its literally ground up bleached bones.. if i am not mistaken..

so why not attract wildlife ...

a better question is.. why do you feel you need such at planting ... is your soil so barren that plants will die w/o such ....

step on soapbox... 99% of soils have everything a plant needs.. and its all marketing hype.. that you need to throw things in the planting hole ... pshaw on that.. unless a soil test indicate something is lacking in your soil.. and if there is.. then amending the planting hole.. isnt really going to solve any long term issues... please... they are plants.. not children.. they do NOT need to be fed ... step off soapbox ...

good luck

ken

ps: i used to throw alfalfa around the garden... as it is green manure.. and has some beneficial ingredients... and then someone pointed out that that is what they use to feed their rabbit ... the light went on.. and i quit attracting rabbits to my garden.. go figure.. live and learn ...

Ken, you are hilarious! While I appreciate your advice a great deal it always makes me feel a bit stupid. One thing I am learning about gardening is that there are so many opinions on how to do everything that no matter what advice you follow there will be other advice that will contradict what you did!

And yes, the soil in this area is pretty crappy. I am actually experimenting to see if these will thrive or if I just need to mulch the area and give it up!

Hi Gig, yes I think the bone meal can attract animals. They smell the bones and think there is something to eat down there. I don't use fish fertilizer outside in the gardens for that reason, tried it a couple times and some critter would come dig up around the plants.

I mostly topdress the gardens with compost as fertilizer, but in some cases I'll add an organic fertilizer such as "Bulbs Alive" when I plant bulbs (I swear it makes the Hyacinths bloom a little better), or sprinkle diluted seaweed solution to seedlings or transplants to give them and the soil micro-organisms a little boost.

From what I understand, bone meal is a very slow acting fertilizer because it takes years for it to break down, and it probably won't do much for your plants anyway.

It has been my experience that bone meal attracts animals (in my case it was racoons) YMMV.

I use bone meal with bulbs, but have never had issues with animals digging them up.

I use bone meal all the time. To help prevent animals digging it I always mix it thoroughly in soil before adding it to the hole. I also add composted cow manure to dilute the smell. Water it in really good and stick a few clay pots around what you planted so the animals can't dig. After a few days the animals aren't interested, and I remove the pots. Bone meal is excellent for blooming plants. Some might not like it, but I can see the results!