5E-1.002. Registration and Labeling of Animal and Vegetable Manures, Composts, Soil Conditioners, Soil Amendments and Soil Additives

Regristration and Labeling.

(1) Exemptions. When the labeling does not claim to contain any plant nutrients or beneficial plant growth properties as defined in Section 576.011(12), F.S., unmanipulated animal manure, vegetable manures, potting soils, peat or compost are excluded from the provisions of this rule chapter.

(2) The department will require proof of beneficial claims made before registering any potting soil, mulch, compost, soil additive, soil conditioner and soil amendment. If beneficial claims are made as to soil amendments, soil additives or soil conditioners, the department will require scientific evidence of usefulness and agronomic value. As evidence of proof, the department will accept experimental data, evaluations, or advice supplied from an accredited school of agriculture. The experimental design shall be related to state environmental conditions for which the product is intended to be used. The department will accept information from other sources of proof as additional evidence in evaluating soil amendments, soil additives or soil conditioners. Proof of beneficial claims shall be mailed to the Fertilizer Program Manager, 3125 Conner Boulevard, Building 6, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1650.

(3) Manipulated manures, composts, soil conditioners, soil amendments and soil additives come within the definition of fertilizer. In addition to the labeling requirements set forth in Section 576.031, F.S., the labels on all manipulated manures, composts, soil conditioners, soil amendments and soil additives, shall contain in or in close proximity to the brand name, the common name of the product and the grade numerals in terms of the primary plant nutrients, (unless all three are zero), e.g., “Supreme Compost 1-2-1.” Claims pertaining to the composition or benefits of these products shall be required to be substantiated and documented.

(a) When the term manure is used in any brand name, labeling, or advertisement identifying any product, the animal source of the manure must also be shown.

(b) Products containing manure mixed or composted with other organic materials shall include the name of the other material in its brand, labeling and advertisement, e.g., “Cattle Manure plus Organic Compost,” “Horse Manure composted with Peat”. The common names of the components of such products shall be listed on the label in order of relative amount in the mixture.

(c) Manures and products containing manure shall be guaranteed to have a minimum of 0.5% total nitrogen, 0.5% available phosphorus and 0.2% soluble potassium. All statements of guarantees or grade numerals less than one percent shall be expressed as decimal fractions, with a zero preceding the decimal.

(d) Guano and Earthworm Castings are exempt from paragraph (c).

(e) Material recovered from lagoons or holding ponds designed to retain manure run-off is considered to be a compost and may not be claimed, branded or advertised to be a manure, except that the term manure can be used in a descriptive manner in a listing of source materials, as in “Derived from Cattle Manure Compost” or “Derived from Composted Dairy Manure Solids”. No minimum guarantee shall be required in such product.

Rulemaking Authority 570.07(23), 576.181 FS. Law Implemented 576.011, 576.031, 576.181 FS. History–New 1-23-67, Amended 1-1-77, Formerly 5E-1.02, Amended 5-19-88, 8-3-93, 10-25-98, 12-30-15.