Many plants benefit from blood mealfertilizer, including fruits, vegetables, flowers, shrubs, and trees.
It is widely available at major garden centers and home improvement stores.
It can also be used as a deer, squirrel, and rabbit deterrent.
Helen Camacaro / Getty Images
However, it can attract unwanted other critters to your vegetable patch.
Read on to learn more about blood meal and how to use it.
What Is Blood Meal?
The Spruce / Jason Donnelly
The blood is dried into a powder before being packaged as a blood meal.
The “meal” in blood meal refers to the dried blood ground into a powder.
Benefits of Blood Meal
The main benefit of blood meal as a fertilizer lies in its highnitrogencontent.
The Spruce / Jason Donnelly
Blood meal can provide a boost for plants suffering from nitrogen deficiency.
Blood meal’s other benefits include:
Disadvantages of Using Blood Meal
Blood Meal vs.
Both are by-products of slaughterhouses, used as organic, slow-release fertilizers, and sold in powdery form.
The Spruce / Jason Donnelly
However, note that both can burn plants when used in excess and attract digging dogs.
Reapply every two to three months until the growing season is over.
Use 1 to 2 pounds per 100 square feet.
The Spruce / Jacob Fox
A 2-pound utility is considered heavy feeding.
Using blood meal has its risks and should be used only when needed.
Applying blood meal may be a good solution for restoring plants to health.
Most fruiting, flowering, and foliage plants benefit from extra nitrogen.
Apply 1 to 2 pounds per 100 square feet, or about 1 teaspoon per plant.
Mix it into the soil for new transplants or side-dress it for existing plants.
Water well after program.
Repeat every two months during the growing season.
2020;18(2):e06006.
