Anyone ever use Milorganite?

[Lucky_P]

On one of the gardening/orcharding discussion groups I frequent, someone made a statement about Milorganite - which is essentially commercially-available dried municipal sewage sludge - that I thought was BS, but before I called 'em out on it, I thought I'd throw it out here:

"I only use it as a browse deterrent until i get fences up on new plantings.
I have insane deer pressure.
I think most of its sales is for Deer Feed Plots… which deters the deer until the food plot grows out… which the deer later eat…which the hunters later eat…"

I've never known anyone to use the stuff except for city gardeners, and even then, not on 'edibles', because of concerns over heavy metals and other crap folks pour/flush down the drain/toilet.
I've absolutely never known anyone who used it on a wildlife foodplot... Hell, I don't even know anyone who uses 'organic' fertilizer on foodplots - though some of y'all may have access to poultry litter... but am I wrong?
Anyone here use Milorganite in the manner this person suggested?

 

[Fair oak]

I’ve used milorganite with good luck to keep deer off of brassica plantings for up to 10-14 days. I’ve used it for 2 years now and noticed significant reduction in deer browsing the brassicas for up to 2 weeks. I used 2-34# bags/acre. By about day 10 or so they are starting to pick at the brassica greens again. One thing I have noticed and could just be coincidence is predator attraction. Both years I had wolves in my plots within 24 hours of spreading milorganite. They say canines like to roll in freshly spread milorganite on lawns so definitely might be some correlation to the wolves in my plots.

Using Milorganite to Temporarily Repel White-Tailed Deer from Food Plots

Food plots provide supplemental forage to wildlife during periods when native vegetation is less abundant or lacks nutritional quality. Because deer often prefer fertilized food plot plants to naturally available plants, over-browsing can damage food plots before they become sufficiently...

extension.uga.edu

 

[gunfun13]

Milorganite certainly works as repellent.

As for using organic fert in plots, this year I switched to a product called "Dairy Doo" which is processed chicken litter into granular form. Price per pound is on par with synthetic, but the analysis is quite a bit lower (8-4-4 if I recall correct). I have very sandy soil and this is supposed to stay in the root zone longer rather than washing right through. Plots weren't as nice as normal, but it was a very dry fall so may not have been the fert.

 

[SD51555]

I tried it to stretch brassicas once. It never slowed them down one bit, and that was a hundreds of lbs per acre rate.

Now, I crank down the desirability of the plot until it'll last unprotected. Get that tuned in, and the deer will be there and eating exactly when you want them to be and with much less work and expense.

 

[Fair oak]

Maybe it was milorganite in combination with wolves that worked for me. Lol.

 

[Foggy47]

I used Milorganite on soybean acres a few times. It definitely kept deer off the plots for a few weeks......and allowed the soybeans to get established. I think I put down about 75 lbs / acre (?).

 

[Garrett S]

I swear our farmer uses it on beans in a ag application. The neighbors field will be loaded and ours not… it rains hard, it evens out and he’s back….

 

[Tree Spud]

On one of the gardening/orcharding discussion groups I frequent, someone made a statement about Milorganite - which is essentially commercially-available dried municipal sewage sludge - that I thought was BS, but before I called 'em out on it, I thought I'd throw it out here:

"I only use it as a browse deterrent until i get fences up on new plantings.
I have insane deer pressure.
I think most of its sales is for Deer Feed Plots… which deters the deer until the food plot grows out… which the deer later eat…which the hunters later eat…"

I've never known anyone to use the stuff except for city gardeners, and even then, not on 'edibles', because of concerns over heavy metals and other crap folks pour/flush down the drain/toilet.
I've absolutely never known anyone who used it on a wildlife foodplot... Hell, I don't even know anyone who uses 'organic' fertilizer on foodplots - though some of y'all may have access to poultry litter... but am I wrong?
Anyone here use Milorganite in the manner this person suggested?

It's made here in Milwaukee. Nitrogen only fertilizer and it works well.

 

[homerj]

I don't know about food plotters being Milorganite's biggest consumers. I'd guess golf courses and landscapers/lawn maintenance folks use many times more. Golf courses will get the stuff in huge totes.

Greens and Tees :: Milorganite

www.milorganite.com

 

[bigboreblr]

human hair clippings and marigolds also deter deer.

Far as brassicas goes, I've had better luck with daikon raddish than brassicas. They browse it well, but it seems to regrow a bit better after browsing. The roots are used up too, but slower.