: 0.2/0.02/0.15
Apple skins(ash) : 0/3.0/11/74
Banana Residues (ash): 1.75/0.75/0.5
Barley (grain): 0/0/0.5
Barley (straw): 0/0/1.0
Basalt Rock: 0/0/1.5
Bat Guano: 5.0-8.0/4.0-5.0/1.0
Beans, garden(seed and hull): 0.25/0.08/03
Beet Wastes: 0.4/0.4/0.7-4.1
Blood meal: 15.0/0/0
Bone Black: 1.5/0/0
Bonemeal (raw): 3.3-4.1/21.0/0.2
Bonemeal (steamed): 1.6-2.5/21.0/0.2



More later, I have 8 pages of this stuff.

Very usefel when building compost or soil though.

[grandpasrose]

Great stuff Opa!
You have banana ashes listed, do you happen to know what the value is for unburned bananas?
VAL

[opabinia51]

No, but it would be a similar value. Most likely with a higher nitrogen value. Alot of nitrogen is lost as gas when things are burned.


Brewery Wastes (wet): 1.0/0.5/0.05
Buckwheat straw: 0/0/2.0
Cantaloupe Rinds (ash): 0/9.77/12.0
Castor pomace: 4.0-6.6/1.0-2.0/1.0-2.0
Cattail reeds and water lily stems: 2.0/0.8/3.4
Cattail Seed: 0.98/0.25/0.1
Cattle Manure (fresh): 0.29/0.25/0.1
Cherry Leaves: 0.6/0/0.7
Chicken Manure (fresh): 1.6/1.0-1.5/0.6-1.0
Clover: 2/0/0/0 (also contains calcium)
Cocoa Shell Dust: 1.0/1.5/1.7
Coffee Grounds: 2.0/0.36/0.67
Corn (grain): 1.65/0.65/0.4
Corn (green forage): 0.4/0.13/0.33
Corn cobs: 0/0/2.0
Corn Silage: 0.42/0/0
Cornstalks: 0.75/0/0.8
Cottonseed hulls (ash): 0/8.7/23.9

[opabinia51]

By the way, have recently concluded a vast search for cocoa hulls with no avail. Nothing found. I found them in condensed form (as in a brick of them) but, that is it. Anyway, if anyone knows of a good source of the stuff, I would appreciate it.

[grandpasrose]

Hi Opa! I got mine at my local farmer's co-op supply. But I have seen them at Rona building supply as well, and I have heard that you can get them at Home Depot, although we don't have one here, so I'm not sure on that.
Good luck with the search.
VLA

[The Helpful Gardener]

Good stuff Opa, as long as we take it with the grain of salt that simple NPK values in and of themselves are not the whole story, or suddenly salt based nitrogen fertilizers look really good (whilst we here know the true evils... ). Shame about the cocoa, although I refer to my previous statement; a simple NPK resadout might well miss the micros, tannins vitamins and such that start to flesh out the complete soil picture...

HG

[opabinia51]

EXCELLANT point Scott. Yes, all of the values that I have posted in this thread and will post in this thread are just the very tip of the organic iceberg. The posting of these values is by no means meant to divert people to using synthetic fertilizer.

Realizing the NPK values of certain compostables will just give you an idea of what your compost will contain as far as nutrients.

My hot compost currently mainly consists of corn husks, corn cobs, carrot tops and various types of leaves. Looking at these lists; it would be pretty easy for me to figure out what the soil will have as far as macronutrients. Also, if this list is cross referenced withe the LEAVES and NUTRIENTS thread a better understanding of what nutrients will be in your soil will be obtained.

Cheers everyone

[opabinia51]

Cottonseed Meal: 7.0/2.0-3.0/1.8
Cotton Wastes (factory): 1.32/0.45/0.36
Cowpea Hay: 3.0/0/2.3
Cowpeas (green forage): 0.45/0.12/0.45
Cowpeas (seed): 3.1/1.0/1.2
Crabgrass (green): 0.66/0.19/0.71
Crabs (dried, ground): 10.0/0/0 (I personally just crush the shells with my foot)
Crabs (fresh): 5.0/3.6/0.2
Cucumber Skins (ash): 0/11.28/27.2 ( WOW!!!! Who knew???)
Dried Blood: 10.0-14.0/1.0-5.0/0
Duck Manure (fresh): 1.12/1.44/0.6
Eggs: 2.25/0.4/0.15
Eggshells: 1.19/0.38/0.14
Feathers: 15.3/0/0
Felt Wastes: 14.0/0/1.0
Field Beans (seed): 4.0/1.2/1.3
Feild Beans (shells): 1.7/0.3/1.3
Fish (dried, ground): 8.0/7.0/0
Fish Scraps (fresh): 6.5/3.75/0
Gluten Meal: 6.4/0/0
Granite Dust: 0/0/3.0-5.5
Grapefruit Skins (ash): 0/3.6/30.6 (And people throw these things away? Wow!)
Grape Leaves: 0.45/0.1/0.4
Grape Pomace: 1.0/0.07/0.3
Grass (imature): 1.0/0/1.2
Greensand: 0/1.5/7.0
Hair: 14/0/0/0
Hoof and Horn Meal: 12.5/2.0/0
Horse Manure (fresh): 0.44/0.35/0.3
Incinerator Ash: 0.24/5.15/2.33
Jellyfish (dried): 4.6/0/0 (Oh my goodness. I put the Jellyfish thread up as sort of joke but, here you go! Incidentally, I don't dry mine before adding them to the pile)

