The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: jamie01 on March 19, 2012, 07:23:56 am
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Hi,
I have been reading this forum for quite a while now and have learnt quite allot but i have a quick question that i cannot find the answer anyware!! Are you able to dig chicken poo into the vegetable patch or does it have to go on the compost heap to rot down for a while?
Thank you
jamie
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Compost it first IMO Jamie - along with all the chicken bedding (shavings? straw?). Your heap will :love: :love:
It's too concentrated to put directly on to veg
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Chicken muck is very 'strong' and will burn your crops if you dig it straight in, and even more so if you use it fresh as a mulch. I use straw as bedding for my poultry (shavings take too long to rot down) and make a separate muck heap with mine, sometimes adding grass clippings. I turn it once during rotting and don't use it until it is very well made. Some crops need compost rather than manure, and others benefit from the extra nutrients such as nitrogen in manure, hence the separate heaps for each.
One helper we had here insisted on using chicken manure which was not properly rotted down to dig in under the roots of tomatoes. You could tell when the roots reached the raw manure because the plant leaves started to curl in on themselves so badly that the crop was very poor.
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Im really glad I asked now then and didnt just put it on! And yes its shavings we use as I thought this would break down quicker so something new to me there.
Thanks again
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however, you can make an amazing feed for cucurbits and tomatoes (and potatoes ;)) by mixing fresh poo in water and leaving it stand for a few weeks. i feed all of mine on this and its excellent, i wouldnt use it on young plants tho.
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Wrap in a hesian sack and leave to soak in a bucket of water for a few weeks, if you can stand the smell. It can then be diluted down into a watering can- about a cup of smelly water to a gallon of clean water.