Can you safely add salmon carcasses to compost?

Yes, but it can draw vermin unless buried deep and well. Even then if you have bear in your area I would be concerned.
The other concern is that it may throw your C:N ratio off if you don't balance it.

You could make some killah Bokashi though!

 

Here's a good read on the subject.
Compost Symposium - Fish Compost for Agriculture, gardens greenhouses

 

Bury it well and you're fine. The problem with throwing carcasses on compost piles is that protein and lipids take a long time to rot away through microbial action. Oh, also the ungodly, horrific, wannadie smell.

 

i've heard of growers burying small fish 5-10'' inside 5-7 gallon pots with larger plants being transplanted above them. if this is done early enough there won't be anything left of it after harvest (when the root ball is inspected). But they were growing the fish and using the ones that die off because of lacking space to fertilize. Not as ethical as what you're saying. And I'm sure that theyres some good karma and merit towards it in outdoor applications.

 

My step dad was 1/16 native american indian (east coast). He used to bury fish heads under our plants in our rather large outdoor vegetable garden.

We had a dog as well as our neighbors, so that may explain why there wasn't many issues with animals digging up our garden.

 

I dont think you could do much better - however, like several of the other Blades stated, it WILL draw animals. Theres just no doubt about it. If you can figure a way to keep the animals out of it, and you dont mind the fishy smell, then go for it. I use a compost that is made with salmon and its simply fantastic.

Good stuff.

jerry.
jerry.

 

I put carp in my pile. They actually go pretty quickly.

 

i always throw a cpl bluegill in my buckets a cpl of weeks prior to transplant...never had a problem....good luck

 

Running the fish material through an EM-1 (fermentation) process would preclude many of the problems associated with wildlife.

Then again raccoons will dig ANYTHING from ANYWHERE - the 'swine branch' of the mammal world.

LD

 

When I was a kid, there was a nearby river that had a "Sucker Run".
The "Suckers" were a species of Carp.
They jumped up a rocky waterfall and we caught burlap bags full of them with our hands.

We would bury a fish under each plant in the garden just like the natives taught our New England ancestors.

We didn't grow any weed back then, but whatever we did grow always did great.

We also saved some to bury with my grandmother's roses.

As much as I love this method, I think it would be better if the fish was fully composted first.

 

Ptg701, your post reminded me of something a time long ago. We have sucker runs in my state too. One year three of us consumed mass quanities of beer(keg) and fished most of the night for suckers. Around 4AM, we had about 6 inches deep of suckers in a pick up bed. Being the budding environmental stewards we were, it became inoperative we used these fish in the best way possible. So, as a gesture of good will, we drove around the local policemans house distributing these fish all around his house.... MIW

 

Then again raccoons will dig ANYTHING from ANYWHERE - the 'swine branch' of the mammal world.

Several years ago tried using fish hydrolysate (Neptunes Harvest) on my outdoor grow. Bad idea. I believe it was a skunk, but might very well have been a coon, too...

Dug up all of my plants looking for the fish, even though it was just fish fertilizer. Just the smell from the fish hydrolysate attracted the critter enough to get it digging -

I learned my lesson, unfortunately. Its just too bad, because the fish juice works so darn good.

jerry.

 

Skunks & raccoons are simply twin sons from different mothers.

 

greasy bastards..

 

I like skunk and raccoons, despite an odd experience out deep in the woods with a few raccoons after anointing myself with some sacred fungi.