Question
I have used Bonus S for many years on my Lawn, with good results I might add, but my question is can I use my grass clipping and leaves from my yard for making compost for my flower beds and vegetable garden?

Answer
Ignorance is bliss.  Unfortunately, Scotts 23-9-4 'Bonus S' may hold some surprises.  Ones you may not be happy about.

Let's start with Howard Garrett, Dirt Doctor Extraordinaire, who last year wrote a short essay, 'It抯 Time to Fertilize ?But Not with this Stuff!', where he says right out, 'The # 1 fertilizer to avoid is this one ?Scott抯 Bonus S':

www.dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=1762

Says Garrett, 'Although the "chemicals are OK" crowd has no problem with synthetic fertilizers and herbicides, they do acknowledge that the two ingredients in these products aren't suitable to be applied at the same time. The pre-emergent herbicide part of the products needs to be applied about 2 months earlier than the soluble fertilizer part of the products. Plus, we agree that atrazine should not be used on residential property period because the roots of trees cover the entire property of most lots.'

For the Dirt Doctor, the 1.055 percent ATRAZINE is the problem.

But that's not all.

Can you name the two products that were recalled following a federal criminal investigation?  Take a look at the report from the Columbus Dispatch on May 7, 2008, describing the April 23 national recall of two Scotts products:

'People who bought recalled Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. products are eligible for refunds and will be sent special packages to safely mail the fertilizers back to the company.  One product, Miracle-Gro Shake 'n' Feed With Weed Preventer All Purpose Plant Food, contained an unregistered herbicide, and another, Bonus S Max, had an inaccurate label.'

But you want to know whether clippings from the treated Grass are safe as compost?

And here I'm afraid the answer is, No.

Here's how they explain it at HARC (Houston Advanced Research Centre):

'Many new herbicides are very resistant to breaking down...Atrazine is a Triaine herbicide' which 'might survive and be found in quickly made Compost'.  Two others, Clopyralid and Picloram, 'are commonly used on fields to grow hay for cattle feed.  A cow can eat the hay and the cow's urine will kill plants.  The same problem occurs in cow manure.  

Here's the full report:

files.harc.edu/Projects/CultivateGreen/Events/20041215/ValueOfCompost.pdf

Good question you pose.  Consider next the health risks associated with Atrazine, and whether the Lawn is worth it.  Thanks for writing.  Your followups invited.

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER