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Guano: An Ancient Fertilizer For Organic Hydroponics · Hydroponics Daily

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  Hello and welcome back to Hydroponics Daily, the podcast where we examine the
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  tools, techniques and nutrients that shape the future of soilless agriculture, or hydroponics.
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  I'm your host, Dr Russell Sharp, and today we're going to focus on one of the
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  oldest and most potent natural fertilisers in the world, and that's guano.
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  And I'm going to talk about this one because I talked about organic fertilisers previously,
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  and I said excrement is not used very
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  often in hydroponics because it's smelly
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  it's and it's hard to preserve and there
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  are a number of health issues with you know obviously using excrement in
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  a hydroponic system with all that hot bubbling liquid around
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  you could seriously get an issue however guano is probably the only excrement
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  based product i promise i'm going to stop saying excrement soon that is used
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  in hydroponics you will find it in grow shops and maybe in hybrid systems where
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  they use cocoa or still use a bit of soil in the hydroponic system, then you'll find that.
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  So it's actually probably the oldest intense fertilizer that's known.
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  It's got a fascinating history, a checkered history.
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  What is guano? It's an accumulation of excrement of seabirds and bats.
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  And seal populations can build up some guano on isolated animals.
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  Islands, however, when we're talking about guano, we're either talking seabird
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  guano or bat guano, and it forms in a deposit over time in caves,
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  on islands, the coastal areas, where it undergoes natural decomposition and mineralisation.
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  So it's not just a fresh excrement, it is the decomposed mineralised product.
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  So it was recognised historically for
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  its exceptional nutrient density so civilizations such
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  as the incas utilized seabird guano
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  extensively but it was in the 19th century when
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  it really there was a boom in guano that
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  was found on guano rich islands in south
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  america and central america and actually
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  it's thought that guano sort of kick-started american
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  imperialism and the american empire when they
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  rushed to find guano islands in
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  the caribbean and these islands are still disputed that the
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  territorial claims and some there's one
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  that is disputed between haiti and the us i
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  wouldn't want to get into a war between haiti and the us
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  i think one side might win rather hands down on that one but then in 19 1908
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  the harbour bosch process was invented for fixing synthetic nitrogen and 1913
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  the first harbour bosch factory was developed and Since then,
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  synthetic fertilisers have taken over from guano as the main source of fertilisers,
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  so there wasn't such a rush to get guano.
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  You'll often hear nitrogen fertilisers being a wartime invention and developed
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  from bomb making and things like that.
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  That's nonsense. It's not a wartime invention. It was a peacetime invention,
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  actually, that was just used in the war to make gunpowder.
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  But before then, there was guano, and guano was used to make gunpowder as well
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  because it's got a very high nitrate level.
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  So, as I say, Victorian times or colonial times, South America is the place
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  where most guano is harvested, but there is guano other places around the world,
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  wherever you get seabirds or bats. Australia is a big one, Turkey.
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  And sometimes it can be sustainably harvested and it can be a good source of organic fertilizer.
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  And I think OMRI allow bat guano to be organic, but bird guano is not so I think
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  it's from albatrosses and what's the other one one of those big birds from South
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  America and it depends on how it's harvested,
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  And the harvesting has got a tricky checkered past.
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  And a lot of slave labor was used. A lot of people were exported to South America
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  under false pretenses to harvest it and were basically slave laborers.
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  And a lot of convicts were used to harvest it in terrible conditions,
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  terrible working conditions.
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  Very unhealthy as well. And we'll go on to that.
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  And so nowadays it's actually quite a highly paid job in Chile and Peru.
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  But still dangerous. I mean some of the unsustainable practices
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  include blowing the mines up to get the guano out
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  and obviously that disturbs the bats just a slight bit so make
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  sure you always get your guano from a sustainable source and bird
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  guano is got a high level
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  of nitrogen because birds don't excrete
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  urea they excrete uric acid and that
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  is much higher in concentration in nitrogen whereas
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  bat guano that's very high in phosphates so say your pea
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  and both of them will be fairly high in
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  potassium as well so a good npk fertilizer
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  it also contains and here's the crucial bit it
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  also contains a lot of organic carbon and organic matter
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  whereas most npk fertilizers don't so you get a really good source that's going
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  to feed the soil microbes and other things that are going to be good for the
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  plants provide amino acids and stuff like this so really good source of organic
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  nitrogen and all the beautiful things that that does for your grow media.
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  It also contains a lot of chitin.
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  If bats are eating insectiferous bats, then it's going to contain a lot of chitin.
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  And chitin is great, again, for helping plants resist pests and disease. So that's good.
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  And then, as typical bat, guano will have a pH of about 7.25.
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  So not in the sweet spot of 5.5 to 6.5 for...
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  Hydroponics, but close, not far off. Certainly a lot closer to the sweet spot
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  than say fish fertilizer or alkaline extract, seaweed extracts,
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  the cheap and cheerful seaweed extracts.
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  So yeah, not too bad on that front. What else can we say?
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  You have to be careful. Don't make a dust when you're using guano because there
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  is a fungal disease that lives in guano.
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  It's called histoplasmarosis or something like this. I'm not a human biologist,
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  so I'm not particularly good with human diseases.
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  That's found in all birds. You'll get that on chicken manure and stuff like
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  that, so you have to be careful.
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  It's particularly a problem for people who are immunocompromised.
