iskhan
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Posts: 92
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 5:30 am
Location: Karachi

What's wrong in my Compost

Hi

I am using 5KG containers for making compost but some thing wrong in my compost because my vegetables plants(kidney beans,egg plant,tomato,lady finger) growing very well and giving lots of flowers but no fruits or 1/2 fruits in the other side my fruits plants(gooseberry,orange,lemon,melon,graphs) not growing or very slow growing. The ingredients of my compost are(precisely) for 5KG container :
1)2 cup of shredded news paper
2)1 cup of used tea
3)1 cup of wood dust/chipboard particles
4)Rest is vegetables and fruits peals

Bone Meal and Blood Meal are not available in my area

What's wrong in my Compost or what should I include in my compost for resolve my problem?
Thanks

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Kisal
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Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:04 am
Location: Oregon

It seems to me that the lack of fruits on the plants that are growing well would more likely be related to poor pollination, rather than the quality of your compost. If there aren't enough insects, such as bees, you may have to do some pollination by hand. Tomato flowers are self-fertile, so just giving the plants a gentle shake each day should do the trick. For the other plants, you may have to use a small brush to transfer the pollen. Artist's brushes work well for this.

toxcrusadr
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Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:50 pm
Location: MO

Or, you may have too much nitrogen and not enough phosphorus. Especially if your plants don't bloom. If they bloom but no fruit - which seems to be your situation - then it does sound like pollination, or something else.

iskhan
Cool Member
Posts: 92
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 5:30 am
Location: Karachi

Hi
Thank for reply it means that I need more phosphorus for my fruit plants which are not bloom so what should I add to my compost to increase phosphorus?

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soil
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Location: N. California

1)2 cup of shredded news paper
2)1 cup of used tea
3)1 cup of wood dust/chipboard particles
4)Rest is vegetables and fruits peals
so you took that ^^^ put it in a bucket and then did what? did you let it decompose? did you plant stuff in it right away?

toxcrusadr
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Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:50 pm
Location: MO

I can't think of a compost ingredient especially high in P, iskhan. Manure will be the best I suppose, composted manure is about 1-1-1. Usually for a serious P deficiency you need something like bone meal. You can get superphosphate but I would start with the bone meal. I see you have trouble getting it where you are.

I had fruit trees that weren't blooming, and we had our soil tested, and found it was very low in P. So we sprinkled bone meal around them in late summer, and within a year or two it was fixed. We also use 12-12-12 on the lawn and as general fertilizer instead of the typical 29-3-3 lawn stuff, to boost up P anywhere we use it.

You may want to have a soil test, pretty cheap at your local county extension office if you're in the US.



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