Cottonseed meal comes from, mostly, Genetically Engineered plants. Cotton is one of the most GE'd crops on the market today and is not acceptable to most organic growers.
The molasses will do little, if any, harm to the Blueberries and is the least of your problems with that product if the meal did not come from a certified organic grower.

I'm not too concerned with the fertilize not being organic. I am more concerned with using a fertilize that will not damage the blueberry plants. Read someplace that one half pound of Cottonseed Meal would be enough for each blueberry plant. Would two thirds of a pint of cottonseed meal equal one half pound of cottonseed meal? I have 10/10/10 fertilize but read someplace that the nitrates in it would probably kill the blueberries. Am attempting to find a fertilizer that will be simple to use and not cause damage to the plants.

Would two thirds of a pint of cottonseed meal equal one half pound of cottonseed meal?

I'd use a kitchen scale and weigh it.

The molasses is added to increase palatability for the cows - it's intended use was apparently as feed, not fertilizer.

That 10-10-10 fertilizer is not an acceptable organic product either. You probably should be on the Soil and Compost forum rather than an Organic Gardening Forum.

Spyderone - Have you tried using searching Google for this phrase:

Growing Blueberries in __(your city or state)__

Fertilizing Blueberries in __(your city or state)__

They are a very PICKY plant in some areas, and knowing you are in Zone 7 is no help with soil and summer temp advice.

1) Have we really gotten to the point that people worry about whether the plants being used as fertilizer were themselves grown organically or are GM? What next, do we worry weather the oak trees that provide us our mulch and compost had some 10-10-10 applied a decade ago?

2) I once lost a number of southern highbush blueberry plants in potting soil that I had amended with cottonseed meal. I always have wondered whether the decomposition of the meal promoted root rot in the roots in contact or immediate proximity. Now the cottonseed meal goes on top, just in case.

As is stated clearly on the opening page of this forum, "This forum is meant for the discussion of organic gardening. Organic gardening is most easily defined as a philosophy that stresses the use of naturally occurring substances and friendly predators and avoiding man-made chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This is the philosophy which guides this forum. "
Therefore any discussion about synthetic fertilizers falls out of the bounds of this forum. The Soil, Compost, Mulch forum is more open and available.

and is not acceptable to most organic growers.

As determined by who, exactly? It is most certainly advocated by numerous organic gardening websites and organizations and is also approved - with conditions - by OMRI. About the only growers who might have a legitimate issue are those who are certified organic. Certainly a large population of home gardeners who follow organic principles include it in their supplies.

And why GE'd crops should necessarily be excluded from discussions of organic gardening should also be up for discussion. There is nothing inherently evil about GE'd plants. In fact, one of the primary reasons crops are genetically engineered is to make them resistant to certain diseases and insects so less chemical intervention is required. That is most definitely the reason behind cotton being included in this category.

We would all be a lot better off if we took the time to do some independent research rather than the blind adherence to a popular but uninformed point of view. Let's use a little independent thinking, folks!!

btw, the PBS program Quest: The Science of Sustainability had an extremely informative program on genetic engineering recently that should be required viewing for anyone with question about this topic. Since I deal with the public on matters like this, it never ceases to amaze me how woefully misinformed or uninformed the vast majority of the general public is.

kimmsr, there are certified organic sources of cottonseed meal, which means they are not derived from GMO cotton.

gardengal48, I just want labels so that I can retain my freedom of choice regarding GMOs, pesticides and such. Getting GMO product without knowing makes me uninformed. Buying products deemed safe by someone else without having all of the chemicals listed makes me uninformed.

cotton is one of the most heavily pesticide treated crops, regardless of GMO or not (unless of course certified organic) - it's certainly worth pointing out on an organic forum IMHO

Steve Solomon even points it out now as he was a big proponent of using cotton seed meal in in organic fertilizer

It's not about eating the cottonseed meal; it is about using it as fertilizer. Huge difference. And in any case, the sprays do not reach the interior of the seeds, and most probably do not get to the surrounding seed hulls or cotton fiber around them. So most sprays are probably a moot point. Only systemics, almost certainly a minority of the sprays, are a major possibility and a concern in a practical sense. Heck, they are probably removed by the solvents used in cottonseed oil extraction.

SOLVENTS?! Uh oh, the next problem. But they are distilled from natural petroleum, so no worry, right?

Normal cotton seed meal has a lot of toxic chemical residue from all the sprays used on it. I've used it plenty in the past but have my reservations and will choose something else. molasses is good, just a nice carbon source, not contaminated that I've ever heard of. It's getting where we'll have to grow our own source of nitrogen to get something reasonably priced and pure. Composting clover would work. Any legume. I've heard of composting kudzu. Alfalfa compost is terrific. If a quick solution is desired, getting some alfalfa pellets for livestock would be better than cottonseed meal, but alfalfa still gets sprayed so it's not guaranteed free of toxic residue either. Just that it's not likely to be sprayed nearly so heavily as cotton crops. Going to have to grow our own to get what we need completely free of toxic crap.

Some folk just get too obsessed beyond reasonable gardening. I actually think whatever you used or anything you did could be challenged by a purist organic gardener. Maybe some folk need to just relax a little bit and take a deep breath. Just a thought.

I've used a fair amount of alfalfa meal (a bit cheaper than pellets) with seeming good plant growth response. My hard-to-grow potted pawpaws seem to love it.

dirtguy's got the right attitude!! Sometimes we can get too caught up in the whole "organic" philosophy to the extent of developing tunnel vision and being impractical. If you read the literature, there is little evidence of pesticide residue in cottonseed meal. And while alfalfa meal - which can also be GMO'd - is a decent enough fertilizer, it does not have the acidifying qualities that make cottonseed meal such logical choice for acid loving plants, like blueberries, rhodies, etc.