David Davis

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since May 10, 2014
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Recent posts by David Davis

Donald Kenning wrote:Mr. Davis:

OK, one thing at a time.

The "fertilizer" is "organic based". They can say that because the main ingredient is stuff that came out of the butt of a chicken. You seem to be worried about the chickens. First of all, growth hormones are not given to chickens (illegal) (however they do give them to cows). Some chickens these days do not get antibiotics, but if this chicken manure is in a package with this other garbage, then quite likely, the chickens had antibiotics. Since people (and your pets) do not eat the grass the antibiotics will eventually break down. The chicken was probably, also, fed gmo corn and other crap, but that is a discussion for another time.

The other stuff in the bag. Yea, those things are either mined (raping the earth) or created from petroleum (raping the earth) and travel long distances to get to your store (raping the earth). Some companies even call those other ingredients "natural" because they came from the earth (mined).

I believe the reason that Paul suggests half the amount (of any kind of fertilizer) is because he has come to the realization that healthy soils do not get depleted of nutrients. That a healthy soil food web moves all the water and nutrients to your plants (grass) it needs. That applies to everything that grows such as lawns, gardens and 10,000 acre row crop farms. But for many people who have spent a lifetime believing soils deplete, it is hard to get them to stop using the chemicals that are simply not needed. Therefore, it is easier to convince someone to use half than to use none at all.

I could be wrong about Paul's reasoning but that is my guess.




Paul's advice in his "Cheap and Lazy" article is mow high, leave clippings, water deeply but infrequently and fertilize in the spring and fall with an organic fertilizer at half the recommended rate. One thing that got me worrying about the chicken manure was an ad for Dr. Earth organic lawn fertilizer which said that dried poultry waste was full of all the chemicals they feed and put into chickens as well as pesticides that they spray in chicken facilities.

http://drearth.net/home/chicken-manure-in-“organic”-fertilizers-and-soils—can-you-say-“cheap-cheap”/
8 years ago

wayne fajkus wrote:Are you bagging when you mow or are the clippings staying in the lawn?



The clippings stay on the lawn. I have a mulching mower. I follow Paul's advice and mow high and leave the clippings. The fertilizer I've been using is called Pro-Rich by Richlawn.
8 years ago
In the "Cheap and Lazy" article Paul, he calls for using organic fertilizer and says you should use half the amount called for on the bag. Why is this? Also I've been using a fertilizer that says that it is "organic based" but i've noticed it has ammonium sulfate" in it. The ingredients are: Dried Poultry Manure, Polymer-Coated Sulfur- Coated Urea, Urea, Ammonium Sulfate, Ammoniated Phosphate, Muriate of Potash, and Ferrous Sulfate. Would this be considered a good or bad lawn fertilizer? Anything bad about poultry waste? I worry that there could be toxic chemicals in the waste that were fed to the chickens like antibiotics and growth hormones etc.
8 years ago

Burra Maluca wrote:David - you might find this article interesting. Just click it and it should take you to the page Organic Lawn Care



That's a great article! I don't know where to find moldy hay but I've seen Ringer fertilizer and it's very expensive. Any other more reasonable organic fertilizers?
10 years ago

John Polk wrote:Well, that certainly is not an "organic" product.

"Organic" can be a very loose term. For 'organic' produce, the regulations are pretty strict.
In general commerce, the interpretation is much looser.

It could be argued that petroleum, and its by-products are organic.
After all, it is derived from foliage that has been decaying in the earth for millions of years.
Doesn't mean that you should spray your tomato plants with kerosene, because it came from plants.

Their claim that it is based on organic matter reflects that its primary ingredient is chicken shit.
Undoubtedly from 'factory farmed hens', whose diet is mostly GMO soy and corn, laced with antibiotics.

Almost all commercial chicken manure comes from factory farms - they produce tons of it as a by-product.

Try scattering some clovers into your lawn. They will fix as much nitrogen from the atmosphere as that product will provide.



So doing think its better to seed with clover than speed fertilizer?
10 years ago

John Polk wrote:Welcome to permies David.

When you say 'so called organic', what do you mean?
If it is truly organic, the hens should never be fed antibiotics, chemicals, GMOs, etc.
If the label just says something like 'Natural', 'Nature's own', etc. then it probably will contain trace amounts of those additives. If it actually says "Organic", and/or has an OMRI label, then it should be safe to use.

If it does however, have any of those ingredients, probably the most concerning would be the antibiotics ("against life").
We live in an over medicated society, and tests of treated waste water often reveal substantial quantities of antibiotics. Besides killing much of your soil life, their abundance in 'the wild' (your lawn and dog) is a primary factor of the evolution of disease organisms that are developing immunity to these 'life savers'.

EDITED to add: This is much more of a concern on edible crops than it is on a lawn, but still a concern.



The product is Richlawn Pro-Rich: http://www.therichlawncompany.com/products/fertilizers/pro-rich-turf-food/

and the label says "Natural, Organic Based" but it doesn't have the OMRI label.
10 years ago
The organic fertilizer Dr. Earth has an article on their website saying that poultry waste fertilizer is not safe because it contains all the chemicals and antibiotics and pesticides that they feed and spray on the factory hens. Would you think this is true? I've been using a so-called organic lawn fertilizer that has chicken waste in it and now I'm wondering if its really safe to use with my dogs.
10 years ago