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  So it's one of the first diseases that HIV patients get.
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  And so you have to be really careful if you were immunocompromised using bat
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  guano or chicken manure.
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  You can't get rabies from bat guano even though
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  bats do carry rabies or some
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  bats do it would but if you were harvesting guano then obviously if you got
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  bit by a bat then you'd have to get treatment for rabies i'm i've been vaccinated
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  against rabies when i went to french guyana in the amazon rainforest so i would
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  still need treatment if it was bitten by a bat but i'm not going to harvest
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  any bat guano anytime soon,
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  and obviously if you're harvesting bat guano in china you might want to look out for covid it.
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  There is a rumour that it comes from bats and was extracted from bats.
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  Another rumour is that it came from a food market.
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  Yeah, you make your mind up on that one. I'm not getting into that.
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  I still want to go back to China every now and again.
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  So what else can we say about guano? Let's say it's popular with organic hydroponic growers,
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  even though strictly speaking, it is probably
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  best with soil systems unlike slow
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  release organic fertilizers like bone
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  meal or blood ones it's going
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  to have a fast nutrient uptake because it's fairly soluble not
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  completely soluble you can't just put it in water and it dissolves it's organic
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  it's going to stimulate microbes and a good one that we've talked about before
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  on the organic one is because it's based on excrement and not parts of animals
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  it's a great one for vegans and for vegetarians because it doesn't require.
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  Meat production to or fish
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  you know and and animal carcasses or blood and
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  things like this so it's a it's probably one
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  of the few npk products that's organic
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  and vegan so stick
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  that in your pipe and smoke don't smoke it no don't stick that in your
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  pipe and smoke it other uses for guano other than just being
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  incorporated into your grown media is that it
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  can be used as a compost tea or a guano tea where it's seeped
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  for 24 to 48 hours the liquid's then
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  strained and added to the nutrients reservoir that way so
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  you get a soluble form or applied as a
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  foliar spray now obviously be careful don't get
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  the spray inhale the spray and things like that be really super careful as we
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  said it can be used in cocoa coir drip fed media any
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  of our passive systems can be part of the nutrient regime it could be diluted
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  and monitored carefully to ensure there's no clogging or salt buildup yeah you
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  don't want to really be careful with the ec value especially if it's near the
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  sea you know potentially for salt contamination things like this so several companies sell,
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  powdered guano and guano in palette pelletized pelletized i can't say that word
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  i'm not giving a try again liquid guanos so they're all different ones different
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  ph balanced perfect ones for organic consumption.
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  I'll just find the one that is the most common one in Europe.
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  Guano Carlong. That's the one that's the blue bottles with the red lids.
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  And they're a really good company and definitely recommend them for anything guano based.
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  And they do really other good organic products like seaweed extracts and things
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  like that. So check them out.
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  So high nutrient density rapid availability compatible
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  with organic standards vegan and vegetarian enhance the
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  motor over your life in non-sterile systems like cocoa
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  where there's not going to be a indigenous sort of beneficial microbes
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  the drawbacks are the risks of pathogen contamination
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  that histoplasma rosis thing that we
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  talked about and also you're going to have things like you're always
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  going to be careful any sort of organic growing media always
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  be careful of things like legionnaires as well so never inhale any dust wear
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  a mask if possible there's potential for over fertilization if
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  you overdo it and there might be inconsistencies between batches
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  and customers so we say and there's also
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  the ethical environmental concerns of disrupting a fragile ecosystem
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  such as bird nests and bat caves and the
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  guano there's loads of animals that live on guano as well in their native habitats
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  it's like fish that eat guano and stuff like this in little rock
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  pools yeah i don't i don't want to be reincarnated
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  as a fish that eats back droppings though so avoid deep
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  water culture or sterile systems unless.
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  Thoroughly filtered to within an inch of its life this
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  is one for hybrid systems you know cocoa and things
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  like that so and passive systems so
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  that concludes today's episode on guano and its role in hydroponics or
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  its limited role in hydroponics so whether you're
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  an organic grower looking for a natural nutrient source or simply
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  interested in organic alternative inputs guano
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  remains a powerful option so keep.
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  It in mind obviously chicken manure is is
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  is the other excrement based product but i wouldn't use that
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  in um hydroponics it's too too much
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  ammonia in there it could potentially burn your crops chicken manure
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  is famous for burning your crops and wouldn't provide much phosphorus or
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  potassium as well so for an all-rounded response i'd definitely go
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  for guano it's not the cheapest product can be very expensive
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  and that's what limits its use in in horticulture in
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  only the top sort of garden centers would sell
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  it i've seen i've only ever seen it for sale in really top end sort
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  of tropical nurseries in the uk your local garden
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  center your local you know big box store they're
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  not going to touch it because it's going to be way too expensive and they want
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  the cheap and cheerful stuff that people understand and no one's going to know
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  what guano is in most garden centers whereas your
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  grow shops they will know what it is speak to your shop if
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  you want to know what's the best option and what's the best company as
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  i said i mentioned that one guano car
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  long they're based in holland and they're a reputable company they've been around
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  for a long time and i can say that i've got any you know any skin in the game
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  on that when it comes to guano i don't sell guano i don't you know i sell alternatives
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  to guano so yeah if you you can trust me on that one okay that's been hydroponics
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  daily for today thank you very much for listening.
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  Until tomorrow, I'll see you then. Goodbye.