On Friday, January 10, 2014 1:49:21 PM UTC-6, songbird wrote:
wrote:



Common use fertilizer used to come pretty generic, like

8-8-8, 10-10-10, 13-13-13, with little-to-no

micro-nutrients. Last spring I started seeing something

different, like 10-10-10 with "up to 8% sulfur" and

"up-to-12% chlorine". That's not MICRO-nutrients!

I contacted the factory and asked why, and got weird

answers. "Soil needs sulfur and they are eliminating it

from industrial smokestacks", and "Don't use chlorine if

you plant tobacco" (what about veggies?)



i'm about the last person to ask about those type

of fertilizers as i've not used them for some years

now. next time i'm at a store i'll take a look and

see what they have on 'em.



sulfur would be ok in small amounts for a garden

that has a higher pH (8 or higher). they must be

talking about chlorine compounds and i'd not

generally want those as some might be as common as

table salt. for an arid climate or near arid climate

garden you really don't want to add salt to the

garden. for places that do get enough rain to

leach salts away it isn't as bad, but i still

would not want it.





Have you heard anything about all this or am I the only

one who noticed the fine print?



i have read a few things about what is used for

filler in some manufactured fertilizers and that

it can be about anything. i don't think there are

as much regulations as long as it isn't certain

animal wastes/byproducts.



as a rule, if i don't know what is in it or where

it came from i don't put it on my gardens.



i think what you might be seeing is that more and

more people want to know what it is in what they are

buying. so the manufacturers are now spelling out

what they use whereas before people didn't care.



i am not surprised at all to hear about flue

scrubbings being used as filler. if the power plants

don't have to pay to have it landfilled they are

coming out ahead on the deal.





songbird

Thanks! I was thinking that sulfur was being added with a purpose but your opinion that it was just a byproduct from a filler makes much more sense. And they probably see it to their benefit - you'll have to buy more lime more often, hopefully their brand, to counteract the pH change from their sulfur. The chlorine is probably a byproduct of their potassium/potash treatment prior to mixing the fertilizer.

I guess these compounds have always been in fertilizers, but they used to be listed as micro-nutrients, like .05%. When they started being listed in 8%-12% amounts, the same or higher as the NPK amounts, it really drew my attention.

Thanks again.