# Fertilizer in soil



## DWF7 (Mar 2, 2015)

Hi everyone, I have been working on setting up an outdoor area in my backyard for a CA desert tortoise. He will have free range of the whole yard but I wanted to set up an area specifically with a lot of soil for burrowing (the rest of my yard is a combination of grass, dirt, and stone). I used a base layer of this soil because I thought it would be good at keeping dry:

http://www.kellysolutions.com/erene...ACTUS_MIX__03__03__03_3_4_2013_2_16_31_PM.pdf

Unfortunately, I am now realizing that this soil has fertilizer in it per the listed ingredients (though I can't tell exactly what the fertilizer is). As this is the base layer, I have already covered it with a lot of organic, fertilizer-free and pesticide/herbicide-free soil. However, I am quite worried now about potentially ill effects for the tortoise.

In your opinions is this something that I need to correct, i.e. by removing all of the soil and starting over with something else, or are concerns about fertilizer less applicable to situations like this and more so to using actual chemical fertilizers on grazing areas and other surfaces?

Thanks so much - I'll make sure to get it right before introducing the animal.


----------



## wellington (Mar 2, 2015)

I think you have two options. Get rid of it and start new or water it a lot and heavy and don't put anyone in that area for about 3-6 months depending on if it's a slow release or not.


----------



## BeeBee*BeeLeaves (Mar 6, 2015)

I agree. Better safe than so very sorry.
The fertilizers listed, for instance, ammonium nitrate, used to be mined in Chile, natural stuff, but what is used now is 100% synthetic. Cheaper.
Synthetic chemicals and tortoises = bad idea. Heck, synthetic chemicals and people too.


----------



## dmmj (Mar 6, 2015)

How much time you got? a thousand or so earth worms could cleanse the soil of all that stuff in a few months. Or you could replace it. I would choose the worm option myself, but then again I do have access to several thousand worms.


----------



## BeeBee*BeeLeaves (Mar 6, 2015)

Worms rock! Worms fix everything in the soil, yes!
Worms in the belly, not so good.


----------



## Grandpa Turtle 144 (Mar 6, 2015)

You might remember I said might be able to speed it up cover it with compost and flood it a lot the compost wash is called compost tea and it speeds up the good Bactria in the soil ( and worms feed on the compost ) but it could still take 1-3 months to leach the chemicals out of the soil . Good luck with your problem


----------

