Top 10 Reasons to Use Archipelago Bat Guano

 1.   Provides numerous nutrients that are essential for plant life without adding toxic waste 

            ABG’s customers commonly report that their plants respond very well to application of ABG phosphate.  They also report that fruits, flowers and vegetables are more abundant and larger when they apply this product.  We attribute these reports to the abundant supply of essential nutrients contained in ABG phosphate.  

            Plants require 16 elements for life.  Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are taken up from the atmosphere.  All others come from the soil.  Of those essential elements that come from soil, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium are needed in the greatest quantities.  These are referred to as the primary nutrients.  ABG Phosphate contains only trace amounts of nitrogen and potassium.  However, ABG Phosphate has a guaranteed analysis of 20% total P₂O₅ and 7% available P₂O₅.  

            Phosphorous is absolutely essential for plant growth.  Among other things, phosphorous enhances seed germination and early growth, stimulates blooming, enhances bud set, aids in seed formation, hastens maturity, and provides winter hardiness to crops planted in late fall and early spring.  Phosphate deficient plants commonly exhibit retarded growth and deep green or red coloration.  Phosphate deficiency will negatively effect fruit and flower production.

          According to a comprehensive report on phosphate fertilizer prepared by The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, it is reported that 0.2 ppm phosphorous in soil is adequate for optimum growth.  “However, for plants to absorb the total amounts of P (phosphate) required to produce good yields, the P concentration of the soil solution in contact with the roots requires continuous renewal during the growth cycle.”  Thus, under continuous cultivation, phosphate should be regularly added to phosphate-deficient soil.  Simple soil tests can be done to determine the phosphate content of your soil.    

            Essential elements that are needed in less quantity than the primary nutrients are commonly divided into “secondary nutrients” and “micronutrients” (some sources lump all of these together as “micronutrients”).  The secondary nutrients include calcium, magnesium and sulfur.  ABG is very rich in calcium (17%) and magnesium (0.2-0.5%).  It is not a significant source of sulfur. 

            The rest of the essential elements are needed in relatively small amounts and they are referred to as the micronutrients.  These include iron, manganese, zinc, copper, boron, chlorine and molybdenum.  ABG phosphate contains significant quantities of many of these micronutrients.  ABG guarantees 3% iron, 0.5% manganese, and 0.15% zinc.  ABG phosphate also contains a significant amount of copper (up to 0.05%) and minor molybdenum (4 parts per million).  

            The high phosphate and micronutrient content in ABG phosphate is uniquely inherent to this all-natural product.  Most commercially-available N-P-K fertilizers must have micronutrients added.  Many of these added micronutrients are derived from industrial waste and most states do not require that the consumer be informed of this.  Please see Reason 4 for more on this issue. 

TABLE 1

AVERAGE ASSAY-DETERMINED CONCENTRATIONS OF ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN ABG PHOSPHATE VERSES MINIMUM CONCENTRATION REQUIRED TO CLAIM A FERTILIZER AS A NUTRIENT SOURCE (Guaranteed Analysis is Necessarily Lower than the Average Assay-Determined Concentrations)

Bold = Elements claimed by ABG Phosphate. Claimed amount is in parentheses after the average assay value.

Italics = Elements that ABG Phosphate has almost enough of to claim.

*Cobalt is on the California list even though it is generally not considered an essential element. 

TABLE 2

AMOUNT OF ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS PROVIDED BY ABG PHOSPHATE COMPARED TO THE SUGGESTED ANNUAL DEMAND OF NUTRIENTS IN WASHINGTON SOILS. 

Supporting documents and further information can be found at the following web sites:

1. Essential Plant Nutrients: Their Presence in North Carolina Soils and Role in Plant Nutrition, M. R. Tucker, 1999, North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. (provides micronutrient needs for soil)

2. Maintaining soil fertility under an organic management system, M. VanTine and S. Verlinden, 2003, West Virginia University Extension Service. (lists essential elements (micronutrients) for plant life and limited information on how to maintain them organically)

3. Impact of Mineral Deficiency Stress, S. Kant and U. Kafkafi, The Hebrew University. (discusses symptoms of plant micronutrient deficiency)

4. Principles of Micronutrient Use, P. Brown, UC-Davis. (Excellent slide presentation on micronutrient requirements in soil.  The most important point is that every micronutrient is essential and that deficiency of any micronutrient will dictate poor health of the plant.)

