Christian1971
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Location: West Central Minnesota

Fertilizer Question

I read, if true, that keeping trash, the grill etc. put away that this helps to decrease the chances of raccoons invading your garden. We don't leave out any food scraps. My real question concerns fertilizer. I am not sure I like the thought of putting this smelly stuff in the garden. Only to attract critters. We do have several farms around us, so maybe those places will keep them busy. Is there any fertilizer that doesn't smell. I'm guessing raccoons and such have a far better sense of smell than us humans. Thought I'd put out a live trap to see what I catch. I'm guessing mostly stray farm cats. But then again that would only lure animals as well. Defeating the purpose. So I am hoping to just keep it clean and tidy. God helping! :|

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rainbowgardener
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I don't use fertilizer, just compost and mulch, so I can't say if there are fertilizer types that raccoons don't like - I would assume that composted manure would not be attractive to them.

I can say that I used to use fish emulsion, which is an organic, fish based product, but I had to quit, because the raccoons LOVE it, and would dig up all the plants trying to find the fish!

I wouldn't assume that the raccoons will stay on the farms. My experience reading a lot here is that urban-suburban people seem to actually have more critter problems than the country folk. I think our urban critters have gotten adapted to living with us and like the easy pickings of densely populated areas. The country ones are probably still more used to wild foraging.

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jal_ut
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If you are going to use manure for fertilizer, I recommend putting it on in the fall
then till it in and let it overwinter. Do not use fresh manure around growing plants.

Racoons? I may get abused for saying it but in these parts if a critter is messing up your garden,
use the Three S rule. SHOOT, SHOVEL, SHUT UP.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Not all fertilizers smell bad. The ones made with fish do, fish meal, fish bone meal, and fish emulsions will attract cats and your neighbors will complain.

Synthetic fertilizers are mostly minerals and chemicals they do not usually attract critters

The plant based fertilizers like cottonseed meal probably don't either.

Christian1971
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Joined: Thu Dec 25, 2014 5:25 pm
Location: West Central Minnesota

jal_ut wrote:If you are going to use manure for fertilizer, I recommend putting it on in the fall
then till it in and let it overwinter. Do not use fresh manure around growing plants.

Raccoons? I may get abused for saying it but in these parts if a critter is messing up your garden,
use the Three S rule. SHOOT, SHOVEL, SHUT UP.
My wife thought that would be the best option. Shoot to kill. With the investment I put in, I have little tolerance for them. Plus we are having a problem with raccoons having rabies these past couple years according to our local vet. I'll keep my 12 gauge cleaned and well oiled. :-()

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jal_ut
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Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

You can get bagged fertilizers about any place that sells gardening supplies. Farm feed stores too.
A bag of ammonium nitate will treat a large area if you mostly need nitrogen. Or you can get
one with NPK (the big three)

I find it best to put it on in the spring before planting. You can also side dress established plants if you
carefully sprinkle it on the soil and water it in. Be careful to not over-do it. Too much can kill plants.

Also do not put any directly on the plants, it can suck the water out of the leaves , kinda burning them.

I keep a foot trap set out in front of a beehive to discourage the rascal skunks that keep coming to eat bees.



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