# Dry dog food as fertilizer



## SouthCentralUS (Nov 11, 2012)

This is from the Gardenweb. I would never have thought of it.

'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 nutrients 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!"


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## Grimm (Sep 5, 2012)

I might mention this to my folks for their lawn.


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## Tacitus (Dec 30, 2012)

I would be worried about the salt content.


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## cnsper (Sep 20, 2012)

might be a problem if there are bears in the area, they love dog food.


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## Woody (Nov 11, 2008)

I never really worried about critters, I worried about contents.

I have a pup and store a quantity of large bags of food for her. When I buy then I bring them home, slip them into large, thick, garbage bags, label them and stack them in the storage room. Last winter I opened one bag and it was filled with cupboard moths. It was a nasty mess inside too.

Being as it was an almost $50 investment, I could not see bringing it to the dump. I took it out back and dug a trench, being in NC our frost line is 0", for you Yankees out there. Spread it out, covered it up and went back to business. I spread wildflower seeds there, being as organic as I can, I read the list of ingredients and could not stomach eating tomatoes grown there. Yeah, yeah, why would I feed such to my precious pup? Well, it fulfills her needs and damn if she doesn't eat a lot!!!

So, flowers did fantastic!!! Everything that had roots even near it did great! I would not buy it specifically for fertilizer, but I also would not take it to the dump.

Would I have fed it to her in a SHTF situation? You betcha! I would have kept it outside so the moths would not be inside though. Bad for her? Heck, she is a Labrador Retriever and eats worse on a regular basis.


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## squerly (Aug 17, 2012)

If I were to randomly throw dog food outside I would be visited by bears, coyotes, and every other type of critter you can think of. I guess the trick is to cover it?


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