[opabinia51]

Kentucky Bluegrass (green): 0.66/0.19/0.71
Kentucky Bluegrass (hay): 1.2/0.4/2.0
Leather Dust: 11.0/0/0
Lemon Culls: 0.15/0.06/0.26
Lemon Skins (ash): 06.33/1.0
Lobster Refuse: 4.5/3.5/0
Milk: 0.5/0.3/0.18
Millet Hay: 1.2/0/3.2
Molasses Residue
(From alcohol manufacture): 0.7/0/5.32
Molasses Waste
(From Sugar refining): 0/0/3.0-4.0
Mud (fresh water): 1.37/0.26/0.22
Mud (harbour): 0.99/0.77/0.05
Mud (salt): 0.4.0/0
Mussels: 1.0/0.12/0.13
Nutshells: 2.5/0/0
Oak Leaves: 0.8/0.35/0.2
Oats (grain): 2.0/0.8/0.6
Oats (green fodder): 0.49/0/0
Oat straw: 0/0/1.5
Olive Pomace: 1.15/0.78/1.3
Orange Culls: 0.2/0.13/0.21

[opabinia51]

Orange Skins: 0/3.0/27.0 (Right up there with Grapefruit. Note: both can attract fruit flies so, bury them in the compost)
Oyster Shells: 0.36/0/0
Peach Leaves: 0.9/0.15/0.6
Pea forage: 1.5-2.5/0/1.4
Peanuts (seed/kernals): 3.6/0.7/0.45
Peanut Shells: 3.6/0.15/0.5 (I grind them up in the food processor first)
Pea Pods (ash): 0/3.0/9.0 (I cut them up with a pair of scissors while shelling them)
Pea (vines): 0.25/0/0.7
Pear Leaves: 0.7/0/0.4
Pigeon manure (fresh): 4.19/2.24/1.0
Pigweed (rough): 0.6/0.1/0
Pine Needles: 0.5/0.12/0.03
Potato Skins (ash): 0/5.18/27.5
Potaote Tubers: 0.35/0.15/2.5
Potatoe Vines (dried): 0.6/0.16/1.6
Prune Refuse: 0.18/0.07/0.31
Pumpkins (fresh): 0.16/0.07/0.26
Rabbitbrush (ash): 0/0/13.04
Rabbit Manure: 2.4/1.4/0.6
Ragweed: 0.76/0.26/0
Rapeseed meal: 0/1.0=2.0/1.0=3.0
Raspberry leaves: 1.45/0/0.6
Red clover hay: 2.1/0.6/2.1
Redrop Hay: 1.2/0.35/1.0

[opabinia51]

Rock and Mussel Deposits
From Ocean: 0.22/0.09/1.78
Roses (flowers): 0.3/0.1/0.4
Rye Straw: 0/0/1.0
Salt March Hay: 1.1/0.25/0.75
Sardine Scrap: 8.0/7.1/0
Seaweed (dried): 1.1-1.5/0.75/4.9 (Seaweed is loaded with micronutrients including: Boron, Iodine, Magnesium and so on.)
Seaweed (fresh): 0.2-0.4/0/0
Sheep and Goat Manure (fresh): 0.55/0.6/0.3
Shoddy and Felt: 8.0/0/0
Shrimp Heads (dried): 7.8/4.2/0
Shrimp Wastes: 2.9/10.0/0
Siftings From Oyster Shell Mounds: 0.36/10.38/0.09
Silk Mill Wastes: 8.0/1.14/1.0
Silkworm Cocoons:10.0/1.82/1.08
Sludge: 2.0/1.9/0.3
Sludge (activated): 5.0/2.5-4.0/0.6
Smokehouse/Firepit Ash:0/0/4.96 (I put the ashes from my smoker in the pile)
Sorghum Straw:0/0/1.0
Soybean Hay: 1.5-3.0/0/1.2-2.3
Starfish: 1.8/0.2/0.25 (I'm not saying: "Go out and decimate starfish populations at our local beaches" but, the odd starfish would be okay. Incidentally, the edndoskeletons of starfish are made of Calcium Carbonate which, is slow to break down.)
String Beans (strings and stems, ash): 0/4.99/18.0 (Why we throw this stuff away? I have no idea. Look at all that potash!)

