Can nitrogen fertilizer harm wildlife?

[DanJeffery]

I have searched the forum for an answer to this but cannot find one.

Can artificial nitrogen fertiliser used on gardens be harmful to wildlife?

[stigofthedump]

Hi Dan, as far as I can remember the main issue is with it leeching into waterways. I think that it may well then stimulate algal blooms which then deplete the water of oxygen. Not too sure if its a major issue with fertilizer from gardens though, more of an agriculture issue.
Someone with much more knowledge than me will come along to help I'm sure.

Vince

[aland]

Hello Dan, The answer would have to be no or not at least in the quantities that you would want to use in your garden, To use this in large quantities would just burn your plants up, Of course we most likely do not know about the insect side of things as these are so tiny, i would just carry on and use carefully, where problems most likely crop up is in field drainage going into water courses, aland.

[Monkey Orchid]

Hi, Dan.

Whilst the amounts of fertiliser you will probably be using in your garden shouldn't be too problematic, the production and use of artificial nitrogen fertilisers in agriculture and horticulture worldwide is having a serious negative effect on ecosystems. There's an interesting article about this at the following website:
The Nitrogen Fix: Breaking a Costly Addiction by Fred Pearce: Yale Environment 360

The most immediate effects I can think of are that any kind of nitrate application will encourage more competitive species (e.g. grasses and vigorous weeds) to dominate over other plant species such as wildflowers... So if you're trying to encourage a wildflower patch, keep your fertiliser away from it. Also avoid using it near your garden pond, if you have one.

Hope this is helpful.

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by DanJeffery

I have searched the forum for an answer to this but cannot find one. Can artificial nitrogen fertiliser used on gardens be harmful to wildlife?

Nitrogen fertilisers, - most general purpose garden fertilisers, as well as lawn feeds, will contain a nitrogen element - are structured as either sodium, potassium or ammonium nitrate, these are potentially toxic in concentration and any wildlife getting a direct dose could be harmed but nirates are highly soluable and so are usually rapidly dispersed in the soil. There's some claims that artificial fertilisers have a deleterious effects on earth worm populations but there seems no certain research to support these claims.

Nevertheless I think I'd ask a further question - why would you want to use artificial nitrogen ? In the main it only promotes rapid 'top growth' which is fine if what you want is volume, but in grass or ornamental plants this just adds to the amount of biomass you have to manage and in food plants gives volume at the cost of quality. If growing plants to support wildlife, there's rarely any benefit to using anything more than organic composts, although in very poor soils giving a boost to newly planted shrubs by the addition of a handful of pelletised chicken manure might be worthwhile.

CM

[Jim Ford]

If you use a general purpose fertiliser like 'growmore' it's unlikely that you'll add too much to the soil. Growmore is 7% nitrogen, 7% potassium and 7% phosphorus - the rest being clay. I understand it was formulated in WWII for amateur gardeners such that it would be difficult to overdo the fertilisation, even if gardeners just liberally chucked handfuls of the stuff around.

Jim

[Gill Catton]

In widescale usage the answer is yes.

The application to diverse grasslands that support hundreds of species can result in a rapid decrease in botanical and fungal diversity and in turn the diversity of everything else - whole species can be lost from a local area. It can take 100 years for grassland to recover - if indeed it ever can.

Someone has aldready mentioned the impact on waterways too.

Even in your lawn, if you want wildflowers - food for your bees or caterpillars - food for birds and mammals don't apply fertiliser.

Fertiliser (or rather fertile compost / manure) is good for the production of vegetables otherwise personally I'd avoid using it.