The Inside Scoop on Fertilizer Spreaders

I own several fertilizer spreaders. Some are the pushtype spreaders that have two wheels and can take up to one bag of fertilizer. Another is hand-operated. A third type spreader is a PTO driven model that attaches to the back end of a tractor. It can hold eight to twelve bags of fertilizer. But my favorite fertilizer spreaders by far are self propelled.

I use my push-type spreaders on the lawn. While they hold up to a 40-pound bag of fertilizer, I rarely put that much in the hopper. It is much easier to push twenty pounds of fertilizer at one time than the whole bag. And I rarely use a whole bag to fertilize the entire 5000 square feet that the bag is supposed to cover.

It makes more sense to apply a first round of fertilizer in the early spring and a second a month to six weeks later. Most organic fertilizers take two or more weeks for the nutrients to become available to the plant. I look for a slow release so that the grass grows evenly throughout the year. So if a bag covers 5000 square feet, I use half for the first fertilization and half for the second. Fall fertilizations are similarly applied.

Organic fertilizers don’t actually release the nutrients to the plants; they release them to the soil organisms. The microorganisms then supply the plant’s needs in a feedback loop. Plants absorb bacteria directly into their roots via channels of fungi. Then the plants expel bacteria back to the soil from the root hairs. In between, the plant gets the nutrients it needs and the bacteria gets nutrition from the plant.

Occasionally, I use a handdriven spreader to spot-spread fertilizer in garden and flower beds. I rarely put five pounds of fertilizer in the hopper. It will sling fertilizer up to 10 feet. I have even used it to treat fire ant mounds, spreading bait over an area too difficult to push a larger spreader.

My tractor-mounted, PTO spreader not only spreads fertilizer, but also seed. I plant oats, ryegrass, and clover seed in the fall. Sometimes I mix the fertilizer and seed together to get better economical use of the tractor. The PTO spreader will sling seed up to thirty feet. Overlapping the passes of seed and fertilizer in the pasture assures me of an even spread.

Spreading fertilizer evenly across a pasture is not actually necessary. I once spread fertilizer in strips on a Bermuda and Bahia grass pasture. The cattle ate the fertilized areas and not so much of the unfertilized areas. While this didn’t make for a beautiful pasture, it did save me money.

This brings me to my favorite self-propelled spreaders. There are two types that I enjoy watching work: my cattle and dung beetles. Cattle spread fertilizer all over the pasture as they eat. They are solar powered. They eat grass that is grown by solar energy and deposit the fertilizer on the opposite end of their travel.

Livestock fertilizers come in two forms, liquid and semi-solid. While most people don’t put much stock in the liquid form, it is usually high in nitrogen and trace minerals. Since most cattle don’t sweat, the liquid they drink mostly comes out as urine. Some Asian and Asian crossbreeds do sweat and therefore do not urinate as much fluid as European varieties.

The semi-solid portion coming out of the south end of the north-bound fertilizer spreader is rich in soil nutrients, if those nutrients can make it into the soil. We often hope for rain to move the nutrients from the patty to the soil, but this doesn’t happen that often. Far too many patties are left to dry out above ground. The benefit to the soil originates within a few inches of the border of the patty and a little below the patty. And the benefit usually doesn’t come for months.

This is where my second favorite self-propelled spreaders come in. When enough dung beetles (appropriately named) are present, they can move a complete cow patty into the ground in five minutes. I have seen an entire pile removed in two minutes. All that was left was the smell.

Two types of dung beetles operate in the South-Central Texas area. The one rarely seen is the subterranean species. These species comes from the soil up into the pile of poop and pulls it down into the soil below. It forms holes in the dung like Swiss cheese.

The other species are called roller beetles. You may have seen these. Some are all black and some have green coloring on their backs. Many of these were imported to the U.S. to try to control the fly problems plaguing ranchers. These beetles form a ball and roll it to a new location away from the meadow muffin. They lay their eggs inside the ball.

When ranchers use chemical toxins to treat parasites on livestock, they kill the dung beetles. It takes six months or longer for the toxins to make their way out of an animal’s bloodstream. I sure don’t want that kind of toxin in the meat I eat. Without the chemicals, the dung beetles will prosper and help fertilize a pasture no matter where the fertilizer falls.

One of the best benefits to dung beetle fertilization is that the fly eggs and parasites that plague the animals are buried along with the dung, never to emerge again. It is a win-winwin for the rancher, the cattle and the dung beetles.

David E. Will is Schulenburg farmer, rancher, nurseryman, landscaper, and consultant. He can be reached at 830-629-9876 or by email at dwill207@satx. rr.com.