NEW PRODUCT FISH PROTEIN
One of the fun things about working at Aurora is the opportunity to learn from our bosses, who are veritable fonts of information about the best practices for growing killer plants. We thought it would be fun to share some of this info with interested gardeners. Here we are picking Bowe’s brain on Fish Protein.
What is Fish Protein?
This product is a fish protein hydrolysate derived from ocean-harvested pelagic species that are caught on trollers. Boats are floating factories these days. Fish sticks come out one end and fish bone meal comes out the other end. The protein-rich material that doesn’t end up in your fish fillet gets stripped off using enzymes, then hydrolyzed and spray dried on site. We don’t fish for this product— we prevent waste from fish that would be caught for other purposes anyway.
Fish protein happens to be remarkable, and, in this particular case, hydrolysis gives the fish protein a very uniform consistency and makes it super soluble, very suspendable, and easy to deliver in any gardening application. (It’s super stanky so you know it works.)
How does it work?
Fish protein provides L-type amino acid content that is immediately available to the plant. In the event that the plant doesn’t uptake everything, the fish protein will then feed a biological population that happens to be part of the greater rhizosphere of organisms that add protein degraders, some of which have also focused as chiton degraders. So, a little bit of fish protein catalyzes a set of biological processes that release a lot more nitrogen for a plant to use. In other words, this product offers a great way to kick off nitrogen or help squeeze nitrogen out of a soil system.
