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Composted Manure for Soil Improvement
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Posted by emmalehman 6 (My Page) on Wed, Feb 8, 12 at 20:44
| I have access to a LOT of composted horse manure. I will be growing a wide variety of vegetables this season, and have never used manure to improve my soil. How much is too much (as in percentage of soil or inches)? If I use my tractor's bucket to lift up the top soil, mix it with my compost and with the composted manure, how much of each should I be aiming for in the mixture? I only have about 2 cubic yards of compost for about 12 20'x3' beds, so there is a limit to my compost in the ratio... Alternatively, I could just try to dig in the compost and manure, especially if the percentage is low for each of them.
Lastly, if I do this mixing within the next couple of weeks, will it be ok to plant around my frost free date in early April, or will the manure still be too strong? (I don't know how long it has composted, but I believe at least 6 months).
Any help is much appreciated! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Composted Manure for Soil Improvement
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| I meant to add that I currently have a very low percentage of organic material in my soil, so this is a much-needed improvement, not simply a top-up. |
RE: Composted Manure for Soil Improvement
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Manure has ben used for eons to help imp[rove soils, but today we know that in addition to manure you will need vegetative waste in a ratio of about 3 parts vegetative waste to 1 part manure. Compost is part of that, but does not need to be the total sum. Since most of the nutrients in manure are fairly soluble, fairly readily available, they can be washed out of soils lacking sufficient amounts of organic matter which can help hold those nutrients in you soil.
Just howe much you will need depends on how much your soil needs and the only way to know that is by having a good, reliable soil test done for soil pH and levels of major nutrients. In addition you could do these simple soil tests to learn more about your soil,
1) Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains� too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. |
RE: Composted Manure for Soil Improvement
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I always mix in the manure/compost directly into the bed before planting with enough time for it to 'finish' in the soil. Just as long as it doesn't 'burn' the roots of seedlings.
I wouldn't bother mixing it with other soil then adding the mixture to your beds. What is the reason for that? |
RE: Composted Manure for Soil Improvement
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| I have to grow most of my vegetables in containers because my small yard is surrounded by black walnut trees. My neighbor built a raised bed garden last summer and filled it with about 50% composted horse manure and 50% top soil from his yard. In spite of record breaking heat and rain, my tomato plants were pretty productive. His grew huge and tall but only produced a few tomatoes on each plant. By the end of the summer, his plants were overcome with bugs, and he poured on the chemical pesticides. My thinking was that his garden suffered from too much nitrogen from the manure. He didn't add anything else except Miracle Gro. This makes me pretty reluctant to use pure manure as a large portion of the soil in my small raised bed. I'm curious about what others think. |
RE: Composted Manure for Soil Improvement
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| Ohiofem 5b/6a OH, You make a very good point. A fresh mix of "composted" horsemanure will definately impact the soil in many ways before the mix has "cured" and become a healthy, fertile soil. I am surprised that your neighbor added any fertilizers at all. You should let him know that watching the plants grow and add fertilizer only as needed makes for sense than adding every 2 weeks as per label instructions... How was air circulation and how much sun? |
RE: Composted Manure for Soil Improvement
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| He had better sun than I do because his trees shade my gardening area. Not his. :-( I think his tomatoes were crowded. I don't think he actually added fertilizer until he saw that I had tomatoes and he didn't. It was his first garden, and he has since moved, so he isn't even going to get the benefit of having aged manure this summer. I mentioned the idea of adding compost, but he thought it sounded like too much work. |
RE: Composted Manure for Soil Improvement
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| Last year I used horse manure in my community garden. It was composted a little but still had smell to it so it was not quite ready. I used it anyway, and after all was said and done I used about 1 inch of it over the area. Now this must be considered in context of my soils. I have loamy sand soil that is low in nutrients, subject to leaching, low water retention, and higher PH (7.8). I also added compost to the plot and added a 10-10-10 fertilizer as well. This was the first year that this area had been cultivated. So I was starting from scratch. I had good results from the addition of the these amendments, vigorous plant growth high production, and no burning. So how much to add will depend on what your soils are like. I don't think you would have any trouble with burning your plants if you added it now and let it finish a little before planting. The question is how much. |
RE: Composted Manure for Soil Improvement
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Manure that needs to "finish" should not be put on a vegetable garden sooner than 90 days to harvest, probably 120 days. Loading the soil with manure can creat4e problems with plant diseases and insect pests as some have noted above. Nutrient balance is the key to a good garden.
Using a 10-10-10, or any other form of synthetic fertilizes is not an acceptable organic gardening practice. |
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