Fertilizer

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Bill Bricker was way over his head in, well, insect dung before he got bold and decided to call CC-84 what it really was.Kricket Krap.Now his fertilizer sales have more than quadrupled and people all over the country have called asking just how he managed to gather the manure of so many jumping bugs.It seems that most gardeners hadn't given much thought before to whether crickets, to put it plainly, poop. And after considering the idea, some simply refused to believe it."Hey, I didn't fall off a turnip truck yesterday," a man snarled when Mr. Bricker tried to sell him a sack of Kricket Krap.

In my reading and listening about the fertilizer plant fire and explosion in West, Texas, I have noticed a dearth of comments about the dangers faced by first responders ("Obama to honor firefighters killed in Texas fertilizer blast," April 24). One of the purposes of the various federal and local chemical reporting requirements is to provide nearby fire companies with information for protecting themselves and for appropriate methods of reacting to an incident. That knowledge, buttressed by fire company inspections of nearby plants, can save lives.

Supermarket shoppers in Maryland can't miss the signature blue-and-gold Perdue label on chicken and turkey in the meat section. The Salisbury-based company is the nation's third-largest seller of poultry. That makes it a prime target of environmentalists, who contend "Big Chicken" is fouling the Chesapeake Bay by not taking care of the animal waste produced by the flocks raised for it on thousands of farms across the Delmarva Peninsula. But in supermarkets with garden sections, consumers are likely to run across another product with links to Perdue, one that even environmentalists like — organic fertilizer, made with manure from some of the fowl grown for Perdue and other companies.

Supporters and critics of legislation that would grant farmers a 10-year reprieve from new environmental regulations squared off before a House committee Tuesday, with much of the debate focused on provisions in the bill barring any public disclosure of those granted the deferral. Farm group representatives, O'Malley administration officials and others told members of the House Environmental Matters Committee that offering state farmers a shield from new environmental cleanup requirements could boost efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.  Farmers would voluntarily agree to reduce polluted runoff of soil and fertilizer from their farms beyond what they're now required to do, proponents say. Sen. Thomas M. Middleton, the bill's chief sponsor, said many farmers are having to invest in new equipment and facilities now to comply with recently adopted state regulations on how, when and where fertilizer can be spread on the ground.

In my reading and listening about the fertilizer plant fire and explosion in West, Texas, I have noticed a dearth of comments about the dangers faced by first responders ("Obama to honor firefighters killed in Texas fertilizer blast," April 24). One of the purposes of the various federal and local chemical reporting requirements is to provide nearby fire companies with information for protecting themselves and for appropriate methods of reacting to an incident. That knowledge, buttressed by fire company inspections of nearby plants, can save lives.

If you live along the Patapsco River, Sparrows Point, Bear Creek or Coke Point you and your family are paying with your health ("Port authorities find health risks near Sparrows Point," May 23). These four areas are overwhelmingly contaminated to the point where people and wildlife are at risk of exposure to toxic chemicals and carcinogens. Benzene is only one of many chemical contaminates in our waters; there are also high levels of arsenic from chicken manure, pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

Over the river and through the woods to gather manure I go. My truck knows the route, and I've got the scoop on the best fertilizer I know.It's sitting in a heap at a horse farm down the road. Never mind where. Gardeners who find a good source of manure like to keep it to themselves. I only mention the river and woods because there are lots of them around, and I know that my secret will never be found.Now, I know what some of you are thinking: Is this man serious? Does he really believe people care where he gets his fertilizer?

AS A COMPANY, Agrium Inc. will probably always stink. It makes fertilizer. As a stock in the former bull market, Agrium wasn't much more fragrant. It didn't have "dot-com" in its name. It was in Canada. It sold low-tech products to struggling farmers. It was the kind of firm investors came to hate. The 1990s stock bubble was based on an infatuation with technology and so-called "intellectual property," the copyrights and patents that let Disney and Microsoft spin money out of vaporous ideas.

Not all global coastal water pollution can be pinned to too much nitrogen, but much of it can. In fact, there is growing scientific concern that the world's coastal waters are symptoms of something even larger gone terribly out of whack.An article published in January by nine scientists in the journal of the Ecological Society of America says that human activities in recent decades have virtually doubled the nitrogen available to life on the planet, "causing serious and long-term environmental consequences across large regions of the earth."

Q. Chicken litter is now being packaged and sold as fertilizer for lawns and gardens. Do you know anything about the fertilizer? A. It is called fertileGRO and is being sold as an organic fertilizer that contains 4 percent nitrogen, 3 percent phosphorus and 3 percent potash, along with several other micro- and macro- nutrients. The litter is collected from chicken growers on the Delmarva Peninsula and then heat-treated to pasteurize, sterilize and stabilize the material. The material is then pelletized so that it can be run through lawn and garden spreaders.