[opabinia51]

Incidentally, for those who live live near vineyards or winery's; now would probably be a good time to inquire about acquiring grape pomace. I recently called one of the local vineyards/winery's and they had just had a meeting to decide what to do with all the pomace that they will have this October.

Grape Pomace wold be considered a "GREEN" for the compost pile.

[Guest]

Some introductory information on the first post of this thread would have been a good idea so we readers had an idea of where you were headed. You know what NPK value is but does the new to average gardener know those letters represent the elements Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium, which are needed by plants to grow. And the most commom place these letters would be found would be a fertilizer product.

I assume you list this information for use in composting. I would question the use of fresh horse manure in making compost. Our local farmers market has a vender who sells bagged aged horse manure containing red worms. The fresh manure she collects this year won't be bagged for garden use for a year or two.

[opabinia51]

Thank you for the clarification on what NPK Values are. The reason why I have posted the value for fresh manure is because these are the values that I have.

You are also very correct. Adding fresh manure to the garden is a no no. Fresh manure is high in Nitrogen compounds that will burn plants. But, addition of fresh manures to the compost pile is just fine. In actuallity, the high concentration of Nitrogenous compounds will speed up the composting process. Also, the excreted bacteria from the intestinal tracts of animals will aid in the composting process through inoculation (addition) of the compost pile.

[opabinia51]

Sugar Wastes (raw): 2.0/8.0/0
Sweet Potatoes: 0.25/0.1/0.5
Swine Manure (fresh): 0.6/0.45/0.5
Tanbark Ash: 0/0.34/3.8
Tanbark Ash (spent): 0/1.75/2.0
Tankage: 3.0-11.0/2.0-5.0/0
Tea Grounds: 4.15/0.62/0.4
Timothy Hay: 1.2/0.55/1.4
Tobacco Leaves: 4.0/0.5/6.0
Tobacco Stems: 2.5-3.7/0.6-0.9/4.5-7.0
Tomatoe Fruit: 0.2/0.07/0.35 (A note on tomatoe fruit: These should be hot composted. I just let any rotted or insect eaten tomatoes compost in the soil beneath the plants and have "freebees" come back each consecutive year. Hot composting will kill the seeds.)
Tomatoe Leaves: 0.35/0.1/0.4
Tomatoe Stalks: 0.35/0.1/0.5
Tung Oil Pumace: 6.1/0/0
Vetch Hay: 2.8/0/2.3
Waste Silt: 9.5/0/0
Wheat Bran: 2.4/2.9/1.6
Wheat (grain): 2.0/0.85/0.5
Wheat Straw: 0.5/0.15/0.8
White Clover (Green): 0.5/0.2/0.3
Winter Rye Hay: 0/0/1.0
Wood Ash: 0/1.0-2.0/6.0-10.0 (A note on Wood ash: Wood Ash can contain chemicals that could harm plants and also carcinogens so, they should be composted in moderation)
Wool Wastes: 3.5-6.0/2.0-4.0/1.0-3.5


THAT'S IT! THAT'S THE ENTIRE LIST.

Should someone have the NPK values for composted manures, feel free to post them in this thread. All information welcome.

[The Helpful Gardener]

I have an addition!

Found the NPK value for cocoa hulls in the American Horticultural Society's Encyclopedia (a most wonderful tome).

3-1-3.2 (not to mention lots of humic acids and trace elements)

GOOD STUFF!

Scott

[opabinia51]

I need to get a bag of those! I think I'll drive out to Home Depot today to see if they have them. (As per Val's advice)

[grandpasrose]

I hope you find them! If not, do you have a Rona store? That is where I got some as well as my farmer's co-op. Maybe I could send you some if you send me some seaweed!!!!(ya right!)
VAL

[Grey]

Seaweed would do wonders for my garden too - look it's an entreprenurial opportunity! Find a way to ship seaweed (without making the mailman keel over from the odor) and I'll send... GA clay? Not much else in abundance around here. But the clay has shown me it's pretty healthy stuff! I've never had a tomato plant like these before.

