Ellen, I think yours has gone bad. You better not chance it, send it to me and I'll dispose of it properly. Depending on how it's kept - open bags/air tight buckets - will have a lot to do w/ it. The heat is going to be more detrimental than the cold. If this is the only storage option you have I'd limit the qty to one or two years supply. Or maybe find a neighbor to help split the cost. Wheat stored in air tight canisters is supposed to be good for 7-8 years. I've made bread from my moms wheat storage that she bought a ton of in the 70's and it tastes great. I don't know if it still has all of the nutritional value though. I'd think high N stuff like alfalfa and kelp meal would not keep as long as grain.

Thank you ALL for the info. on potassium. I'm on the look-out for greensand and granite dust. The 7 gallons I received from Roses Unlimited had these shiny, silvery, metallic bits mixed in the soil. I don't know if they are granite dust, please inform. Hi LovemySheltie: Lowe's in Chicagoland sells Rose-Tone. Walmart sells Holly-tone. I prefer Holly-tone since our soil and water is alkaline, and Holly-tone has more calcium. My neighbor grows his tomato in a big pot, he has blossom-rot problem and has to use gypsum (calcium sulfate). I grow tomatoes in the ground - zero blossom-rot, but my limestone soil is barely adequate in calcium. Holly-tone says to use only 1 cup with peatmoss in the planting hole. NPK is 4-3-4, the below excerpt is from the Epsoma website: "Holly-tone, like all Espoma Tone products, provides 12 additional trace elements and micronutrients such as iron, calcium and magnesium. Holly-tone derives its 15 nutrients from organic ingredients including dehydrated manure, animal tankage, crab meal, cocoa meal, cottonseed meal, dried blood, sunflower meal, kelp, greensand, rock phosphate and sulfate of potash." My Holy-tone bag also lists alfalfa meal, and 3% calcium, 1% magnesium, and 2% sulfur - perfect for alkaline clay. My soil in Chicagoland is tested high in magnesium, but barely adequate in calcium. We are right next to a limestone quarry!

I shoulda mentioned, dchall, i was referring to the 'meals' that i have read that alfalfa was best. what would you recommend fertilizing with? i have been shredding leaves into the lawn, my composting is pretty much tied up in taking care of my landscape plants and veg. garden currently..... and alfalfa (based on using the recommended amount per sq. ft. is quite comparable to using commercial synthetic and organic lawn fertilizers: where a bag of alfalfa pellets runs me about 12 bucks for a 50 lb bag....kelp meal on the other hand, IS expensive, i've seen it on the net for about 35 to 40 bucks for a 50 lb bag, that price doesn't include shipping.

If a material has nutrients that can be easily measaured that means those nutrients are soluble and can flow out of the soil with water, whether they are synthetic or "organic". The nutrients in compost are difficult to measure because they are not very readily available (not very soluble) while many of the nutrients in manures are easily measured and are soluble. All materials have some of both types of nutrients.