# free local biosolids? Too good to be true?



## 20jlr (May 30, 2018)

could these be too goo to be true? A local village by me has free biosolids. Is this milorganote for free?
https://www.dgsd.org/biosolids/


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## Khy (Jul 27, 2018)

A lot of local municipalities do this, all Milorganite is is a byproduct of the sewage department waste. Instead of having to find a way to dump the waste, they instead go through the process to turn it into fertilizer, which is better for the environment as it can basically just be recycled into the earth. Some municipalities charge small fees for it to further help offset the cost, but a lot that do it just offer it up for free.

The only thing I couldn't find on that website (I didn't look that hard) is the NPK and Iron contents. But a lot of them are extremely similar to Milo.


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## 20jlr (May 30, 2018)

Total solids (%) 67.3%
Plant Available Nitrogen
(total PAN) 0.60% or 11.9 lbs/dry ton
Phosphorus (P2O5) 1.01% or 20.3 lbs/dry ton
Potash (K2O) 0.13% or 2.5 lbs/dry ton
Arsenic 3.88 mg/kg or 0.008 lbs/dry ton
Cadmium 1.48 mg/kg or 0.003 lbs/dry ton
Chromium 28.1 mg/kg or 0.06 lbs/dry ton
Copper 471 mg/kg or 0.94 lbs/dry ton
Lead 39.1 mg/kg or 0.08 lbs/dry ton
Manganese 395 mg/kg or 0.79 lbs/dry ton
Mercury 1.53 mg/kg or 0.003 lbs/dry ton
Molybdenum 7.70 mg/kg or 0.02 lbs/dry ton
Nickel 21.9 mg/kg or 0.04 lbs/dry ton
Selenium 3.36 mg/kg or 0.01 lbs/dry ton
Zinc 435 mg/kg or 0.87 lbs/dry ton

No iron content listed


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

We have something similar near me which I haven't checked into yet. Someone who worked with the sewage authority had mentioned it but noted it was a fluff type material. Not sure what that meant.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Sounds like you got yourself some cheap milo alternative. :thumbsup:


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## krusej23 (May 8, 2018)

Some of the people that have posted about these options have said the material most of the time is not the same as milo. Milo is made to be generally the same prill size where local biosolids are not. They are also sold in larger quantities.


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## BenC (Mar 27, 2018)

Seems like a lot of chromium and other heavy metals


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

BenC said:


> Seems like a lot of chromium and other heavy metals


At least the chromium will help prevent rust :lol:


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I would double check the lead for a garden.

There are areas in Indy that eating the vegetables from a garden is dangerous.


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## BenC (Mar 27, 2018)

Mightyquinn said:


> BenC said:
> 
> 
> > Seems like a lot of chromium and other heavy metals
> ...


Add some bling to the yard? Chrome is the new green


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

The information sheet show .60% Nitrogen. Am I reading that correctly that it has 10x less nitrogen than Milorganite?


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## Miggity (Apr 25, 2018)

TN Hawkeye said:


> The information sheet show .60% Nitrogen. Am I reading that correctly that it has 10x less nitrogen than Milorganite?


That is Plant Available Nitrogen (PAN) or water soluble nitrogen, not total nitrogen. Milorganite lists total Nitrogen. Both biosolids need to be broken down by soil microbiology (except PAN) to make the nitrogen available to plants, which is what makes it slow release as well.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Miggity said:


> TN Hawkeye said:
> 
> 
> > The information sheet show .60% Nitrogen. Am I reading that correctly that it has 10x less nitrogen than Milorganite?
> ...


That makes sense. I was wondering what the PAN meant. Thanks for the explanation.


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