Eleanor,
You make some excellent points. My understanding is that the law
will not restrict organic fertilizers because it is absolutely impossible
to remove the P from them (at least to do so cost-effectively) and there
have to be organic options available to those who choose, for philosophical
reasons, not to use sythetic fertilizers. In the case of compost made from
municipal yard wastes, this is not such a serious problem because the
analysis is usually only 1-1-1. Also, this compost merely represents
recycling of P that came from the environment from which it came, not
additional P brought in from elsewhere.
I hadn't thought about such things as soybean meal or fish-based
fertilizers, however, which would represent imported P. You are absolutely
right that the labels on these may not show how much P they actually
contain. This is because fertilizer labelling laws were designed to
guarantee the consumer a minimum amount of nutrient content, not to protect
the environment from excess nutrients. Since so many organic fertilizers
are highly variable, they are labelled at the minimum possible, not the
average. This is an aspect of the law that ought to be changed.
Lois Braun
Ramsey County MG
P.S. How widely do you think such things as soybean meal and fished based
fertilizers are being used on lawns?
At 01:37 PM 3/1/02 -0600, you wrote:
>Lois,
>
>Thanks for all of your interesting research on the lawn P issue. I have
>read it with great fascination. I also wanted to emphasize that even
>though some of the natural fertilizers say -0- P on the label, they may
>actually contain P, how much depends on what they are made of, such as
>soybean base or fish base. If you apply these natural fertilizers for N
>you may even be applying more P than some of the synthetic fertilizers
>contain, depending on the base of the natural fertilizer. I think the
>legislation would regulate this more as well (as to how much is actually
>in the formula).
>
>In the group of shoreland educators which I work with, we have discussed
>this issue at great length.
>
>Eleanor Burkett, Extension Educator
>
>Natural Resources and Environment
>
>UM Extension Service - Cass County
>
>245 Barclay Avenue, PO Box 709
>
>Pine River, MN 56474
>
>Phone: (218) 587-8280
>
>Toll Free: (866) 587-8281
>
>Fax: (218)587-8282
>
>burke044@umn.edu
>
>
>
>
