Horn meal: when, how and for what use?

Horn Meal is an organic fertilizer made from cattle horn and hooves. We clarify when and how you can use horn meal to do something good for your plants.

Horn meal is a frequently used and relatively cheap organic fertilizer. But what are its advantages and what are its limitations? You will quickly find that horn meal has a special composition, so use it as fertilizer for lawns, roses and tomatoes with caution. We will also explain whether horn meal can do something against clover in the lawn.

Horn meal: origin, properties, composition

Horn meal is an organic fertilizer with a high nitrogen content. We have summarized the important properties in a table below:

Properties of horn meal

Tip: If spreading ground animal remains in the garden "stinks" - either literally or figuratively - you can use animal-free organic fertilizers to keep your garden even more more sustainable supply of nutrients. Possible products are, for example, the primarily organic and animal-free Plantura organic fertilizers that we have developed and that we present to you in this article.

Benefits of Horn Meal

What advantages does horn meal have over a mineral nitrogen fertilizer or the coarser variant - horn shavings and horn semolina?

Compared to mineral nitrogen fertilizers, there are some clear advantages, because horn meal…

1. … is a renewable resource
2. … is obtained using much less energy than "artificial fertilizer"
3. … is usually cheaper than "artificial fertilizer"
4. … is only mineralized in the soil, which is why over-fertilization, s alt damage and leaching into the groundwater are almost impossible
5. … is gradually mineralized, creating a long-lasting effect

Compared to long-term mineral fertilizers, however, horn meal also has disadvantages:

• Since its conversion depends on temperature and humidity, a release on warm spring and autumn days can unfortunately lead to leaching. In these situations, the ground is warmed and active, yet thePlants are not yet able to absorb nutrients or are already unable to do so again - so the risk of leaching is high.
• The effective speed of mineral long-term fertilizers is significantly higher: Hardly applied, mineralized nitrogen is already present.

Compared to the coarser horn fertilizers, the horn meal has only one advantage: it is converted more quickly because of its fine grain, so that the nitrogen contained is available more quickly. Mineral ammonium nitrogen begins to be released after just a few days. In return, its fertilizing effect lasts only six to eight weeks. Horn semolina and shavings are processed more slowly, but for longer. The effect of horn semolina lasts two to four months, that of horn shavings even four to six months. Of course, this mode of action can also be seen as an advantage.

By the way: Even if a fertilizer has started to be released, it usually takes several days to weeks before you can observe an effect on the fertilized plants. This not only depends on the type of fertilizer given, but also on the weather, the season, the plant and its other nutrient supply.

Summary of advantages and disadvantages of horn meal:

1. Horn meal is much more environmentally friendly and user-friendly than mineral nitrogen fertilizers
2. If used incorrectly, nitrogen can also be washed out from horn meal, which pollutes the groundwater
3. Mineral long-term fertilizer works much faster than horn meal
4. Horn meal is mineralized faster than horn semolina or horn shavings. However, the quick effect comes at the price of a shorter duration

Horn meal in the garden

What is certain is that ground horn can be used in the garden as an organic, relatively fast-acting nitrogen fertilizer. However, the effect can differ from garden soil to garden soil: Since the release of the nitrogen contained is only possible with the help of active soil life, it takes place more quickly on he althy garden soil with a lot of humus than on humus-poor, too dry or too moist locations or on those with too little soil pH value.

When and why to use horn meal?

Since horn meal only contains large amounts of nitrogen, horn meal fertilization only makes sense if all other nutrients are present in sufficient quantities. Is thisIf this is not the case, you should use a complete fertilizer or an NPK fertilizer, which are explained in detail in our special articles linked here. Other organic fertilizers also contain all the necessary nutrients in an environmentally friendly form, as you can find out here.

Since horn meal takes about a week to start releasing on average, you should fertilize in advance. The first fertilization takes place at the beginning of the vegetation period, i.e. as soon as the vegetation awakens from hibernation. Depending on the altitude and region, the start and duration of the growing season varies. According to the German weather service, the flowering of the forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia) between March and May is a sign of the beginning of the growing season. After the first fertilization, you can then fertilize at intervals of about six weeks. After the end of September, however, no more fertilization should be done. According to the German Weather Service, the end of the growing season is marked by the leaf fall of the English oak (Quercus robur) and at this point no more nitrogen should be released.

Fertilize the lawn with horn meal

The nitrogen fertilization of lawns with horn meal requires that you start fertilizing in good time. The significantly delayed effect also requires that the first fertilization takes place early (March to April) and then at regular intervals every six weeks. About 50 grams of fertilizer are applied per square meter - 5 kilograms of horn meal are therefore sufficient for 100 square meters. Alternatively, you can start with horn meal and continue fertilizing with horn semolina or horn shavings in order to extend the fertilizing interval. Since a sufficient supply of potassium should be guaranteed in preparation for the winter, you can start using a potassium-rich autumn lawn fertilizer such as our Plantura organic autumn lawn fertilizer from July. You can read everything you need to know about preparing your lawn for winter here.

