This is for NC Gardener

13 years ago

I live in a gated, Sr. Citizens community and Bambi and friends will walk right down our street; there is one loner that seems to have taken up sleeping on the patio where a house is vacant 2 doors down from us. Two days ago, it ate the blooms off my Garden phlox that had just started blooming, plus some other plants that I wintersowed this year. I got out the Liquid Fence and used that all up spraying my plants, and started spraying the front flowerbeds with Bobbex for small animals. I'd bought that to discourage the squirrels and rabbits but I understand there is also Bobbex Deer repellant. You mentioned you used a spreader to apply the Milorganite on your beds before you planted in the Spring. Can I put plastic gloves on and sprinkle it on the existing beds around each plant now? I'm concerned about the odor because our houses are very closed together and I'm attached to another house. Does the odor kind of disappear into the air or does it stagnate where it is applied? I was going out this morning and buying more liquid fence or look for the Bobbex deer repellant but I've noticed more garden centers are selling the Milorganite. Since I live in a cluster of homes, we are only allowed foundation flowerbeds. I bought a bag of MG potting mix that has something added and it is kept in a covered storage tub in the garage but when I first put that inside that tub, it smelled the garage up something terrible and you really noticed it for a few days. I think any unused product, I could store in one of those famous orange Homer bucket/with lid and keep hidden back by A/C units in back of house or maybe hidden among the 8 large hydrangeas. Maybe an orange bucket will be real obvious; I'll look for a white one. Maybe I could spraypaint it green to blend in with the foliage of the hydrangeas. LOL! Do I need to work that into the soil or will it just soak in by itself? Does it eventually go into the soil when it rains or snows? Added fertilizer I guess never hurt any plants as long as it was done in moderate amounts, huh?

Comments (2)

ncgardner
13 years ago
There is very little smell to Milorganite. You will smell it a little when you open the bag but your neighbors will not smell it when you spread it. What little smell there is goes away in less than an hour. Yes, I do use a spreader in early Spring because the plants aren't up and it is the easliest method. However, I also throw it by hand other times. Apply it early Spring, Mid Summer, and Fall. The Fall application seem to help for the colder months when ther is less food. If you have a rainy week or so you might want to apply it again. It is certainly cheap enough (40lb / $11.) and it goes a long way. If you know the direction the deer enter your yard, apply the Milorganite heavier in the area. Hope this helps.
brenda_near_eno
13 years ago
Don't work it into soil. It will naturally disappear with rain into soil. Great, sustainable source of nitrogen. All that "heavy metal" talk is just bunk from people who never took a chemistry course. Safe and deer hate it.