Using fish food as soil amendment?

[TheDukeAnumber1]

So I just wanted to shoot this out there. Over the years as my knowledge of gardening and fishkeeping has grown by study and testing I'm wondering if others out there have tried using fish food as a fertilizer and noticed objective results?

I know it's pretty difficult in gardening to test confidently in one season unless you're very strict on controlling soil, sunlight, plant genetics, ect. As I have learned it isn't fair to judge a tomato in one season as a hot or dry summer can effect flavor ect.

I'm asking since I have aquired a sizeable amount of food that either is super old or my fish don't like it, other reasons, ect, and in spring time I plan on tilling it into my garden bed to add organics and fuel the life in the soil that in turn fuels the plants that feed us.

I would he happy to hear any experinces with this. I have only tested it once in a potted plant. Which was successful but that's hardly data. But... the plural of anecdote is data. So lets see what we all have experienced. (❛ᴗ❛)

[lefty o]

old fish food would certainly be a decent thing to add to soil.

[Rube_Goldfish]

On 1/27/2023 at 4:55 PM, TheDukeAnumber1 said:

So I just wanted to shoot this out there. Over the years as my knowledge of gardening and fishkeeping has grown by study and testing I'm wondering if others out there have tried using fish food as a fertilizer and noticed objective results?

I know it's pretty difficult in gardening to test confidently in one season unless you're very strict on controlling soil, sunlight, plant genetics, ect. As I have learned it isn't fair to judge a tomato in one season as a hot or dry summer can effect flavor ect.

I'm asking since I have aquired a sizeable amount of food that either is super old or my fish don't like it, other reasons, ect, and in spring time I plan on tilling it into my garden bed to add organics and fuel the life in the soil that in turn fuels the plants that feed us.

I would he happy to hear any experinces with this. I have only tested it once in a potted plant. Which was successful but that's hardly data. But... the plural of anecdote is data. So lets see what we all have experienced. (❛ᴗ❛)

I remember learning as a kid that Native Americans would use whole fish as fertilizers in their fields, or at least I thought I'd learned that. But I wanted to see what I could see about that first, so I did a quick internet search. All of which is preamble to say that I just accidentally stumbled on this: Using Fish Food as Plant Fertilizer: Is it Worth it?

I've never heard of FlourishingPlants.com, so I can't vouch for them, but their conclusions are that old, expired fish food will not directly fertilize plants but will instead boost the microbes in the soil that would in turn help the plant. Which seems to confirm your hunch that it would be an effective soil amendment.