Milorganite- Anyone using it?

[jlavado]

So I dropped a bag of Milorganite on my lawn last week. They claim it's organic. I know that this is just dewatered biosolids from the Milwaukee Waste Water Treatment Facility. Sometimes I have to visit facilities like this in my line of work and I can tell you that my yard smells just like one of these places now. But some people are real believers in this stuff. I got the bag on the cheap but was considering using the Vigoro organic stuff instead. The Vigoro is much more expensive and the bag is half the size (after all, how much can you charge someone for dookie, right?), but I was feeling brave. What would you all have done? Is this stuff good for my soil or not? Would Vigoro organic be a better option in the future?

[Sharky169]

Is it worth the stench? what happens when it rains or you water it does the stench get worse?

bring a sample of the product the the dept of agricultural experiment station in Windsor--if your in that area or call them and find the closer one--it's free,your taxes pay for it, find out the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and Pot ash you're getting and decide if it's worth the stench or just go to Lesco in South Windsor, and buy a bag of fertilizer that will not smell and really fertilize your lawn

[jlavado]

The smell only lasted for a few days. Less than a week. South Windsor is way out of my way. I take it no other people using this?

[imafan26]

There is sewage sludge that is locally available. I called about it. They said it has been processed and it is what remains in the tank after the sewage is treated. It has been tested for heavy metals and it does not contain levels of anything high enough to be of concern. They said is mostly sold to apply to turf and not on edibles.

[theleifmeister]

I've started using it pretty regularly, I have not noticed this smell everyone keeps talking about unless I hold it up close to my face...I like it because it is organic, not very expensive, and I don't have to be afraid of burning the lawn because I am still a newby at all of this.

[applestar]

I will bump this thread since one of the products is mentioned here. Searching the forum for “milorganite” seem to showup in mostly lawncare threads, but this is something that also merits consideration in all other areas and especially in food gardening. Link to article and excerpt below:

Sludge in the Garden: Toxic PFAS in home fertilizers made from sewage sludge | Sierra Club

The Sierra Club and the Ecology Center identified dozens of home fertilizers made from biosolids. We purchased nine fertilizers:

Cured Bloom (Washington DC)
TAGRO Mix (Tacoma, Washington)
Milorganite 6-4-0 (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Pro Care Natural Fertilizer (Madison, Georgia)
EcoScraps Slow-Release Fertilizer (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Menards Premium Natural Fertilizer (Eau Claire, Wisconsin)
GreenEdge Slow Release Fertilizer (Jacksonville, Florida)
Earthlife Natural Fertilizer (North Andover, Massachusetts)
Synagro Granulite Fertilizer Pellets (Sacramento area, California)

Our tests reveal that American gardeners can unwittingly bring PFAS contaminants home when they buy fertilizer that is made from sludge-biosolids.

[applestar]

Subject: Toxic Chemicals in Fertilizers - Including Ones Labeled Organic

So... apparently there are seriously bad toxic chemicals in certain fertilizers sold everywhere, including fertilizers labeled all-natural or organic. The article talks about PFAS but they said there are many others as well.

From The Guardian:

Sewage sludge that wastewater treatment districts across America package and sell as home fertilizer contain alarming levels of toxic PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”

Many of the biosolid brands market the products as “eco”, “natural”, “reclaimed” or “organic”, which Miller characterized as “comforting” but misleading.

“These are words that can have some truth but there’s no legal definition for them,” she added. While some brands state that the product is made with biosolids, packaging doesn’t explicitly say that it’s a combination of human and industrial sewage waste.

Among the few standards for PFAS in sludge are in Maine, where the state government set screening levels for PFOA and PFOS, two common types of PFAS. It developed the standards after milk from cows on a dairy farm that spread sludge were found to be contaminated with high levels of PFAS. The cows had to be killed, and the farmers found extremely high PFAS levels in their blood.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... age-sludge