Healthy Lakes

Bio Builder of Alexandria designed a unique fertilizer to keep Minnesota lakes clean, while helping lakeshore owners grow healthy, green lawns. The fertilizer, Thrivin’ Natural™ and Organic Turfgrass, is made from corn distiller’s dried grain and rough fish. The environmentally friendly formula is phosphorous-free eliminating toxic run-off and protecting and maintaining lake water quality.

Developed by Josh Zeithamer, a 19-year old college student and entrepreneur, who with technical assistance from Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI), wanted to preserve the Douglas County lakes he grew up enjoying. His mission arose out of the discovery that excess lawn fertilizer washing into surface waters promotes algae blooms that suffocate game fish, destroy water clarity and ruin swimming and boating. Phosphorus, found in almost all lawn fertilizers, is the primary problem.

Benefits for Soil and Water

“Thrivin’™ benefits both soil and water,” Josh says, “building up soil tilth and microbes with organic matter and protecting surface waters from phosphorus runoff.” These benefits led the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDot) to include Thrivin’™ in fertilizer trials this past summer near Baxter, on Minnesota Highway 371 as a way to protect environmentally sensitive areas along roadways such as:

* lakes,
* wetlands and
* streams.

MnDot’s Dwayne Stenlund, a soil ecologist, says there is a need for “products that add life…back into the soil.”

Josh and his father, Alan, a fertilizer manufacturer, set about experimenting with different fertilizer combinations and hit on the idea of blending the fish liquid with distiller’s dried grain to produce an easy-to-apply dry product for turf grass. Distiller’s dried grain is cheap, low in phosphorus, and a good source of slow-release nitrogen. Currently, it is sold for animal feed. Fertilizer, Josh says, “is a totally new use.”

Their discovery arrives just in the nick of time says Paula West of Brainerd, executive director of the Minnesota Lakes Association, since “cities and counties are aware of the threat posed by runoff and have begun banning phosphorus fertilizer use.” She adds that phosphate-free fertilizers are hard to find. “None of the major manufacturers makes a phosphate-free fertilizer, and most major retailers don’t carry them in their warehouses. This is the first year Ace Hardware has carried a zero-phosphorus product.”

At least 15 metro-area cities have banned residential applications and half a dozen counties already have shoreline bans — among them, Douglas County, which prohibits phosphorus within 50 feet of public waters. In addition, the Minnesota Legislature this year took up several proposals to limit or ban the use of phosphorus lawn fertilizers.

Do the Right Thing

Besides his classes at North Dakota State University and his responsibilities at Bio Builder, Josh also maintains an 80-acre native grass seed farm. Josh says, “There aren’t many other suppliers of organic, phosphate-free fertilizers. Our biggest challenge will be making consumers aware that they have an alternative.” Inspired by Thrivin’s™ potential, Josh adds that it’s a challenge he relishes. “I love talking to customers, seeing what they want, what they need. I like the challenge of creating a new product.” Beyond that, “I’m extremely motivated to do the right thing when it comes to our environment.”

Recently, the United States Department of Agriculture presented a $96,520 grant to the Initiative Foundation of Little Falls to provide technical assistance to Bio Builder as well as Con Cor Construction in Brainerd. And last fall, AURI helped Bio Builder develop packaging and promotional materials and get labels approved in the five-state area. manufacturing the fertilizer in a converted barn. Bio Builder expects to sell about 200 tons of Thrivin’™ this season. The product is available at several dozen garden centers and retail stores around the state, including Mills Fleet Farm and Ace Hardware.