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#1
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Manure Question
I have a lot of clay clumps in the area I want to garden so….
I was looking for a cheep soil replacement to plant vegetables in so I went to home depot and found one cubic foot bags of Earth Grow Steer Manure Blend (at a buck a bag) that says it’s A blend of steer manure and compost. On the back of the bag it states “do not plant directly into” Earth Grow Steer Manure Blend. I notice this stuff retains moisture, though on the other hand I heard from 2 other sources that using manure as a growing medium is standard practice. What gives? |
#2
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Manure Question
Welcome to the world of caveat emptor.
Most bagged products (topsoil, compost) are poor substitutes for "the real thing". You have no way of knowing exactly what went into this stuff, and in my opinion, it's a bad sign that the mfr recommends against planting in it. My experience with bagged products of this variety is they typically come from a waste management operation. It's true, real manure is planted in - although best if composted, definately not raw - and it is a great soil conditioner. But like all soil conditioning, it takes TIME and TONS OF MATERIALS Seriously, I mean tons of materials - depending on your starting soil. The manure I use is at least 1 year old, dusty-dry, crumbly, absolutely no odor. Mixed into the top 3-4 inches of soil it just disappears. You could try splitting open the bags, letting them dry out, and mixing into your soil lightly. So here's the leap off the deep end: You can plant directly into straw, although it might be tough to come by in your neck of the woods. If you bury the bale half into your soil, it will speed decomposition and get your plant roots down into the ground. If your city has a composting program, check into it. Visit, see if you like how the material is handled. Woodchips/sawdust in quantity can be had from sawmills, cabinet makers, wod workers... Yes it depletes nitrogen in the short term, but again, over time, is a great soil conditioner. Talk to your city officials about leaf recycling - maybe they can cut you in on the action. I'm sure others will be by with (shorter) additional comments.. |
#3
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Manure Question
"Mike" wrote in message news:NDzGj.4272$Dv5.1096@trnddc02... I have a lot of clay clumps in the area I want to garden so.. I was looking for a cheep soil replacement to plant vegetables in so I went to home depot and found one cubic foot bags of Earth Grow Steer Manure Blend (at a buck a bag) that says it's A blend of steer manure and compost. On the back of the bag it states "do not plant directly into" Earth Grow Steer Manure Blend. I notice this stuff retains moisture, though on the other hand I heard from 2 other sources that using manure as a growing medium is standard practice. What gives? if your soil is rubbish you could try raised beds. These do not need to be filled with soil, decent quality compost & aged manure will do for the outset.I build some raised gardens & chucked a whole mixture of organic matter in, including barrow loads of horse crap, & simply layered a few inchs of soil or good (backyard) compost onto the top to plant into. The first seasons veges went fine and over time the gardens have only inproved. True, for a coupe, of them I could fill them almost full of soil but for the other 3 whatever I had on hand was used. Thats my adage, use whatever is available. Bugger it, if you have the gardens deep enough you can pile a load of raw materials into the gardens and plant whilst they are still only partially rotted. I planyed tomatos into a garden full of partially rotted hay and grass clippings, with a few inchs of compost to bed into. The tomatos went well and gave me very satisfactory crop. Have a squiz at http://www.fbga.net/Lasagna%20gardening%202004.htm http://www.ourgardengang.com/lasagna_gardening.htm you don't have to make the garden as ugly as the first link for it to be successful, but you get the idea of what they throw in their garden. Basically everything organic and now where near rotted. They covered with top soil or compost & planted away. I wouldn't bother with the peat moss myself, waste of time. rob |
#4
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Manure Question
"Mike" wrote in message
I have a lot of clay clumps in the area I want to garden so.. I was looking for a cheep soil replacement to plant vegetables in so I went to home depot and found one cubic foot bags of Earth Grow Steer Manure Blend (at a buck a bag) that says it's A blend of steer manure and compost. On the back of the bag it states "do not plant directly into" Earth Grow Steer Manure Blend. I notice this stuff retains moisture, though on the other hand I heard from 2 other sources that using manure as a growing medium is standard practice. What gives? I've never heard of anyone growing anything in pure manure. I add manure to my clay soil and dig it in or if it is very fresh I put it on the top of the soil and let the worms dig it in. Mind you, my manure is from animals and not from bags so it's the real deal YMMV. |
#5
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Manure Question
In my raised beds I have taken to using general mushroom compost and
then adding over time buckets of ash from our open fire. So long as you break it up (becomes clay like lumps in wet weather) , its seems to work really well and balance the compost out. |
#6
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Manure Question
Too bad the bag doesn't say why you shouldn't plant directly in this stuff,
rather than have the customer guessing. Well I planted in it! http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/3...4641793iq4.jpg Though it probably would have been better to mix it with half garden soil. Thanks for the input. |
#8
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Manure Question
"phorbin" wrote in message ... In article UVPGj.4748$o35.2698@trnddc07, says... Too bad the bag doesn't say why you shouldn't plant directly in this stuff, rather than have the customer guessing. Well I planted in it! http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/3...4641793iq4.jpg Though it probably would have been better to mix it with half garden soil. Thanks for the input. Nitrogen is your answer and what it can do to the root system. Plug manure hot into google. I get what you mean, hot manure would be like bat guano and would burn the roots. I don’t think this blend is that hot, though it's a bit sticky and dry hardens on top. I also added 27g each per Square foot of Ammonium Phosphate, Sulfur, and Ironite. |
#9
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