Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Fertilization Using old fertilizer

Found a 5-gallon bucket (liquid) of fertilizer I bought before the 1997-2000 drought and never used. Product label is gone but I remember usage instructions. Think it is still safe to use next Spring?

Hico, Better off buying new and dispose of old properly sometimes trying to use old can cost you more

Throw it away. The chemical composition is different now than it was from aging. This may or may not have an adverse effect, but it is not worth the risk.

Thanks guys. That's pretty much what I was thinking but hoped I might get lucky. Happy New Year!

Completly disagree. I bought some old fertilizer from a client who did not want it. It was tough to get the stir it up, but I did and it worked just fine. It may not work quite as good, but I can not think of any negatives in trying to use it in your pond. Especailly useful in the early spring when trying to get the bloom started. LIke all liquid fertilizers dilute it down 4 to 1 before applying to the pond. My 2 cents.

Hico
Did some research and asked a chemical specialist that manufactures fertilizer his sound advice was not to use the product without a label and gave several reasons that were way over my head. Many products have been taken off the market due to test results he is going to forward a website that deals with problems found in last six years.

Scott, please post the website. I can see how using old herbicdes could be a problem. I can not see how old fertilizer is problem?? How does it turn into something that would be harmful? thanks Greg

Greg
AS soon as Hank Sheilds gets it to me I will post it did not understand some of the points he was trying to get across he talks a mile a minute. He has over 40 years exp. with this stuff so will see what we come up with we have always used granular and I too have used old product with out a problem ,a point I was trying to reach if it does not have a label on it or it has been opened before you got it don,t use it.Up here in the mountains we have a short window to fertilize due to drop in water temps at night.

I spoke with my fertilizer guy yesterday out of curiosity. He says the old fertilizer might be degraded or weakened, but that it would not be dangerous to use.

Guys, Thanks for all the input. The main thing I was worried about was our Texas heat which has hit 110+ on several occasions the last few years. I'm in the aerospace solvents business and I know that heat speeds up the breakdown of some of our organic compounds but don't have a clue if fertilizer would break down into something toxic. The tank (3+ acres) dried up during the last year of the drought so we had to start over again in 2000. Definately don't want to mess it up now over $50 worth of fertilizer! Maybe I'll just use it in the sunflower patch for the doves....