I have plenty of out-of-date milk powder for automatic coffee machines (powdered skimmed milk obtained through hot air drying followed by agglomeration process; sole ingredient: powdered skimmed milk). After having read the thread: What ingredients in milk make it a good fertilizer? , I wonder if it could be used as fertilizer as well as normal milk, for flowers or eatable fruits.
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3Actual "milk powder" or "powdered non-dairy creamer" (by far more common in my experience of dreadful machine coffee)? I suspect in either case it will have some fertilizer value. I'd probably run it through the compost pile first, but that's probably not an absolute requirement.– EcnerwalOct 7, 2014 at 18:25
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1Whatever you do, don't put milk in the water for a cutting you're rooting. It will wither the plant overnight and smell really bad really fast. In light of that, I would personally want to compost it before using it in soil.– BrōtsyorfuzthrāxOct 8, 2014 at 0:02
1 Answer
Someone's already queried whether it's a dairy product or non dairy, and that's an important point.
As far as using milk as a fertiliser, all it's going to provide is a small percentage of nitrogen. As fertilisers go, it's not that useful frankly, but if it is dairy based and you just want to get rid of it but want to avoid simply binning it, you could mix it with water and apply around plants, but preferably not potted plants. If it's got cream in it, you might find it gets a bit smelly as it goes rancid in the ground, depending on your temperatures there. Best not used now if you are in the northern hemisphere - plants are closing down in preparation for winter, so shouldn't be given nitrogen at this stage, although a small amount probably won't make much difference.