5. Micronutrient Fertilizer Recommendations for Commercial and Home-Garden Vegetables, J. Swiader. (gives micronutrients requirements in pounds per acre)

6. Fear in the Fields -- How Hazardous Wastes Become Fertilizer – Spreading Heavy Metals on Farmland is Perfectly Legal, But Little Research Has Been Done To Find Out Whether it’s Safe, Wilson, D., 1997 (This story led to enactment of state laws in Washington and California requiring limits on heavy metal concentrations of fertilizers and requirements that the source of nutrients be identified.)

7. Toxic Waste: 270 Million Pounds On Farm Fields -- Washington State 4Th In Nation Among Recipients, Report Says, D. Wilson  (606 companies in 44 states sent more than 270 million pounds of toxic wastes to farms and fertilizer companies in the first six years of the 1990’s.)

8. The soil profile, v. 16, 2006, NJ Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension. (“a series of loopholes in USA federal law controlling solid waste, hazardous waste, and mine tailings have the effect of allowing the application of what would otherwise be considered hazardous material as fertilizer”)

9. As you sow: toxic waste in California home and farm fertilizers, J. Kaplan et al, 1999. (note on p. 14 that the fertilizers that are most likely to be toxic waste in their own rights are phosphate, zinc and iron fertilizers.  ABG phosphate is high in all of these nutrients while maintaining a relatively low content of heavy metals that are not beneficial to plant life.)

10. Background Report on Fertilizer use, contaminants and regulations, 1999. (EPA report responding to concerns of hazardous waste in fertilizer)

11. Estimating Risk from Contaminants contained in agricultural fertilizers, 1999.  (EPA study addressing risk assessment of contaminants in fertilizer.  Generally, fertilizer is safe.)

12. A Growing Concern: Hazardous Waste in Fertilizer, D. Rutter, The New Farm, 2003 (Under Federal law and most State laws, any material containing one of the 16 elements essential to plant life can be sold as fertilizer, regardless of the other contents of the material.  The sources include industrial and mining wastes and sewage sludge.  Thus, in most states, fertilizers sold to home gardeners and farms may legally contain heavy metals, PCBs, dioxin, chlorinated pesticides, asbestos, industrial solvents, petroleum products, and radioactive material.  One of the reasons for this system is that it allows producers of toxic waste to legally sell such material at a profit instead of paying to have it disposed of in proper hazardous waste disposal facilities.)  

13.  EPA Stakeholder Meetings on Waste Derived Fertilizers, U.S. EPA, 1998 (Summarizes concerns of citizens regarding waste in fertilizer and the EPA responses.)

14. America’s Farmlands are New Hazardous Waste Dumps, G. Guidetti, 1997 (Lists several specific examples of toxic waste being sold or used as fertilizer.  Examples include an Oklahoma uranium processing plant that sprays 10 million gallons of low-level radioactive waste over 9,000 acres every year and steel mills mixing waste with lime and selling “Lime Plus” micronutrient fertilizer without mention of high lead contents.)    

15. Heavy Metals in Fertilizers: Considerations for Setting Regulations in Oregon, L. Curtis and B. Smith, 2002 (Outlines concerns of heavy metals in fertilizers.  Arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and nickel concentrations are regulated by state law.  Mean background levels in Oregon soils are 6.4 ppm arsenic, 0.3 ppm cadmium, 8.6-16 ppm lead, 0.11 ppm mercury, and 16-27 ppm nickel.)  

16.  Use of Phosphate Rocks for Sustainable Agriculture, F. Zapta and R. Roy, Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations (2004) (It is reported that 0.2 ppm phosphorous in soil is adequate for optimum growth.  “However, for plants to absorb the total amounts of P (phosphate) required to produce good yields, the P concentration of the soil solution in contact with the roots requires continuous renewal during the growth cycle.”)