His book comes up for discussion on the Soil & Compost forum now and then and it does have problems/limitations.

Seed meal depends on which type you seek - cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal, flax seed meal, citrus seed meal, castor, rape seed, copra, etc. and various types are available in different parts of the country (or can be ordered online) relevant to what is grown in that part of the country.

Some of the more rare ones are only available from wholesale importers so you have to find substitutions for his formulas depending on where you live. Thus the impracticality of some of the details in his book - it is too regionally oriented. And outdated when it comes to finding siledge/tankage unless you can find a local family farm that still makes it.

But you can use homemade compost and cotton seed meal is fairly common and you can make a form of "tankage" with compost tea.

Hope this is of help.

Dave

Me too, no luck with the fert items in my local. But great book anyway.

I went to my local feed lot. Most often these items are cheapest when purchased in bulk, and usually the only ones looking for bulk components such as these are farmers. Find out where your local farmers shop (usually a feed lot or a co-op) and they will have it, or they will know who does. It may be tough to find everything, but it is worth it! Solomon has been my primary source for a while now, and I am still discovering depth in his knowledge that I did not before.

Make sure you pick up his other "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades". It is regional, but alot of what he has to say is applicable everywhere.

Good luck!

>> Find out where your local farmers shop (usually a feed lot or a co-op) and they will have it, or they will know who does. Yes, that's where I went. We live on a small farm and have livestock, and there are 3 feed stores in my small town where I shop. One of them had cottonseed meal but it was for feed, not fertilizer (they said it was different). They didn't seem to have a clue regarding my list of materials, but in the past they have seemed rather clueless about a lot of things I've asked them.

I am in Virginia so perhaps the recommended COF components are just not available here. I can substitute, but need to learn how/what. Cow manure is plentiful on my farm, so if I can figure out how to make the most of it perhaps I will have to be content with that.

thanks, I will definitely start frequenting the soil/compost forum.

Hmm......wonder if it's pelleted. Or maybe they added salt. Otherwise I can't imagine how the feed would be different.

It's weird how urban areas have access to this stuff at feed stores and other areas don't.

Of course a 50lb. sack of cottonseed meal runs about $90.00 here but it's nice stuff for our soil.

For me, making SS's COF is quite practical. Cottonseed meal and Soybean meal are available at the local Wilco for $20 per 50-pound bag. I was surprised to find they also sell Kelp meal. There's also a local organic fertilizer outfit that sells phosphate rock and fish-bone meal, as well as virtually any other organic (or almost organic) soil building supplement you can imagine. For anyone near Portland, OR: http://www.concentratesnw.com
Checking out their price list is an interesting exercise regardless of where you live.

I keep three 45 gallon plastic drums, each with one of the following:
Bone meal + fish bone meal + phospate rock (33% each)
Lime (25%) + dolomite lime (50%) + gypsum (25%)
Kelp meal

To make a new batch of COF, I dump a 50 pound bag of CM into a 4th barrel. That's 10 gallons, or 40 quarts. Then from the other barrels, I add 5 quarts of the bonemeal/phosphate mixture, 5 quarts of the lime mixture, and 5 quarts of kelp meal. Then I seal the barrel with the lid and locking ring and roll it and flip it around until thoroughly mixed.

Steve Solomon has been living and gardening in Tasmania for at least 5 years now, and that's about as far from Cascadia as you can possibly get. And he still uses the same COF formula. For whatever that's worth.

Cottonseed meal is generally sold for animal feed. SS in one of his books mentions that they may be surprised at the feed store that you are using CM for fertilizer. Go ahead and use is in your garden.