Fertilizer

[cljohnson]

Is there any fertilizer safe for a sully pasture. I am prepping an area to plant mixed grasses weeds etc. I am not sure if I should try to amend the soil or not for long term growth.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Chris:

What I do is fence off a portion of the "pasture" and fertilize that, watering well for a couple weeks to make sure all the fertilizer is washed down into the dirt. I use regular granulated fertilizer for horse pastures that I buy at the farm store. But most folks don't recommend you use that kind. I think that fish emulsion fertilizer is ok, as long as you water well and get it off the plants and down into the dirt. You might also consider fertilizing the tortoise's yard in the fall after it cools down and when you have the tortoise inside.

 

[Angi]

Worm castings I think would be good or use organic soil.

 

[cljohnson]

The area I am planning to plant is an old unused dog run so the soil is in pretty bad shape. It is hard packed heavy clay soil. I thought I would at least try to loosen it up by adding some peat moss and organic compost.

 

[Yvonne G]

Sometimes all you have to do to get stuff to grow better in an area is till the soil. Adding oxygen into the dirt is a wonderful aid in growth.

 

[yagyujubei]

what about horse manure?

 

[Tccarolina]

All basic fertilizers (straight N-P-K) are safe and efficient. Probably would be wise to avoid the fish emulsion. Organic does NOT equal safe. It just means it has not been chemically produced, according to organic guidelines. Basic N-P-K fertilizer is safe, just water it in well and give it a few days to make sure your torts don't consume the actual fertilizer. If your dog run is compacted, you should probably spead a couple 50 lb. bags of gypsum on it and work the soil with a rototiller or a shovel to mix it in. Gypsum supplies calcium to floculate (fluff) the soil and sulfate sulfur which plants need.
Manure will provide more organic matter and some fertility, but you'll need to work it into the soil and give it some time to break down so your tortoises don't try to eat it.
Steve

 

[cljohnson]

Thanks for the input. I do have plenty of time to work on this project. They are just little tykes right now. It will be months before they will be spending much time in their yard. Except for daily supervised sunning.
I think it will be a nice area for them. It is about 30 x 30 feet with a tree in the center so it has part sun part shade all day. The previous occupants were Jack Russels (also quite efficient diggers) so it is already very secure.

 

[Yvonne G]

I did hesitate to say to use regular fertilizer, so I'm happy to read Steve's post. For more than 30 years I've spread a nitrogen-rich commercial fertilizer pellet over my horse pasture, watering it in for a week before allowing the horse onto it. I've never lost a horse or cow to fertilizer poisoning. So I felt it was fairly safe to treat the tortoises' "pasture" the same way.

 

[boutselis]

I did hesitate to say to use regular fertilizer, so I'm happy to read Steve's post. For more than 30 years I've spread a nitrogen-rich commercial fertilizer pellet over my horse pasture, watering it in for a week before allowing the horse onto it. I've never lost a horse or cow to fertilizer poisoning. So I felt it was fairly safe to treat the tortoises' "pasture" the same way.

We also used fertilizer on our house pasture with no problems. We did move the horse to a different pasture for about 4 days until the fert. was fully watered in.

I would do the same thing for a tort. Granules can stick to grass blades and could become a problem