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Organic lawn fertilisers

Evening.  Has anyone ever applied chicken manure pellets or blood, fish and bone meal to lawns? I have looked into it and it seems it can be done. I'm trying to go organic as much as possible and this is one treatment that could be effective.

 

If it gives slow release, improves the soil and does not harm the soil micro-organisms then i might trial a bit on the family farm and watch the results. Rooster do a special chicken manure product with added seaweed which is especially for lawns. Might be a bit expensive though.

 

Watch this space





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  • I've used chicken pellets on my lawn at home and i'm impressed with the results( and so is the dog who loves eating them) and have had several comments on how green my lawn looks. I have also used calcified seaweed to green it up which was successful.

     

    I dont cut too low though.

  • hi rowly it seems expensive what rate are you spreading it at and what about the weeds, have you got any photos to convince us and customers as the one on pitch care web site dos-not look very good

    ROWLY HILL said:

    I'm trialling Mo bacter by Viano on two lawns.

     

    http://www.pitchcare.com/shop/viano-fertilisers/mo-bacter.html?gcli...

     

    Early indicators are encouraging and I might also try their Bio lime product later in the year to address ph issues.

  • PRO

    Mo bacter looks interesting. Its expensive but it says you dont need to scarify the moss out - could be worth the extra. Good point paul about the bone meal attracting foxes etc. Dont want the lawns dug up.

     

    I'm going to try chicken manure pellets - i just hope there is'nt too much of a pong.

  • Blood fish and bone could scorch the turf?

     

    Thought this might be worth a try; Evolution Organic from Sheriff. 


    http://www.sherriffgrasscare.co.uk/products.aspx?pname=Evolution%C2...
  • PRO

    Thanks Gareth. That looks like a really good product at a good price. I'm gonna get some i think. 

     

    I spread 7kg of 6X chicken manure pellets on one of my mums lawns today - about 80m2. Will see what that does. It went on well with a allen spreader with the chute fully open and agitator installed.

  • I've been trying out a slow release organic lawn feed from ALS this year.

     

    Lasts for three months and after a slow start all the lawns are going crazy now we have finally had a bit of sun. It has the usual nitrogen etc plus cocoa shells etc in it. Wiffs a bit but does the job, not the cheapest though.

    Think it was about £37 delivered for a 20kg bag which covers around 700m.

  • PRO

    I've been mulch mowing for about 1 year with my countax and this season only with my honda hrh 536 qx (roller). It is starting to have an effect. It would be nice to get away from using fert altogether and just using iron sulphate for moss killing and greening up the lawn and a liquid weedkiller such as holster for the weeds (suckling clover and speedwell seem to be my problem weeds). Any fert that has to be applied i will try and push organic.

     

    I did'nt realise the 6X pellets were so high in nitrogen compared to other chicken manure pellets. I like the look of the rooster lawn pellets which have added seaweed   www.rooster.uk.com  - they are based in northallerton which is not far from me, maybe i can pick up a bulk order for a saving.

     

    Thats a lovely garden john. I take it you mulch the lawn? Dont you get any lawn weeds or moss or are they left to do their own thing?

  • PRO

    Thanks John.

     

    I wish customers would allow me to cut a little higher. Mulching works better this way as there is more scope to hide the clippings. Plus moss may be a little less of a problem with taller grass. I will try and persuade them as to the bennefits but i will be fighting a losing battle with a couple of them i'm sure.

     

    Hand weeding lawn weeds is something i have done a little of but it is so time consuming and customers usually want the quick/cheap fix. Hence the use of feed, weed and mosskiller - the problem being i dont think it does a good job of any of the three things its supposed to do. Seperate treatments are always best, i just need a chance to show it is worth the extra outlay.

     

    Ideally going completely chemical free is what i would like to do but i just dont think its going to happen with the majority of customers.

  • PRO

    I agree john, chemicals cant be doing the soil bacteria any good. I will try and do what you have and slowly convert them to organics. I will start with the fertiliser this year and maybe try and push some top dressing with organic material after aerating.

     

    I'm getting really excited about the prospects of being totally organic, i just hope my customers will be too.

  • Ive been using chicken manure pellets with Mulching on some larger lawns all year, and the results have been good, However I've found mulching on its own takes care of alot of the work as your simply recylcing the nurtients.

    The only lawns Ive had problems with are ones where the customer insists the lawn is cut to 1/2 inch height, and explaining to them that this is the cause of the patchy lawn and why it goes brown after any hot weather is a losing battle, as they are convinced a lawn should be cut to 1/2 inch, and no amount of care of expertise will save the lawn.

    Oh that and beech trees, I cant explain enough... you cannot grow good grass in the shade of a beech and No amount of fertilizer will give you thick green grass....

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