Fertilizer in soil

DWF7

New Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2015
Messages
10
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

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Tortoise Club
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
49,658
Location (City and/or State)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
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

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Messages
2,312
Location (City and/or State)
Orange County, So Cal
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

The member formerly known as captain awesome
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 15, 2008
Messages
19,695
Location (City and/or State)
CA
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.
 

Grandpa Turtle 144

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2013
Messages
10,878
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 :)
 

New Posts

Top