Really, wow. I might have to run this one by a nephrologist friend.
Only risk is if you take strong medications and use it with tubers in garden basically. Humanure is a similar well used topic if you want to go that route and obtain more phosphorus than the ammonia urea based urine fertilizer.
There are def people who fear monger the pollutants of medications and make the whole topic taboo, but if you don’t take medications it is a method that goes back as far as mammals do.
Some food forest type growers down south… grow their own mulch/fertilizers.
Mexican sunflower, mimosa, etc…
These can grow several feet in a month or two in Florida for example. Then you just chop and drop them around your fruit trees.
Suppress weeds, retain moisture, fertilize your fruit trees. That Mexican sunflower breaks down with nutrient levels very near chicken manure.
I tried growing it here in my zone 7b… and it did not grow nearly as fast here.
TNHunter
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I love all the ideas of recycling nutrients. I do chop and drop, but I have not grown things specifically for that, so that’s interesting
We have a couple dozen chickens, and we use the deep litter method with wood shavings to keep the coop floor warm in the winter. We clean the coop every spring and fall. The fall stuff goes into the garden to overwinter whereas the spring goes into the orchard. Chicken droppings can be very hot fertilizer, so we spread it well. The wood shavings help buffer some of the nitrogen since wood needs nitrogen to decompose. We have heavy layers of wood mulch in the orchard as well.
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I have run into issues using alfalfa pellets and herbicide damage on my roses. I found that many farmers use “Grazon” and similar herbicides that can leach out of the pellets and into your soil. After that I swore off alfalfa and haven’t had the issue again.
Interesting. These were OMRI certified alfalfa pellets?
No, not organic. I’d feel better if they were. I’m sure that the herbicides are not used in the case of organic.
Russian comfrey is a plant that many permaculturalists use. I have it all over my orchard. It grows abundantly and has deep roots to get lots of minerals. Chop it up and distribute it around your trees and bushes. You only have to buy one, then you can divide it.
John S
PDX OR
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I was just going to say that I spoke with several farmers that can’t find alfalfa with ought grazon. We got by without all these chemicals everyone is so happy about.
i like comfrey but rhubarb has huge leaves to use the same way and gives you a crop. their sometimes 30in. leaves are great for smothering large patches of weeds. i throw them in between my raspberries to keep weeds down in there.
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Quick search shows Grazon not allowed in OMRI certified products. Chewy has 40lb bags of omri certified alfalfa pellets for $20ish, that’s what I’ve been using
Rhubarb is also great that way. Tastes good in pies and other desserts too. It is actually medicinal, and even in some anti-cancer remedies.
John S
PDX OR
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i haven’t run into that problem yet. maybe because i top dress then let them break apart before scratching into the soil? crazy to think they use that to feed livestock.
it actually grows better here than the comfrey if you keep it from bolting. only man cultivated plant besides j. artichoke that can survive in a field and come up though the grass with 0 care.
I think I asked you about rhubarb in another thread, but I can’t remember. What variety do you like? For eating in addition to being vigorous enough to not need care.
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i have a unknown green variety that came from Quebec when my great grandparents emigrated here about 100 yrs ago and i grow Canada red i got from Hartmann’s. the Canada red is 3xs more productive with up to 2ft. red stalks. is sweeter/ more tender than the other one. i just put in 2 rhubarb from the stark’s variety a few days ago. supposed to be equally large and productive as the Canada red. its planted amongst my honeyberries and service berry on my old chicken run.
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Does it do well with part shade then? And thank you, I wrote down the variety this time! I want to add it next year.