When I go fishing with my son we catch ramoras at times, the deck hand says that they are only good for chopping up and planting under Azaleas or as bait. I would ask the "nut" what kind of fish would be right, Bass, Perch, Catfish, Shark, Crawfish? then send him on his way. But I would imagine if you did try this your garden might get a bit stinky. And of course there as many superstitions about tomatoes as there are in baseball.

I have read on here that some have tried that, but saw no follow up reports of the success or failure.

I think that the story probably came from the Indians teaching the Pilgrims how to plant corn, that is what they showed them how to do.

Now, I think that a small fish might decompose and release some plant food into the ground that the plant could use without tying up too much nitrogen in the process. If it were a pretty big fish, the row prep should be done in advance to avoid that problem.

Perhaps a fish like

That very well may work. I've done it with onions and was shocked by how well they did. No smells either, buried about a foot down. Buried fish breaks down quickly and by the time the roots reach it there's not much left but the goodness. I'd try it on one plant just to see.

It's full of nutrients, you've got vitamins and mineral and nitrogen released as the protein breaks down. Why wouldn't it work?

Maybe, in this case, your workmate isn't the nut here.

Sounds like a good plan for me, but I would fear that it would make the soil too nitrogen-rich for tomatoes. For other crops, though, especially greens that thrive on nitrogen, it sounds like a great idea. After all, many of us are already feeding our plants with "fish emulsion," which is just a fish milkshake. If it's good enough for foliar feeding, I can't see how it can be bad as a soil amendment.

I did this one time and a raccoon dug up my plant to get to the fish.

yes it will work but unlike 200 years ago, we have plenty of fertilizer that does the same thing without having to go fishing. Animal carcasses can also promote disease attract unwanted pests and smell really bad and are thus discouraged in composting. I would think that this was a practice used to make barren land fertile for crops. I'm sure your raised beds(or whatever) with expensive soil and amendments dont require a fish boost.

I think that this is an excellent test for wild carnivors in your area. If, in the morning, your tomato plant is dug up and destroyed you will know you have the usual night visitors.

Worked for me!

Gary

I live 1/2 mile from the Bayshore in NJ and go fishing a lot. After a "good catch" all heads, fins, and guts, get burried in the garden. I think it adds benefitical nutrients to your soil as it decomposes.

But as posted above, make sure you bury them deep: racoons love a good "find" and you def. don't want your dog running around your yard with a 3 week old dirty fish head in his mouth ! Could get "ugly" ~

Tom

The Indians did it with corn and it worked. I don't see why it wouldn't work with tomatoes. There are a ton of fish fertilizers out there for sale. They are organic & rot so they should be just fine. Alaskan Fish Fertilizer smells a lot better though.

It would help, but so would collecting all your kitchen scraps (coffee grounds, tea bags, leftover veggies, etc.) and burying them. If you take either path, I would advise that you do this well before planting. The stuff has to break down in the soil and the decoposition process draws nutrients from the soil that your plant need. The plant growing and the stuff decomposing all at the same time could battle for the same nutrients and leave you with a deficit for the plants needs.

All that said, you would derive more from composting and then putting a heaping dose of well rotted compost in the hole before the tomato. I do this with mine as well as squash, cucumbers, peppers, etc. This makes a strong plant with out all the the over-nitrogen issues of fertilizers. My favorite is lots of vermicompost from my worms. I even start my tomato seeds in 100% verimicompost. Makes killer transplants :)

I saw a story on the news like ten or so years ago about a guy who put a whole mess of trout under his tomato plants and they grew like monsters! I don't really remember the details but hey, they were big enough to make the local news. Always sounded like a waste of good fish to me.

Oh and hi. This here is my first post on GW.

Well, you can all ask me what happened at the end of this season, because I recently buried a huge salmon head about a foot and a half down beside each tomato plant in my extra-deep beds. I did have some raccoon activity from it, though, so I am pretty sure I will not attempt this again at this late time of year. Plants are okay, 'coon dug AROUND them. I think he got maybe one head. Plants look awesome so far. I have used fish before but buried it much earlier in the Spring. This batch I buried about 2 weeks ago after I had put the plants out, and only did so on a whim because the salmon heads were 59-cents a pound at the market and I could not resist. I would not hesitate to make garden goodies out of any fish scraps that come my way - I really believe fish is like gold in the soil.

In my area the herring (10-15" fish) run upstream in the spring to spawn and I believe this is where the Indians started using this method. They probably had a lot of these fish as the runs were in the millions only a few years ago. When I was a child I remember the Calo cat food trucks would be loaded with fish using a large net. A few times would fill a trailer (probably a 40' one).
Anyhow I have used these herring to put under corn hills with my grandmother and it does work, but as mentioned above it has to be deep as the local wildlife or pets will get to it if they can smell it.
I have also used them with tomato plants without further fertilizer and got good crops.

I can attest to burying trout with tomato plants. My ex,when he came home from ice fishing would be cleaning and gutting his catch. I would put all the heads and maybe tails into a freezer bag together. Come spring, each tomato hole got some fish in it. I put them in while still frozen so they were already well under the earth before they thawed enough to potentially release their odor. I have NEVER had such a year for tomatoes. The Jehovah Witnesses came knocking and I sent them away with a bag of tomatoes. Boy did they get a good deal! I just hope they guy who was burying trout wasn't burying WHOLE ones. There are far more worthy things to do with trout, like eat 'em.

Different strokes for different folks. If you have access to fish scraps, no harm in using them. You could sprinkle cayenne pepper around the plants to discourage coons and whatnot.
ALSO...
I bought an oregano plant and went to put it out with the tomatoes. I accidentally dug up a 'spare' fish head I had casually put in the week before. REMEMBER where you put them. What an unearthly stink.

Triple b, now THAT made me laugh.

I have used alaskan fish emulsion on my african violets and they love it but it smells some. I have used it on tomatoes, Ive heard they like it , Im not sure it makes much difference yet.

My husband went fishing with his buddies one year and he couldn't eat all the fish he caught so we dug a big hole about 2 feet deep in the yard and dropped in the fish. A few months later my kindergarten daughter comes home with a sprouted pumpkin seed in a dixie cup. She goes out to the yard to plant it and of course the softest spot in the yard is right over the previously planted fish. Come October, that one pumpkin plant covered our yard and produced 40 medium to large pumpkins! Every child in her first grade class got a free pumpkin to decorate courtesy of my daughter! It had to be due to the fish.

dont forget to add eggshell to the hole for calcium and a nail for iron and zinc. as long as you're using the old-timers methods...

I'd give it a try but for all my cats. (I have more cats than tomatoes. I have trouble turning away lost strays. I'm such a wuss.)

They are curious enough about plain old fertilizer as it is. They particularly love chicken manure. They will roll around in it, dig in it, crap in it, and not necessarily in that order.