The last couple of years my lilac hasn't bloomed. It's always been a favorite. What can I do? There could be several causes. Because we've gotten many calls about this in recent years, it may be related to climate change. Our common lilac will technically grow in areas as warm as zone 7, but it needs a winter chilling period in order to form flower buds successfully. Other things to consider are pH (if it gets too acid, lime will raise it closer to 6.5-7), too much shade encroaching on this sun-loving plant or European hornets stripping bark and girdling branches (remove the oldest canes, which they prefer)

Part of the charm of Baltimore's arts scene is that someone is always hitting the "refresh" button. An art gallery or music club shuts down on one block, only to have another pop up a few streets over. Abandoned or underused venues might suddenly sprout a theater troupe one day, an artists' collective the next. A lot of the refreshing can be traced to a thriving DIY culture in town, a culture that has been responsible for some of the most intriguing new enterprises over the years and that helps give the city its reputation as a place where artists of every genre can find - or create - an outlet.

Is it too late to put fertilizer on my lawn? All fertilizing must be done before November 15th by law. Tall fescue, a cool season grass most appropriate for Maryland, grows rapidly in the fall. Fertilizing at that time encourages good root growth, which is critical for strong turf all year round. Lawn fertilizer now has at least 20 percent slow release nitrogen, which will feed the grass during the winter. Fertilizing on frozen soil is never a good idea because it may wash off and pollute waterways.

Environmental groups are calling on Maryland officials to tighten new limits on farmers' use of animal manure and sewage sludge for fertilizer, saying rules recently proposed by the state don't go far enough. A coalition of 20 green groups says the " nutrient management" regulations proposed by the state Department of Agriculture contain "progressive elements (but falls) short of both what is possible and what is necessary. " The groups urging tighter farm pollution rules include the Chesapeake Bay Foundation , the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club and an assortment of generally more activist waterkeepers . Farming and local government groups have objected that the proposed rules are costly and largely unnecessary, and state officials eased a few provisions in response.

Some of the new nutrient management regulations proposed by the Maryland Department of Agriculture to the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review of the General Assembly are unworkable in many areas of the state and demonstrate an ignorance of current agronomic science. One new regulation requires that all applications of organic nutrients be incorporated into the soil within 48 hours while completely ignoring commercial fertilizers. There are several problems with this.

Maryland's law limiting lawn fertilizer practices doesn't kick in for more than a year yet, but state officials are urging homeowners to get a jump on the new curbs by limiting how much grass food they put down now. At a press conference in Annapolis to kick off Earth Week, state Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance said there's no reason not to start using greener lawn and gardening practices at home this year.  He said restoring the Chesapeake...

Q.I'm having a few problems with the tomato, eggplant and pepper transplants I'm growing indoors. I keep them under fluorescent lights and fertilize them once a week. The leaves have brown spots on them and the eggplant is flopping over. What am I doing wrong?A.Stop fertilizing those plants so much! Too much fertilizer can burn a plant's leaves. Your transplants only need to be fertilized once every three to four weeks. Mix the fertilizer with water around the base of the plants.Eggplant transplants are usually more lanky than tomato or pepper transplants.

When is the best time to fertilize spring-flowering bulbs? Is bone meal the best thing to use? Is there a risk of getting mad cow disease from using bone meal?Fertilize your bulbs in the fall when planting them or in early spring before they begin to flower. Use a balanced fertilizer -- one that contains roughly equal amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. If you're gardening organically, spread a 1-inch layer of compost over the entire bed or use a fish or kelp fertilizer.Bone meal has traditionally been recommended for bulbs, but it is not necessary.

Something smells funny in Clarksville. A few residents have complained of a nauseating, pungent odor from the area of Maryland 108 and Sheppard Lane to Howard County's health department, said spokeswoman Lisa DeHernandez. She said the department's community hygiene program conducted a search of the area Wednesday and found the source to be coming from fertilizer on a large farm. They received the same calls last year, she said. They expect rain to reduce the stench. In the meantime, DeHernandez said, the farmer will be asked to wet the perimeter areas of the property to help reduce the odor but, because agricultural properties are mostly exempt from nuisance codes, there's no requirement or enforcement measures that the department can take.

When a young woman is diagnosed with cancer, getting pregnant is probably the last thing on her mind. But if she wants children in the future, it's something she should think about. The chemotherapy and radiation treatments used to treat cancer can hurt a women's fertility. Nearly 10 percent of the 1.5 million diagnosed with cancer each year are of childbearing age, according to the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Melissa M. Yates, an assistant professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the Johns Hopkins Fertility Center, says these women need to think about fertility preservation before they begin treatment for cancer.