Can/should I use dog food for fertilizer?

16 years ago

This may come as a double post. I can't figure out how to use the web site correctly.

Can/should I use dry dog food in to fertilize my lawn? I know SBM would be better but, I have access to ALOT of free dry dog food. If so, how do I apply it? Just throw the chunks down and water until it's mushy or is there a better way to somehow grind the chunks into powder? Is the protein in it going to stink?

30lbs/2000sqft once a month from March til October for zone 6 western Washington 80% ryegrass/20% red fescue sound about right?

Thanks for all of the help you guys have given me in regards to many other subjects.

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Comments (11)

carla morey
16 years ago
If I put out dry dog food, I would have a yard full of Grackles, Starlings, Cowbirds, BlueJays, Crows, and Blackbirds. Not to mention Possums and rats under cover of darkness. I guess if you ground it up enough, it might be doable though.

Carla
User
16 years ago
You can, but probably shouldn't. It'll decay like any other organic, but it tends to be bigger so it'll take longer to move into the soil.

If you could grind it, like Loonie says above, it would work.
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grayentropy
16 years ago
As a test, spread it in a small area, wet it until it swells and then mow it the next day. If you get an infestation that don't do it. If after the mowing it is gone, you may have a good free thing. What is the percent salt in it? NaCl is highly mobile in soil, but you don't want to overdue it!
budbackeast
12 years ago
A gardening group in St Pete FL called the "Little Old Ladies Gardening Club", or something like that, says that you should mix dog food with your soil in the late fall. Time and rain will break it down, and that it has all the organic matter and nutients any plant could use.

I followed that advice a few years ago and now have an awesome flowerbed. My veggies in the back yard also look marvelous, and do not dry up and wilt in July like they always did before.

Next autumn, I tossed 100 pounds of Old Roy (Walmart generic)all over the lawn. It looked terrible for a few months, as the dog food broke down, the lawn was covered in a grey fungus. By spring, the lawn went dark green, grew double-thick, and had to be cut twice a week all summer.

So go ahead and toss some dog food out there in the fall. While it breaks down, it pulls some Nitrogen from the soil, but by spring, your DIRT is now SOIL!
grasshole
12 years ago
I've always wondered about the preservatives in dog food.

I know they'll make a dog turd last into eternity, but wondered what effect, if any, they had on breakdown into the soil.
Kimmsr
12 years ago
The only preservatives I have seen listed as part of the various dog foods I have purchased over the years are the same ones in the foods we eat. Those preservatives are not what makes those dog feces appear to be impervious to breaking down.
grasshole
12 years ago
Funny. The raw fed dog turds are gone in a day.
dchall_san_antonio
12 years ago
Could it be the raw fed dogs do not get deworming (heart worms) medicine??? Those meds are not good for the sow bugs and other critters that decompose mammal poop.
grasshole
12 years ago
Nah, he gets those.

Just always figured that the same preservatives that give it a nearly endless shelf life kept it around longer on the ground.
sandy1616
11 years ago
Most bagged dog food is chock full of preservatives, artificial colorings and fillers. My BIL feeds his dog Old Roy and anywhere the dog urinates, the grass dies. Ours is fed an organic dry food and fresh meat and veggies. No lawn burn. I'm fascinated that dry food could be used as a soil amendment!
dchall_san_antonio
11 years ago
Dry dog food is more than an amendment. It is pure fertilizer. Read the ingredients on a bag of dog food and on a bag of organic fertilizer. They have the same stuff in them except for the salt, vitamins and preservatives.

Grass kill from dog urine has nothing to do with dog food. It has to do with the soil not having enough nitrogen in it to begin with. If he fertilizes it regularly (3x per year) the dog urine should not affect it. In the mean time, he can repair the urine spots with a handful of table sugar dumped on each one.

Can/should I use dog food for fertilizer?

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carla morey

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