Fertilizing with milk

[Shule]

So, I went to the Keeping a Family Cow forum, and was browsing the posts. I came upon this one:

https://familycow.proboards.com/thread/ ... fertilizer

It's about using milk as fertilizer. People often ask about this on gardening sites, and you usually get opinions about how the milk will rot and hurt the plants or something because it hasn't been composted yet (not that people recommend composting milk). So, I figure if anyone knows the true answer, it's probably a forum dedicated to cows where gardeners also happen to exist where they've probably actually tried it a fair amount.

In summary, it looks like people report having had good experiences using diluted skim milk (and possibly some other kinds of milk). Milk with much cream can kill stuff.

[worth1]

Maybe for a farm with a cow but that would be excess milk.
If they had chickens it would be better to give the chickens the milk.
Or a pig.
No chickens learn to make cheese.
Milk is too expensive to use in the garden.

[Gardadore]

Have read milk is good against powdery mildew on phlox. “3 parts milk 7 parts water. Be sure to spray the stems and under the leaves as well as the tops.” Never heard of it as a fertilizer! Interesting idea.

[MissS]

Fertilizing with milk and whey has been done for centuries as well as spraying milk as a fungicide. It adds calcium and other nutrients as well a adding sugars to feed bacteria in your soil. The whey would actually add more fermenting bacteria to the soil. I myself have used a 50/50 milk to water spray as a fungicide for years with good results on peonies, lilacs and bee balm.

[worth1]

Watch out my little bovine friends they're after your milk.

[bower]

Besides fungicide uses I was recently reading that milk can be virucidal as well, and good for cleaning your hands if (heaven forbid) you had to deal with virus infected plants.

Many eons ago when I first started composting I recall that "no dairy" was part of the drill, so I have never put anything dairy into the compost. Not sure why that is a general rule for composting.
It is certainly true that lactobacillus is a healthy, and plant friendly microbe.

Hard to imagine a surplus of milk that would be best used as a fertilizer eg for the calcium. As lime is about the cheapest amendment you can get. Of course that may not have been the case at another time in history.

[worth1]

One mans excess is another mans treasure I suppose.
I personally haven't purchased milk in years.
Just cream and other dairy products that keep longer.
I always keep powdered milk on hand.

[Shule]

Maybe for a farm with a cow but that would be excess milk.
If they had chickens it would be better to give the chickens the milk.
Or a pig.
No chickens learn to make cheese.
Milk is too expensive to use in the garden.

I wasn't actually planning to do it, although the fact that MissS does it has me intrigued. I just see this topic come up a lot; so, I thought I'd post something new about it.

However, for those people who actually do have cows, I understand they can produce a lot! I mean, like way more than a few people would use.

Do you think spoiled milk would be healthy for plants? (FYI: We normally don't buy milk at all. I eat a lot of cheese, though. I'm just curious about your thoughts, or anyone else's.)

[MissS]

Maybe for a farm with a cow but that would be excess milk.
If they had chickens it would be better to give the chickens the milk.
Or a pig.
No chickens learn to make cheese.
Milk is too expensive to use in the garden.

I wasn't actually planning to do it, although the fact that MissS does it has me intrigued. I just see this topic come up a lot; so, I thought I'd post something new about it.

However, for those people who actually do have cows, I understand they can produce a lot! I mean, like way more than a few people would use.

Do you think spoiled milk would be healthy for plants? (FYI: We normally don't buy milk at all. I eat a lot of cheese, though. I'm just curious about your thoughts, or anyone else's.)

I use a spoiled milk and spoiled egg mixture as a deer repellent on my plants. I don't know if it helps to feed them anything or not, but it doesn't hurt the plants at all other than making them smell pretty bad.

[MonikaP]

This year I have used milk for powdery mildew on my pumpkins and it worked. I used it dilluted as a fertilizer too(for my seedlings) I have a goat farm so I have enough milk.

[zeuspaul]

@MonikaP Welcome to Tomato Junction

[MonikaP]

@MonikaP Welcome to Tomato Junction

Thank you

[slugworth]

A dog once ran out of my yard with a milk jug in it's jaws.
You can't turn your back for a minute.