The first stage in trials of Caveman’s Bat Guano at Lullingstone castle in Kent, home of the World Garden has reached some positive conclusions and leads the way to continuing use and trials beginning with fertilization of beds actually in the World Garden in October. We visited on a busy Sunday late August to catch up with Tom and check the progress of the plants. Back in October for another update! Click to enlarge pictures.

Above we have 2 Toothed Lancewood’s, inspected by Tom Hart Dyke and Michael from Caveman’s. The smaller plant on the left was fertilized with a small amount of Caveman’s Bat Guano, whilst the larger plant was left in Tom’s normal potting mix. The new growth at the top of the Lancewood’s is clearly visible, and although the Guano test subject was always a smaller tree, the new growth since fertilization exceeds the other plant by around 1/3. From this Tom concludes ‘The Guano subject has grown more than the lancewood without’.

Below are some Succulents, the one on the left was potted with a good dose of Bat Guano. The Succulent with the Fertilizer didnt fare as well, although still managed to survive. Tom says ‘Normally if I fertilize Succulents I would use a fraction of the general dose’. Of course specialist succulent fertilizers are available, but we will do more intensive studies to find a real beneficial dose of Bat Guano for Succulents next year.

Below are are some more specimens which clearly show an increase in growth. Although the dosage was kept to a conservative level during the potting these plants do have increased bushy growth and vibrant colouring.

Above. Aanigozanthos Flavidus – “kangaroo paw”. The plant on the right was potted with a Caveman’s Bat Guano in the mix. Note the extra growth and darker shade of green. Click to enlarge.

And here’s how the specimen on the right looked in May.

Above. Hedychium Greenii “Dark Leaved Ginger”. Again the plant on the right fertilized with Bat Guano is clearly inches taller than its counterpart on the left which is lifted of the ground. Click to enlarge.

This Cestrum below from Mexico was given a mix of Guano in May, unfortunately no comparisons but Tom noted its vigour and was very pleased with its success.

There is still some more subjects to examine in October so more updates then when we return to the castle, we are also aiming to add some testimonials from our customers once the season is through as well as update to more indepth usage guidelines based on continuing trials from our first season in the garden with Caveman’s Bat Guano. Much, much more to come.

Below. A bed in the wonderful Cactii house at Lullingstone castle, Centered by an amazing specimen.

We are due at Lullingstone castle this Sunday to catch up with Tom Hart Dyke and get a lowdown on the performance of Caveman’s Bat Guano which was used earlier in the year in some exotic and native species to see how they compare to Tom’s normal soil mix. Reporting back next week with details and pics from Lullingstone Castle’s amazing World Garden. Click here for the earlier report.

For the summer of 2008 we have graciously been received by Lullingstone Castle in Kent, England to perform some trials with Bat Guano on plant life from across the globe. Tom Hart Dyke famous for his adventures travelling the world in search of rare plant life and also the force behind the ‘World Garden’ at Lullingstone castle invited us to spend the day in the castle gardens and help to pot up some plants for display later this year. We set up comparison’s by potting plants with and without Caveman’s Bat Guano in the soil mix. Using plants from Europe, the America’s, Asia & Africa we set the wheels in motion to discover how effective Bat Guano can be as a fertilizer on more exotic plant life, as well as the more well known species that our customers have enjoyed success with.

Some of the plant species we used in the comparison test are:

• Toothed Lancewood – ‘Pseudopanax ferox’ is a rare tree of lowland forest and scrub throughout New Zealand.
• Gingers – ‘Hedychium Greenii’ has a beautiful bloom of orange flowers which look like butterflys, Native to South West China.
• Succulents – ‘Echeveria’ has rosettes of fleshy leaves which flower in spring, summer or winter. Mexico.
• ‘Crassula Sarcocaulis’ or Bonsai Crassula is a succulent sub-shrub native to South Africa.
• Canna Lily – This particular variety of Canna was only discovered last year in forest around Quito.
• ‘Iochroma Cyaneum’ – spreading evergreen shrub with shiny green leaves and drooping clusters of deep purple-blue tubular flowers in summer – South America.

Check out the gallery below with more information in the captions.

More news on the out come this July.

More info about Lullingstone castle

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