Fertilize tomatoes with horn meal

The sole fertilization of tomatoes with horn meal is impossible. It can only succeed if you supplement the missing nutrients with other fertilizers. However, since tomatoes have high nutrient requirements and are also sensitive to nutrient deficiencies, you shouldAlways keep an eye on the care of your plants. Fertilization in combination with a nutrient-rich ready-made compost at the time of planting is recommended. The second fertilizer should be applied by mid-July. Growing tomatoes with our Plantura organic tomato fertiliser, which is perfectly tailored to the needs of your tomatoes, is more convenient than using several simple fertilizers.

Tip: Fertilizing vegetables with horn meal sometimes makes more, sometimes less sense: long-standing crops such as tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers or pumpkins can use the slow-flowing fertiliser be supplied with nitrogen. However, fast-growing crops that are soon to be cleared again, such as lettuce or radishes, are harvested when the horn meal is fully effective. Here, too, anticipatory fertilization is a must.

Fertilize roses with horn meal

Fertilizing roses with horn meal is a good way to satisfy the nitrogen needs of this graceful shrub. But other nutrients are also needed to form impressive flowers and strong, resilient shoots. A combination of horn meal and compost is ideal here: In March, the first application is 3 liters of compost and 25 grams of horn meal per square meter, followed by a second application of 25 grams of horn meal per square meter at the beginning of July.

How do you use horn meal correctly?

The information previously gathered in the text can be found summarized here again in bullet points.

1. Horn meal is a long-acting organic nitrogen fertilizer suitable for plant fertilization. It is not or hardly usable for soil improvement
2. Since the release of nitrogen from horn meal only begins after a few weeks and ends after eight weeks, fertilization and subsequent fertilization must be carried out in advance
3. The sole fertilization of horn meal only makes sense if the treated soil is sufficiently supplied with all other nutrients
4. Vegetable crops with very short standing times do not benefit much from hornmeal fertilization if this is not done long before planting or sowing
5. In general, the first fertilization of the year with horn meal takes place between the beginning of March and the beginning of May. The last fertilization with horn meal should take place in July. In order to ensure good frost hardiness (for all perennial crops), from this point on at the latest it is also necessary to use readily available potassium - for example"Patentkali" - fertilized

Horn meal vs clover?

Clover is a bee pasture and pretty to look at - but in the lawn it disturbs many garden owners. The clover (Trifolium) is a legume and can therefore cope much better with nitrogen-poor areas than other plants. The reason for this is the symbiosis that the legumes enter into with so-called nodule bacteria. These bacteria (Rhizobia) are able to bind atmospheric nitrogen and convert it into ammonia (NH₃). This in turn is converted into usable ammonium (NH₄⁺) in the plant. Thus, the clover is adapted to a low-nitrogen subsoil and has a clear advantage over the poorly growing lawn.

Another characteristic of clover is that it loves both potassium and phosphorus. The following conclusions can be drawn from these considerations:

1. Needs to be fertilized urgently
2. You should first avoid fertilizing phosphorus or potassium

Because horn meal contains a lot of nitrogen and hardly any potassium or phosphorus, it meets both of these requirements perfectly. Fertilizing with horn meal can therefore help with a lawn that is undersupplied and overgrown with clover. After the one-off fertilization with horn meal, you should switch to regular fertilization of your lawn with a lawn fertilizer. You can also use an animal-free, primarily organic lawn fertilizer for this, which we have developed. The clover only has a chance against inhibited lawn plants. Optimal care is therefore the best precaution to avoid clover.

In addition to nitrogen depletion, too high a pH can also encourage clover growth. The optimum soil pH for lawns is 6.0 to 6.5. This range can quickly be exceeded by too frequent liming or an unfavorable subsoil. So it may make sense to test the pH of your soil under the lawn and refrain from liming for the next few years. The use of ammonium in nitrogen fertilization can help to actively lower the pH value as this leads to acidification of the soil.

Tip: If the clover has already overgrown entire areas and completely displaced the lawn there, you should cut out a large area and remove it. But make sure you also collect root and shoot pieces, because the clover can regenerate from them. When sowing a new lawnyou should also make sure to use the same seed mix that was used to plant the lawn.

Summary of horn meal against clover:

1. Clover growth is favored when the soil is poor in nitrogen
2. Phosphorus and potassium additionally promote clover
3. Fertilizing with horn meal provides the lawn with the necessary nitrogen to be able to withstand the clover and push it back
4. After fertilizing with horn meal, you should switch to regular fertilizing with a full-fledged lawn fertilizer
5. A pH value that is too high can also promote the growth of clover
6. Rejecting liming and meeting nitrogen requirements with ammonium fertilizer can lower pH if a level above 6.5 has been verified
7. If the clover has already crowded out large areas of the lawn, only reseeding will help

Buy horn meal: Where can you get horn meal?

Horn meal is a simple fertilizer and for this reason it is usually cheaper than elaborately combined organic fertilizers. Nevertheless, it is priced higher than the even cheaper mineral nitrogen fertilizers - ammonium sulphate nitrate or urea fertilizers, for example. There are hardly any qualitative differences between the various providers, so choosing the cheapest product is perfectly fine.