OK, I should know better. I should know that my lawn will be affected by my bird feeding habits but somehow every year in the spring it comes as a bit of surprise.
Right now I have this nice bump under my finch feeder. I have been feeding a mix of finely chopped sunflower seed and nyjer seed. Now neither of these seeds will sprout as the nyjer seed has been sterilized and the chopped sunflower seed will not grow. However, it appears that the shells from the nyjer seed (the birds hull the nyjer seed to eat it) have built up over the winter and now I have a this nice hill beneath my feeder which is now part of my bumpy lawn.
As a bird seed manufacturer, my testing ground is often my own backyard. I test different types of nuts, different types of bird seed and try to confirm existing theories on bird seed preferences etc. So I end up with problem areas in my lawn. However, if you are a gardener first and a bird feeder second, and want to avoid these problems here are some tips:
Right now I have this nice bump under my finch feeder. I have been feeding a mix of finely chopped sunflower seed and nyjer seed. Now neither of these seeds will sprout as the nyjer seed has been sterilized and the chopped sunflower seed will not grow. However, it appears that the shells from the nyjer seed (the birds hull the nyjer seed to eat it) have built up over the winter and now I have a this nice hill beneath my feeder which is now part of my bumpy lawn.
As a bird seed manufacturer, my testing ground is often my own backyard. I test different types of nuts, different types of bird seed and try to confirm existing theories on bird seed preferences etc. So I end up with problem areas in my lawn. However, if you are a gardener first and a bird feeder second, and want to avoid these problems here are some tips:
- Feed a no-mess mix like our Mother Nature's No Mess Gardener's Mix. The seeds in this mix will not sprout under the feeder and do not have any seed hulls so you should not get built up waste under your feeder.
- Feed sunflower chips. We use the term "chips" for the sunflower seeds that have had the seed hulls removed (sunflower hearts or kernels is another term for these). Our biggest seller is the medium sunflower chips (which are sunflower kernels that have been chopped into medium sized chunks). These will not germinate under the feeder and will not cause any shell build up.
- Beware sunflower shells. While birds love sunflower seed, the shells left over from the hulled seed is hard on the lawn and will prevent the lawn from growing below. Also you may find some pretty sunflower germinating beneath the feeder. You can prevent this by gathering up the shells as much as possible or by covering the ground with a piece of tarp to act as a hull catcher during the winter when feeding sunflower seed and gathering this up in the spring.
I have the same problem with feeding the birds and
ReplyDeletemy lawn just will not grown in the areas I feed them, so I bought a seed catcher that attache to the bottom
of the feeder which is a little bigger then the feeder and hangs slightly below it and it really helps.
The other thing is a spray you can buy to spray on the lawn and once a week or so on the seeded area on the lawn this way the seed won't grow and your lawn wot die.