grass fertilizer and ducks

[FromTheCity]

Hello everyone!
This may sound dumb but I need to know about grass fertilizer. My ducks are pretty much free range and are roaming the yard during the day and in the pen at night. My husband insist that we need to fertilize the yard with Scotts Southern lawn food and that it will not harm the ducks since it states safe for pets and children if used as directed. I am really worried because I don't know how long after fertilizing that I can let the ducks back out in the yard. Does anyone fertilize their yard? And if so what did you do? I prefer not using it but my husband said he paid a lot of money for the yard. Should I get rid of my husband?n Hehe!

 

[needlessjunk]

Do NOT use it!!!!! Period. No it is not at all safe to use any type of fertilizer on a grazing lawn. It is "safe" for pets but dogs and cats don't go around eating every little crumble in the yard. It is very dangerous to ducks. Essentially it would be like putting it in their food. I'm saying this mostly for your husbands benefit. Your lawn will survive without fertilizer! In fact you have the best kind around, ducks! Their poop is great for lawns. Please, please, please do not let him use it anywhere around the duck. I wouldn't even chance it on the front yard due to run off. He can return the bag to the store or sell it on Craigslist but it is not safe at all to be around livestock that eat the grass. Same thing goes for grass seeds. If he ever wants to lay down seeds he will have to look for something that is not treated and is safe for grazing. I have yet to find anything to fit that bill in a normal hardware store.

 

[Amiga]

I agree with needlessjunk 100%.

Just wondering - what is it that indicates the lawn needs fertilizer? A good quality compost - real, properly produced compost, that is safe for waterfowl to noodle around in - is said to be the best thing for lawns, anyway.

Some lawns just turn brown in summer - blue grass, for example, is a cool season grass that will look poorly in summer.

 

[tdd2]

Commercials paid for by chemical companies is what drives 'your lawn needs fertilizer'

Plants thrived for millions of years before humans mucked things up, and as needlessjunk stated - ducks provide fantastic fertilizer!

 

[FromTheCity]

Thank you for your input! I will let him know! Could you possibly use a liquid fertilizer instead? I am definitely against anything whatsoever!

 

[needlessjunk]

Thank you for your input! I will let him know! Could you possibly use a liquid fertilizer instead? I am definitely against anything whatsoever!

Best liquid fertilizer is duck and chicken poop. Liquid fertilizer will just sit on the grass and then they eat it. So no, not safe. Amiga gave the best advice with compost.

 

[Amiga]

If the guy is itching to do something, make up a batch of duck poop soup. Just toss some of the duck poo into a bucket and start pouring that on the lawn. Voila.

There are other things one can do for a lawn - adjust the height of the mower, be sure to leave the lawn trimmings on the lawn. Some people aerate their lawns with machines that take plugs out of the sod (I don't know if that's really helpful, but it keeps them occupied

).

Another things the lawn might need is more soil moisture. It takes some work, but one could make a swale through the lawn to catch rainwater and release it into the ground instead of it running off. Swales don't have to be very deep or wide, and they can make nice linear gardens. By the way - runoff is another very good reason not to pour commercial fertilizer on the lawn. Large percentages of those products end up in our rivers and oceans, killing aquatic animals. Another name for swales is rain gardens - all kinds of information on line about them.

Many of us are raised to believe we need the "big guns." And that is very difficult to get past. I think we all have those kinds of ideas. So I am not slamming a man who wants a nice lawn - but I do encourage him and myself to remember to step back and think it through.

Mercy, I did not mean to sound preachy and long-winded.

 

[FromTheCity]

Hey, no one can preach as well as I if you ask my husband! Thanks for all of your comments! We do drain the duck pool everyday and I have been trying to figure out how to get the water to the yard. I really hate to see the water being wasted in the ditch in the back of the yard. My water bill has went from $30 a month to around $90. What types of pumps are being used today that is simple? For the price of the water bill, we are thinking about putting in a well.

 

[Amiga]

Hey, no one can preach as well as I if you ask my husband! Thanks for all of your comments! We do drain the duck pool everyday and I have been trying to figure out how to get the water to the yard. I really hate to see the water being wasted in the ditch in the back of the yard. My water bill has went from $30 a month to around $90. What types of pumps are being used today that is simple? For the price of the water bill, we are thinking about putting in a well.

First let me emphasize I am not suggesting you do things the way I do. And I will say that sometimes I use a ThirstyMate hand pump to pump water out of a swim pan and over to where I want it. I put the T.M. hose into a four inch black corrugated plastic flexi-pipe to direct it to where I want it, which is a channel that directs the water to a swale that waters a garden bed.

The ThirstyMate is inexpensive - less than $30, I believe, and it gives me exercise. I don't have to pump like a maniac. In about five minutes and 100 half pumps I have the concrete mixing pan emptied and the water where I want it. The garden is lush!

 

[FromTheCity]

What a great idea! This is something that I can do! I will give it a try! Thank you!