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Spring clean up of winter seed - yuck!

16 years ago

All winter, seeds have been piling up in between snow and this morning I was starting to clean it up since the snow has finally thawed. Yuck! It's like several trash can full. I guess I should not be surprised since the birds did go through about 100 lbs of seed but this is my first year feeding so I am not used to it.

By the way, how clean do I need to rake to keep the seed husk from damaging the lawn? I have tried to rake up as much as I could, but some bits of shell still gets left behind. Do I need to use a shop vac or something :-)

Paul

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Comments (6)

lazypup
16 years ago
The problem is not near as bad as you might think.

I feed and average of 150lbs per month so I can certainly understand your situation, however you must realize that the seed hulls are naturally biodegradable and in fact, they provide great compost to the soil, not to mention that the bird droppings are one of the richest sources of natural fertilizer that you can get.

I simply use a leaf rake to remove most of the litter and put it on the compost pile. Once the grass comes out of its dormant state and starts growing again you will find that due to the rich fertilizer of the droppings that it will actually grow faster in that area.
paulsiu
Original Author
16 years ago
I guess I don't mind raking up the stuff, but I was told that black oil sunflower seed contains compound that inhibits plant growth.
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organic_bassetlvr
16 years ago
This month's Bird Watcher's Digest (I think that was the mag) had an article saying to use your sunflower hulls in places you'd like to discourage weeds, such as cracks in the sidewalk. I don't bother to do anything but I don't have grass, just moss & patchy areas of wildflowers/weeds due to heavy shade. The hulls do biodegrade rather quickly, though or I'd be neck deep in hulls!
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prairie_love
16 years ago
You know, I've read that too about sunflower hulls but I have never seen an effect. We have feeders in the lawn and also in flower beds and I have never noticed any ill effect on plants - even after the winter accumulation. I do try to keep the sunflowers out of the flower beds but that's because they sprout so prolifically!

I usually don't do anything in the lawn. First time it gets mowed, the mower picks up most of the hulls.
organic_bassetlvr
16 years ago
As I couldn't remember the right word, I googled sunflower hulls & came up with allelopathic-"chemical inhibition of germination or growth of another plant. It is a complex phenomena affecting some plants but not all and may cause wilting, discoloration & death." It gave black walnut's juglone as the best known allelopathogen. As prairielove said though it obviously doesn't affect all plants. For that matter I see all kinds of stuff growing under my black walnut trees but have never tried to actually garden under them, given their reputation (and shade) Just FYI & probably more than you wanted to know
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lazypup
16 years ago
I will not dispute the allelopathic effect of the sunflower seed hulls on some plants, but from my experience, for the grass that does return it seems to be denser than the other grass in the yard. In my humble opinion for the grass that does remain the additional fertilizer effect of the bird droppings offsets the retardation effect.

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