Manure

[freemotion]

Several years ago I saw a show on HGTV on gardening, and they went to Alaska to showcase the garden of a guy who grew huge, prizewinning veggies with NO chemicals whatsoever. He used compost tea. I was building my barn and fencing and clearing multiflora, etc, so was not ready for this....wish now I'd paid more attention.

He used the aerating method, used a kind of ring that bubbled and pumps, I think it was the fish tank pumps mentioned by ON. He added a "secret ingredient" that I figured was some sugar solution from all the hinting, so it was probably molasses! Thanks again, ON!

One of the tidbits that stuck in my mind was that the plants developed a waxy appearance and the leaves were thicker than normal, and that is what protected them so well from insects and other troubles. The compost tea did this. He used it every other week, if I remember correctly.

The plants were PERFECT in appearance. Quite impressive. I've been looking for an aquarium pump ever since. Sounds like this just made it back on my project list.....

 

[Farmfresh]

One important thing is you really got to know your s---!

All manure is NOT created equally. That said the way you USE the poo you have depends greatly on the poo at hand.

As stated before chicken and other poultry poo is considered very HOT. This means it is extremely high in nitrogen content and can actually burn plants if applied fresh. Poultry litter is best composted before using. This allows the manure to mellow and some of the nitrogen to break down some thus making it safer to use. You can take advantage of the high nitrogen content by spreading only lightly composted poultry manure on your field where you intend to grow a heavy feeder like corn in the fall. Allow the manure to sit on the field over the winter and then till it in well several weeks before planting in the spring.

Manure like cow and horse manure also do well being spread, even fairly fresh, on fields and gardens in the fall as well. Spreading the manure and then allowing the snow and rains of winter to work their magic makes them mellow by spring as well. Horse and cow manure should also come with a warning. Sometimes when spread fresh in this manner it can contain some still viable seeds that may sprout as weeds. These weed seeds are killed by the heat generated from composting. When composted well these manures make a terrific side dressing in the garden as well.

Fresh manure of most types (except poultry) can be used quite effectively as a manure tea. My Grandma Nettie used an old pillowcase to make a super-sized "tea" bag. She would place a scoop of fresh manure into the case and place it into a large (5 gallon or larger) bucket. At this point she would fill the bucket with hot water and allow it to soak for several hours. You could also use the sun for this step - making Sun Tea as it were! After the "tea" was brewed the manure used was added to the compost heap and the liquid was used as a side dressing, much as any liquid fertilizer. The darker the tea the stronger the fertilizer.

Rabbit manure stands alone in the world of poo. It can be used fresh and will not burn your plants. As a matter of a fact I used to use a lawn spreader to spread rabbit poo in my garden and on my lawn with great success!

As far as other manures are concerned do your research! You gotta get to the point where anyone would say "Wow, you really know your s---!"

 

[Organics North]

Good points farmfresh.. I agree.. Yes Rabbit manure is very special stuff.. Do you recall if goat manure is also safe to use fresh? (Some where I have a link that covers all the different manuers..) Also your point about using fresh cow or horse manure and the weed seed potential is a good point!

freemotion, you are welcome. Many if not all of the Alaska "super gardeners" are into Humics also. I suspect that concentrated humus is another one of their secret additives. (I add it to my water or teas). Compost is on its way to becoming humus, that is one of the reasons it is such good stuff..

ON

 

[Farmfresh]

I personally have never used goat poo. I would have to do some digging for that info.

 

[lupinfarm]

I would be assuming goat and sheep would be very similar...

And I can't remember, but I think sheep can be used fresh?

We have about 30 + years worth of cow manure that we dug out of our barn lol, its sitting at the bottom of our compost/manure pile right now but will actually be going straight into our raised beds in the spring. Right now I'm dumping any and all horse poop I can get my hands on and some of the goat poop.

One thing we like to do is shovel our chicken stuff into the run over the winter, it gives them something to stand on and in the spring its all soily. Last year we did this with hay, we'd put down hay once or twice a week in the run, and over the winter and spring the chickens scratched and pooped it down to a fine dirt, it looked fantastic and worked great on the flower garden.

 

[SKR8PN]

ON....you just reminded me of a book my father used to read faithfully...ORGANIC GARDENING!

 

[Farmfresh]

One thing we like to do is shovel our chicken stuff into the run over the winter, it gives them something to stand on and in the spring its all soily. Last year we did this with hay, we'd put down hay once or twice a week in the run, and over the winter and spring the chickens scratched and pooped it down to a fine dirt, it looked fantastic and worked great on the flower garden.

That is EXACTLY the reason that I move my hens into my back garden space over the winter! In addition to getting extra sun in that space they work wonders for the soil over the winder. I usually place 1 or sometimes 2 bales of straw (opened up and spread out) in the garden to help keep them of the snow. By spring this is so chopped up and churned in it looks like I tilled in compost!!

 

[kcsunshine]

Don't use a lot o manure (horse or cow) where you're planting potatoes. It will cause scabbing.