And it is not just fish fertilizer that will attract carnivores. A number of animal derived organic fertilizers and soil amendments will do the same thing - blood meal, bone meal, feather meal, etc. Cats, dogs, raccoons, fox, coyotes and perhaps even larger carnivores are all attracted by the smell and will hunt and dig to locate the source.

Yeah I continued to google last night; apparently fish fertilizer is used as a GRIZZLY BEAR BAIT by scientists LOL! I think the label should come with huge surgeon's general style warning!

Next time I use it, I'm going to cautiously try it with a huge tree that could arguably still use a touch of nitrogen...and wait to apply it just before a lot of rain is forecast. See if that washes down enough that the smell doesn't attract them. It seems like these animals, compared to a herbivore, should be smart enough to realize that if they keep digging and never find anything, it isn't worth their time.

i dont know why you are fertilizing newly planted stuff anyway ... a little of this or that wont hurt ... but i would suspect the plant has little or no need for it ..... [you said small trees.. so i presume]

ken

You've gotten excellent info here. I use fish emulsion b/c my DLs respond fabulously to it but only in an area that is too exposed for critters to feel safe marauding. Im not sure i will use it again when i run out b/c of animals

Ken...I thought you knew I was on your team regarding over-fertilization! This was not just planted stuff, it had been in the ground a year or two. And they were plants that had no "fertilizer beads" when planted so I thought it was time for a little sip of nitrogen. Finally one was a known heavy feeder. (a hibiscus)

Anyhow the good news is tonight they left them alone. I replanted and heavily watered to try to wash the odor down.

I use Neptune fish and seaweed mix....had excellent results....no animal damage but not many around me

viper are you in an urban area?

The sad thing is I was so excited to see the foxes a couple weeks ago! Their population seemed to have dropped during the cold winters.

i am in a suburban area.......also should mention i make a compost tea with it....brew it up with some molasses and a cup of vermicastings then do a foliar feed

My neighborhood has a lot of strays. I used to use miracle gro, switched to fish emulsion this week, and overnight the strays ripped every aloe, wandering jew and seed potato out of its pot. I'm so upset. On the upside, my plants looked much happier for about four hours!

YES! Something has dug up four of our young trees. :( How do I fix this?!?