Yard and Plant Bed Fertilizers and Koi
 

I had a question as to if runoff from a fertilized yard was dangerous
to Koi if it got in the pond. I emailed Scott's Company for an answer.
This may not apply to you if you have people come and spray stuff on
your lawns and plant beds with chemicals that you know nothing about.

----- reply from Scott's ------------


Hello Paul,

It is safe to use Miracle Gro All Purpose Plant Food near a body of
water, but not in the water.

The nutrients in Miracle-Gro are, in general, are toxic to fish. They
upset the ionic balance of the metabolic system.

I would suggest you contact your local county extension agent for
recommendations regarding aquatic life. The number should be listed in
your telephone directory under "County Offices".

Again, thank you for your interest in Miracle Gro. Please feel free to
contact our company anytime wemay be of assistance.

Kathy Obenour
Consumer Response Representative
The Scotts Company and Subsidiaries
14111 Scottslawn Road
Marysville, OH 43041

wrote in message
ups.com...
I had a question as to if runoff from a fertilized yard was dangerous
to Koi if it got in the pond. I emailed Scott's Company for an answer.
This may not apply to you if you have people come and spray stuff on
your lawns and plant beds with chemicals that you know nothing about.


In America, commercial fertilizers are a funny thing. Almost anything can
legally be used as long as it has measurable levels of nitrogen, potassium
and phosphorus. Prior to the late 90s, the law was send it to a haz-mat
dump and pay through the nose, or sell it to farmers and gardeners to spread
around their garden, unfortunately not all states have adopted laws similar
to Washington state.

For example, sawdust from pressure treated wood treatment factories, and the
ash collected from pollution control equipment in smoke stacks can be mixed
with manure and legally be called fertilizer. Even though we all know the
saw dust from pressure treated wood contains some fairly toxic
concentrations of heavy metals. Be especially wary of fertilizers that are
not registered with the Washington department of agriculture, there is
probably a reason the company doesn't want to disclose the heavy metal
content, or source for their fertilizer.

http://agr.wa.gov/PestFert/Fertilize...asp?pname=1882
Miracle Gro All Purpose Plant Food looks to be fairly safe, it has a pretty
low heavy metal content, the biggest concern with any fertilizer in ponds is
that it may cause an algae bloom.