[opabinia51]

Actually you guys, there is a product called Kelp Meal that you can get. It's a dried version of seaweed. And I am almost certain that the meal would have more than just kelp in it. Probably a few members of chlorophyta like Ulva and what not and perhaps a few Red Algaes as well.

Val, if you and your husband ever do a trip to Bella Coola, bring some sealable buckets for when you are at any beaches. Or, I guess it would be Bella Bella techniquely speaking. Anyway, somewhere to the West of you is the Great Wide Pacific.

Oh and by the way. The green algae fround in lakes and ponds, works wonders for the garden. Reading Gaia's Garden will tell you why, just ask the brothers on Orcas Island, Washington USA; they put it in their permaculture garden (more like a forest) and reap the wonders.

[grandpasrose]

I know about the algae from ponds, cause we use it from our own pond. Do you know anything about the long feathery type plants that grow in the fresh water lakes? I am not sure what they are, but wonder if they might be similar?
I have put kelp meal in my rose garden, but I still think the true kelp would be better. When my grandfather was alive (15 years ago) he used to have his daughter from White Rock save plastic bags full of dried kelp off the beaches there for him so he could put them on the roses. I remember how stinky they were by the time they got here!!!!
Thanks Opa for the help.
VAL

[opabinia51]

Actually if you look at the NPK thread; apparently dried seaweed has more nutrients available for plants to use than does fresh seaweed. So, I would think that Kelp meal would actually be better. Though, I personally really like adding the Chlorophyta, Phaephyta and Rodophyta as a good mix to my garden. I also add a light spreading of kelp meal in April though.

Oh yeah, the feathery plant in lakes and ponds is actually not an algae. It is a so called primitive vascular plant. (as far as I know). I'm blanking on it's name and I don't have any nutrient values for you.

I'm just trying to think of someone whom I can ask about that.... Maybe a person in the Herbarium at UVIC. I'll get back to you.

[grandpasrose]

Probably the dried kelp has more nutrients than the fresh because it is concentrated more (no water volume).
I'm sure curious to find out about the lake plants - we have them growing out at our cabin at Quesnel Lake. If they are good, I'll haul them home!
Thanks for checking Opa!
VAL

[opabinia51]

Well, that is an interesting subject that you bring up because, the nutrients are always there, but after drying they just become more concentrated. Perhaps in the wet seaweed (with water in it) the nutrients are more easily leached from the seaweed.

I don't know, I'll have to look into that.

I'll check on that plant for you, I'm sure it would be good (it wouldn't be bad), I just don't know what the nutrient values for it would be.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Careful moving those pond plants. Many are invasives and are illegal to transport ANYWHERE, so watch out for DEP...

Scott

[grandpasrose]

What's DEP?
VAL

[The Helpful Gardener]

Department of Environmental Protection (our state level crew)...

[grandpasrose]

Oh.....I see! We don't have those up here.
I was meaning that I would bring the plants out of the lake home to put in my compost, not to put in my pond. You're very right, they would take over my little pond in no time!!
VAL

[The Helpful Gardener]

Got ya, but in our state, moving those invasives ANYWHERE is a crime. Forewarned is forearmed...

[opabinia51]

The plant that val is talking about is actually part of the local flora in our province. So, I don't think it will be a problem.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Because I live in the original colonies ,many of the plants that people think of as natives are actually European intros. Parrot feather is a really common one here that is being spread, mostly by trailered boats. Aquatic invaders have that most pernicious of vectors, water, to move around in, so they spread even quicker than most...

Scott

[grandpasrose]

I'm pretty sure this isn't parrot feather, because it doesn't survive the winter here. It's like a fresh water seaweed. I'm going to do a little investigating on the web myself and let ya know!
VAL

[grandpasrose]

I've looked at the web, and I'm pretty sure the plant I am referring to is "potamogeton crispus" or curled pondweed. It is on the canadian plant lists as "possibly invasive" in areas where winter kill does not occur, which I guess lets us out up here!
Still not sure what nutrient value it has though, if any.
VAL

[The Helpful Gardener]

Best to know before you move them...

[grandpasrose]

I don't see an address Opa?
VAL

[opabinia51]

I think I pm'ed it to you. Could you put it up there for me?

[grandpasrose]

This is the address you PM'd me, but it is for the U.S., so when you referred to BC invasive plants, I thought you meant a different one!

http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/prof ... tics.shtml

Thanks a bunch Opa!
VAL

[opabinia51]

Hmmmm, let me see.... well, here is Canada Government publication but, it isn't the site that I meant to put up here. Strange.


http://www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/publication ... ndex_e.cfm

[grandpasrose]

Thanks Opa! You always have your fingers on everything!
VAL

[DoubleDogFarm]