Sludge Watch ==> Sludge pellets as deer repellent - but use on veggies questionable.

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Hmmmm....using sewage sludge to ward off deer....but big juicy cantelopes 
and tomatoes grow unplanted....

Makes me wonder what kind of sewage treatment processes this sludge had 
before land application as 'deer repellent'.  Not much if the tomato and 
cantelope seeds are still viable.  And residents have to worry about the 
permanent contamination of their property with heavy metals....so they are 
protecting their garden while contaminating their soil

If deer are really repelled by the smell of humans, the residents might do 
better to mark their territory with their own urine.

Its free
Its uncontaminated with heavy metals from industry
and
Its guarenteed weed and seed free.

Go to this webpage to read the Cornell University fact sheet on issues 
related to the use of
Milorganite as deer repellent (add to this the risk of PCB contamination 
from Milorganite):

http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/milorganite.pdf

...................................................................


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/13/AR2007081301004.html

LOUDOUN COUNTY
The Stench Of Victory
Farmers and Gardeners Claim Odorous Fertilizer Wards Off Deer

By Delphine Schrank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 14, 2007; Page B03

To ward off a gang of pumpkin-patch thieves, it took an invisible barricade 
of scent -- human, with a dash of ammonia, rolled into small black pellets. 
Now, dozens of gang members skirt the oft-plundered field, ogling its juicy, 
green sprouts without breaching the wall of smell that rises from lines of 
pellets on the ground.

"They eat us out of house and home," said Bruce Zurschmeide, a Bluemont 
farmer, kneeling along the field's pungent perimeter as he pointed out a 
shoot that had been chewed to a stump. But against the hundreds of deer that 
feast on his crop, he said he had few solutions until he discovered the 
marvels of a fertilizer derived from sewage sludge at the Water Pollution 
Control Facility in Leesburg.



Bruce Zurschmeide of Bluemont said he had few solutions to the deer eating 
his pumpkin sprouts until he discovered the marvels of a smelly fertilizer.
Bruce Zurschmeide of Bluemont said he had few solutions to the deer eating 
his pumpkin sprouts until he discovered the marvels of a smelly fertilizer. 
(By Richard A. Lipski -- The Washington Post)
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Between man and deer, a war's afoot, and clashes grow more frequent as both 
populations surge in the Washington region. When they don't crash into the 
ruminants on roads, farmers and homeowners complain of devoured crops and 
chewed-up gardens.

For much of the past century, wildlife officials worked to restore deer 
populations, but today they express concern about the growing numbers, 
estimated at nearly a million in Virginia and about 240,000 in Maryland, 
with much smaller numbers the District. To control the population, the 
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has published an open 
letter to hunters and landowners asking for help and counseling them to 
target does. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is also promoting 
hunting.

Animal experts say there are few foolproof ways, barring fence or shotgun, 
to keep deer in the woods. John Rohm, a wildlife biologist who works for the 
Virginia agency, said some people take such anti-deer measures as applying 
coyote urine, or their own, or concoctions of red-hot pepper and sulfur.

In Loudoun County, some turn to Tuscarora Landscaper's Choice, an organic 
fertilizer said to turn lawns into thick, green jungles. "Give your lawn 
some TLC," say the 50-pound bags of pellets, which are offered free to 
Leesburg residents and sold to others for as much as $7.95 per bag.

The product isn't marketed as a deer repellent, but belief in its powers has 
fueled demand, sewage plant officials say. Sales have tripled in the five 
years since the Leesburg plant began churning out the sterile "biosolid" 
with new sludge-drying machines, part of a plan to find long-term disposal 
solutions for sewage in the fast-growing county. Over eight months in 2002, 
the plant sold 88 tons of TLC. In the first half of 2007, it sold 268 tons.

Asked why some people ascribe anti-deer properties to the product, Ed 
Rockholt, deputy manager of the Leesburg plant, said, "I think it's the 
ammonia smell." He added: "Dogs like it. They roll around in it because they 
like rolling in anything nasty."

Rohm said he was skeptical.

"It seems counterintuitive that you would make your vegetation nice and lush 
and hope that perceived human smell would keep [deer] away," Rohm said. He 
calls fertilized lawns a "buffet" for deer. Rohm predicted deer would grow 
accustomed to the scent within weeks. Many, he noted, barely flinch when 
they smell a human being.

Unlike Class B biosolids, a less-refined sludge long used as a farm 
fertilizer, TLC is ranked Class A Exceptional Quality, which means it meets 
stringent requirements for low toxicity. Plants in Fairfax County and 
Baltimore have sludge-drying technology similar to the one in Leesburg. The 
D.C. Water and Sewer Authority is considering an upgrade of its technology 
so it can refine sludge to Class A, which has more recycling uses.

Some would-be customers recoil when they learn that TLC once resided in a 
toilet; others turn their nose at its lingering smell, described as "faintly 
musty," like "burnt coffee" or "farmy," according to a technician who sprays 
30-foot-wide black dust showers of the stuff from a truck in fields across 
the county. Users said the smell dissipates after a few weeks -- or sooner, 
if it makes contact with water.

Rod Huebbers, a health-care executive in Leesburg, calls TLC "amazing" for 
choking out weeds and stimulating "nice, thick grass" on his two-year-old, 
five-acre lawn. Non-TLC-inclined neighbors are regularly visited by 10 to 15 
deer, he said, but the herd won't venture into his garden, which teems with 
lettuce, tomatoes and squash.

Andy and Teresa Harms aren't convinced. The couple, who live in a new 
mansion near Philomont, said that this is the first year they've used the 
product and that it appears to be working well as lawn food. The deer who 
visit their vegetable patch in the evenings, however, don't seem bothered.

But the product has one curious side effect, Teresa said. So organic are the 
pellets, she said, that cantaloupes and tomatoes she never planted appear to 
be sprouting where the pellets are scattered. That's also likely to tempt 
hungry, cloven-footed creatures.