Actually a 4.5% iron is not a big deal whether mixed in with
a fertilizer without any iron and mixed in with a fertilizer
that also contains iron. What we do not want to do is make
our iron applications habitual or apply them every year if
we can help it. Even a 7% iron for me for a saline to
alkaline Hanford clay for Citrus is okay every two or three
years depending on what I want from it. People think in
terms of using a fertilizer to promote growth or clear up
an existing color problem such as a chlorosis. I use various
nutrients from fertilizers for certain plants to help the plant
grow better for my conditions. Not always do we apply
iron to an Azalea to clear up a chlorosis but we may apply
some iron to help prevent leaf burn. We have some plants
that may look chlorotic no matter what we do and the
Gulfstream Azalea is a perfect case in point. Once that
plant turns cholortic there is little we can do to get the
green color back on it but left alone in full sun the leaves
will scorch like crazy for us here. When given small
amounts of iron, even iron sulfate, before the temperatures
exceed 90 degrees then we give the plant some protection
for the even warmer temperatures to come. I have better
luck using a zinc chelate on Citrus than I have had using
iron chelates when foliar applied. For years one standard
remedy for a chlorosis in an alkaline clay soil was to use
straight iron sulfate and lot of water. Even adding in some
Calcium nitrate to the powdered iron sulfate gives our
plants less trouble than iron sulfate will used as a standalone.
Iron for container plants and iron used for plants in the
ground are too different animals. One of is more of a
concern to the plant than the other is. Whereas the other
is more of a concern for groundwater contamination than
the other is. We can find fault no matter, even with a
foliar applied iron chelate.

I know about the fertilizer designation and to be honest
it did not matter which party was in charge as it was the
money (greed) that persuaded people on both sides of
the isle to want that to happen. Sometimes, unfortunately,
it does not matter who signed a bill into law it was going
to happen anyway and yes, for all the wrong reasons at times.

I do agree that tailings from a mine should not be considered
a fertilizer either but those tailings can be combined with
other elements to become a fertilizer or a nutrient supplement
later. It is not for me to judge how Ironite came about, it is
what we do afterwards and if we have to go in and clean up
the site later that is what will concern me much more. I can
think of some Geo-microbiological mining in Colorado which
was featured in a Scientific American article back in the 80's
that may be more of a concern in what do we do with the
residues that are left and how do we clean up the site after the
mining has been completed, that may take on even more
significance later than the usage of mine tailings for Ironite
may pose for us. It is not just one area of concern here,
there are others as even mining phosphate rock near a
primary water source made me cringe big time when I
saw it going on. It is all about the money today but who
cares about the health and environmental concerns tomorrow?

Snickles

Snickles, Colorado mountains have hundreads of thousands of old gold and silver mines (many were hand dug) with tailings that have laid open on the ground's surface for the last 150 years. I accidently wrote 4.5% iron in my eariler post, however, I ment to say 12.5% iron in Ironite. Concerning Iron Chelate, I still do not use it as a foliar spray on CITRUS. I only use it in a ground application. Lastly, it seems absolutely EVERYTHING is toxic these days. Last week near our farm, 13 car batteies fell off of an Interstate Battery truck into the ditch along side I-70. THe ""hazmat"" team responded wearing white hazmat suits, and self contained breathing units. Our nutty EPA at "work" - Millet

The original formulation of Ironite did not have much iron
in it, about 3% as I remember it. What attracted me or better
put what interested me was that Ironite had some trace elements
in the composition at a time when it was not easy to find them
in commercial granulated fertilizers. I checked last evening
and saw that I still have some of the "Superferrite" that came
out about a year later that I have used as a supplemental fertilizer
for my home Fruit Trees and in ground and container Citrus.
With that formulation there is 10.5% iron in it with just 1%
Calcium.

I've also had better success using an iron chelate on Citrus
than I have had applying it as a foliar spray. In latter years
I also apply a zinc chelate along with the iron chelate in a
ground application.

Now off topic for a bit. EVERYTHING is said to be toxic these
days. I think we get a little carried away sometimes in what is
toxic and what isn't and to whom a proposed toxic chemical is
a problem. I can just see in my newspaper tomorrow that in
efforts to ban Aspirin that we will now ban all Willow trees
(tongue in cheek). People have called for such action in the
past as ridiculous as it may seem. Personally, I think Aspirin
is getting a bad rap as the benefits to more people outweigh
the negatives that a select few people may face, usually in
concert with an ailment or a condition that was left untreated.
As in the case of a Children's Aspirin given to people with
hypertension, we may want the blood thinning ability of the
Aspirin and to help defray or prevent a possible thrombosis
that can kill us while at the same time a constant or a long
term blood thinning is not healthy for us as the thinning can
can be a complication with the right health circumstances.
We roll the dice in a way that in one aspect we get what we
want from the low dose Aspirin as a preventative while at the
same time there is a risk factor. The word toxic does not apply
here as we do what we have to do to carry on.

As in the case of fertilizers it is not so much the elemental
or nutrient formulation that may concern us, it is more so
the fillers added into the composition that are or can be the
greater problem for us.

Snickles

Several industrial businessmen here were arreseted a few years ago and I'm pretty sure convicted for selling toxic industrial waste as fertilizer. Sure, it had copper and zinc trace metals, but it also had lead and cadmium and arsenic (I believe these were the three, maybe mercury too) in relative abundance. And they well knew it. The "fertilizer" was going to Australia.

I haven't seen the old standby "basic slag" for sale in many years. Maybe the demise of America's steel industry did that in. I always wondered about toxic metals in that too. It was probably OK if from making iron from ore (i.e., blast furnace slag), but if it was influenced by scrap, who knows. Even coal ash in slag from a blast furnace may have an appreciable amount of arsenic.