Since the grass is now dormant there is no good reason to spread any kind of plant food around since any nutrients, even in soybean meal, which is one of the genetically engineered crops, would simply get washed out of the soil and pollute the ground water.

i thought putting soybean meal on your lawn was to feed your soil i am confused.

I thought putting soybean meal on your lawn was to feed your soil i am confused.

It is, but there is no/little use applying it to dormant grass/soil. Think about it as a hibernation period. The grass and microbes in the soil are resting. Sure the are still working, feeding and growing, but at much slower rate. There's no need to encourage any of these to feed or grow during this time.

Now in FL its a different story. Warm season grasses and microbes are hungry, so feed away. But come winter you should stop feeding and let everything rest.

If you have enough organic matter in your soil to keep the nutrients from the soybean meal from flowing out with the water from any source you would not need the soybean meal as a nutrient source. If your soil does not have enough organic matter to properly feed your lawn, when it is not dormant, spreading any kind of nutrient source, except compost, would be a waste of time, energy, and money because the nutrients would be washed out of the soil before the dormant grass could be fed.

Since the grass is now dormant there is no good reason to spread any kind of plant food around since any nutrients, even in soybean meal, which is one of the genetically engineered crops, would simply get washed out of the soil and pollute the ground water.

I disagree with this. I believe the nutrients from the SBM will be eaten by microbes which will either feed it to plants or store it as humaic substances until the plants need it. Part of the beauty of using organic fertilizer is that it doesn't get washed out like salty chemical fertilizers do. Instead the organic fertilizer gets eaten by microbes who live in the soil. Unless you have enough water flowing through to wash the microbes out, they stay in place to fertilize the plants.

Grass goes dormant because of lack of soil moisture, caused by heat, and the lack of soil moisture means the soil microbes will be dormant also, because they need moisture to function. If "organic fertilizer" does not get washed out of soil why is there high levels of phosphorus found in streams and rivers of farm country traceable to manure spread on the fields?

kimmsr:

I am sure you understand that phosphorous is a chemical element. It is traditionally part of chemical fertilizer. Certainly if the cows are eating the grass fed by chemical fertilizer the uptake in the cow would result in a waste stream containing phosphorus. That could result in phosphate leaching into the water. Phosphorus is inorganic.

It is also important to understand that phosphorous is radioactive. Many states are moving towards banning the use of phosphate in fertilizer.

If "organic fertilizer" does not get washed out of soil why is there high levels of phosphorus found in streams and rivers of farm country traceable to manure spread on the fields?

That is a good question. First I would question the source of the information (that manure is responsible). If the manure source is confirmed then I would question how the phosphate got into the livestock. Amkeer might be right about overuse of phosphate in pasture fertilizer. The ranchers I know best don't use any fertilizer at all besides what falls out of the animals. In fact they target their manure deposits by strategically placing the water trough and mineral lick so as to concentrate the fertilizer in one spot.

I'm not questioning you or your statement, kimmsr, but I have seen well-meaning researchers improperly draw conclusions on cause and effect before. Livestock seem to be a ready "cause" for many environmental ills when I believe them to be the solution to many environmental ills.

I am more familiar with what has been found in Michigan, but our DEQ, and the GVSU water study people, have sampled streams and have found that downstream from where animal manures are spread, and not immediately tilled into the soil, or where too much manure is spread, the level of Nitrates and Phosphorus increases greatly. Many of these places are the factory farms known as CAFO's.
Manures do have some Phosphorus (my texts list that as 0.3 percent) but there is no other explanation for the above findings other than the spreading of the manure. Michigan does not appear to be ready to ban "fertilizers" containing Phosphorus since our farm community is concerned that they might not be able to apply some when they might need to, but several counties with large bodies of water have banned the use of any P unless a test from MSU soil test labs shows a need.

Okay I gotcha. We have manure issues around the feed lots. I'm not a fan at all of feed lots for several reasons.