Can I use grass clippings of a lawn that is fertilized four times a year with "Scotts type" fertilizer? I'm not sure what the life of fertilizer is in old cut clippings. Also I have an orchard close by where I can get alot of crushed apples when they make their cider this fall, but it is not an organic orchard. Any info out there on use of items for composting of fertilized materials? Thanks

[u]Sustainably[/u] speaking? Of course go for it!

USDA Certified [u]Organically[/u] speaking? No way!

It's really up to the personal style and philosophy of the composter.

All synthetic lawn/garden fertilizers are actually water soluable mineral salts. They are either evaporated fromn the soil, or leached out of the soil, within 4-6 weeks!

In a hot compost pile, any minerals, or plant/animal matter, can be totally broken down into safe, healthy, mature compost in less than 1-2 months, with no problems.

I use any plant matter I can find, anywhere, regardless! I trust the powerful, hungry, aerobic microbes in my hot piles to totally break everything down over time anyway.

I stay away from treated grass clippings because of their attendant chemical residues. As Capt. suggested, USDA regulations for organic certification also specify that one must not add plant materials containing chemical residues. To me, treated grass clippings are Russian roulette. Rarely do you know what's in there, or how long it will take to break down.

Many might also turn up a nose at chemically-treated apple wastes (remember the Alar scare of a few years ago?), but the amount of residual toxins in an apple or any other foodstuff is, by law, far below what one can apply to a lawn. Still, itÂ’s there, and some of it ends up in your soil, and therefore in you. Even if you eat only organically, some residue will arrive in the food you buy.

Ironically, the USDA rules for organic certification require that a grower use (when possible) only seed produced organically; meaning the parent plant had to be grown chemical-free. The amount of toxins transmitted through a seed must be as nada when compared to what arrives on our table in an apple. But there you have it.

There is an up-side to using these materials - they won't get thrown away and end up in a landfill. The down-side is obvious - you aren't working with organic compost. I agree with the Captain that composting will help break down the chemicals, but unless you are the one applying the chemicals you may never know for sure what has been used.

Maybe you could have separate piles - organic vs. non-organic. I would consider using the non-organic on flowers and potted plants that you don't intend on eating.

Purists will say "Do Not Use Them" but you need to decide. Are you going after certification as an Organic grower, then you will not be able to use them. If you are simply looking to that as a resource for your own yard then you need to make a choice and decide if those grass clippings, which will be free of most "chemical residue" when you get them are worth more than allowing them to escape your clutches. If you buy most of your food from the local supermarket then you, and your family, are exposed to more residual pesticide than you would be from the grass clippings and apple pumice.

Sometime lawn fertilizers are not just that, like in the case of the "Weed and Feed".
If you are using the grass clippings, at least make sure it doesn't contain any added herbicide.

An organic purist would not use grass clippings from a lawn on whih a "weed and feed" had been applied. Some others would wait 6 weeks, when all the studies out there show most of the active ingrediants have dissapated. Some not so pure would use them after a week or two when most of what was applied has been washed down to the soil level and would not be on the grass clippings anymore.