On 22 Jan 04 at 21:39, Robin L. Hansen wrote: > I'm just now getting to finish the fall issue of The Bulb Garden and > Ms. Richardson makes note of the fact that she considers "modern" > bone meal generally useless as bulb fertilizer. > > Can anyone tell me why? In ye goode olde Dayes, bonemeal was ground-up bones that had fragments of meat still attached and the collagen still in place. These days, bones are processed for gelatin and such, and are nearly pure calcium phosphate -- which is nearly insoluble! This has been true for quite a long time, I believe. Putting bonemeal on your garden won't harm it, but it probably doesn't do much good. Don't waste your money on it. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island