Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú

Grow your own  permalink

Fertiliser disaster?

• Message 1. 

  Posted by jamie01 (U14066574) on Friday, 29th April 2011

  I had an opened bag of growmore organic fertiliser which was folded over to prevent rainwater getting in over the winter. When I opened the bag up there was a brown sludge with small maggoty creatures in abundance running around. Anyone know whether I should dispose of it or is it still usable?
  It's pretty well a full bag and not cheap to buy, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's the latter.

  Link to this forum: Fertiliser disaster?

  Report message1

• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Friday, 29th April 2011

  Is the whole bag sludge? I've dried wet fertiliser before but not a whole bag. I spread it out on something in the sun.

  Link to this forum: Fertiliser disaster?

  Report message2

• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by jamie01 (U14066574) on Friday, 29th April 2011

  Is the whole bag sludge? I've dried wet fertiliser before but not a whole bag. I spread it out on something in the sun.   It looks fairly waterlogged, when I pushed a cane to the bottom of the bag it felt like mud. Drying it out would be good but I daren't put it on the garden as it's very strong stuff. I used it as a top dressing last summer and it killed my french beans. Perhaps laying the bag flat in the g/h will give it the chance to become usable, but are the creatures mentioned likely to be good or not so good?

  Link to this forum: Fertiliser disaster?

  Report message3

• Message 4

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by londonplantmad (U2392946) on Friday, 29th April 2011

  Could they be vine weevil maggots. They are small creamy colour with brown heads. you do not want them getting near your plants if it is. I found a lot in one of my plant pots. I tipped it out on a plastic sheet in the garden and the birds ate them. Why not tip it out on a plastic sheet if its not too wet and then you can see whats in there. you could then put it back in a bucket.

  Link to this forum: Fertiliser disaster?

  Report message4

• Message 5

  , in reply to message 4.

  All this user's posts have been removed.

• Message 6

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Saturday, 30th April 2011

  Is the whole bag sludge? I've dried wet fertiliser before but not a whole bag. I spread it out on something in the sun.   It looks fairly waterlogged, when I pushed a cane to the bottom of the bag it felt like mud. Drying it out would be good but I daren't put it on the garden as it's very strong stuff. I used it as a top dressing last summer and it killed my french beans. Perhaps laying the bag flat in the g/h will give it the chance to become usable, but are the creatures mentioned likely to be good or not so good?  Killed the french beans? What's the NPK of the fertiliser?

  Link to this forum: Fertiliser disaster?

  Report message6

• Message 7

  , in reply to message 4.

  Posted by jamie01 (U14066574) on Saturday, 30th April 2011

  Could they be vine weevil maggots. They are small creamy colour with brown heads. you do not want them getting near your plants if it is. I found a lot in one of my plant pots. I tipped it out on a plastic sheet in the garden and the birds ate them. Why not tip it out on a plastic sheet if its not too wet and then you can see whats in there. you could then put it back in a bucket.  That description was spot on. I googled vine weevil to confirm it. The odd thing was that the ones at the top of the bag were dead this morning but spooning a couple of inches down revealed lots more which were very much alive. I can only surmise that they were present in the bag when I bought it. I have an unopened bag which I checked and that seems okay.
  Sadly, my garden isn't bird friendly as I have 3 cats and there are quite a few strays around, so I'll have to find some other way of disposing the affected bag.
  Many thanks for your help.

  Link to this forum: Fertiliser disaster?

  Report message7

• Message 8

  , in reply to message 6.

  Posted by jamie01 (U14066574) on Saturday, 30th April 2011

  Is the whole bag sludge? I've dried wet fertiliser before but not a whole bag. I spread it out on something in the sun.   It looks fairly waterlogged, when I pushed a cane to the bottom of the bag it felt like mud. Drying it out would be good but I daren't put it on the garden as it's very strong stuff. I used it as a top dressing last summer and it killed my french beans. Perhaps laying the bag flat in the g/h will give it the chance to become usable, but are the creatures mentioned likely to be good or not so good?  Killed the french beans? What's the NPK of the fertiliser?  Italophile, it's actually called groworganic not growmore.
  N=5.8%
  P=3.5%
  K=3.0%
  The PH is 6.8
  Last year I grew everything in pots and containers. One of the pots wasn't doing too well so I used the fertiliser as a top dressing in that pot. Within a few days the foliage started going brown from the bottom up so I removed it in case it affected the rest of my beans. So only 2 plants were lost, not the entire crop.

  Link to this forum: Fertiliser disaster?

  Report message8

• Message 9

  , in reply to message 8.

  Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Saturday, 30th April 2011

  Ah, okay. Fertiliser burn. I've done that m'self a few times over the years!

  Link to this forum: Fertiliser disaster?

  Report message9

• Message 10

  , in reply to message 7.

  Posted by londonplantmad (U2392946) on Saturday, 30th April 2011

  I would still spread it out on a sheet to dry off. You may be able to pick out the live ones and just dispose of them. The sun may also dry the maggots up. At least you may be able to save some of the fertiliser. With regard to using it in pots i think you need a very small amount maybe you are using too much.

  Link to this forum: Fertiliser disaster?

  Report message10

• Message 11

  , in reply to message 10.

  Posted by whatalottie (U9072847) on Saturday, 30th April 2011

  Alternatively you could empty the whole bag in a tub of water and make liquid fertiliser. That'd deal with the pesky weevils!

  Link to this forum: Fertiliser disaster?

  Report message11

• Message 12

  , in reply to message 10.

  Posted by jamie01 (U14066574) on Sunday, 1st May 2011

  Londonplantmad, I did use it sparingly. Either a handful mixed into 10 litre pots before sowing or potting on, or the same amount in a watering can soaking overnight as a liquid feed once a week. I will continue to use the good bag I have left as my plants did seem to benefit from that regime. The infested bag still looks like viscous mud in spite of the lovely sunny weather we're having. .I' ll keep it in mind that it might dry out naturally.
  
  Whatalottie,drowning the blighters might work, though they don't seem to have any problem living in what I imagine crude oil looks like.

  Link to this forum: Fertiliser disaster?

  Report message12

Back to top