The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: lokismum on April 22, 2013, 01:01:39 pm
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i know you are a wealth of knowledge here ;)
just wondered if you all might help me out :fc:
i know certain muck is better for some fruit and veg than others
could you let me know what is best veg for the following muck
thinking it might be better to keep my mucks separate
horse :horse:
alpaca :llama:
pig :pig:
chicken :chook:
thanks in advance
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Horse, alpaca and sheep manure tends to be bulky but not too strong so it's good for general fertility and adding humus to your soil.
I don't use pig muck at all because it tends to have heavy metals in, but my brother swears by it ::) . I would imagine it would fit in the low bulk, high nitrogen bracket.
Chicken manure is very concentrated so needs to be really well rotted so there is no sign of the bedding left. It doesn't add much bulk but does add plenty of nitrogen. If the poultry has been bedded on wood chips then the high nitrogen content will help to rot it without robbing the soil. Ours are bedded on straw.
I don't have the luxury of choice beyond sheep and chicken and I tend to rot the two together for a general purpose FYM.
Garden compost is very different and I do try to have separate heaps for that. Veg such as carrots etc don't like strong manure so I use manure-free compost on those areas.
Some veg are much heavier feeders than others, so I would add more FYM to those crops - brassicas, potatoes and the like. Leguminous crops don't need much nitrogen as they make their own, but they do appreciate plenty of bulk, so Horse manure, as long as they have been bedded on straw not woodchips, would be ideal.
Tomatoes, squash and other plants which produce a 'flower' crop, need high potassium rather than high nitrogen, so benefit from the addition of something like comfrey or borage.
That's all I know. I tend to try something and if it works I stick to that, if it doesn't I try something different.
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Brilliant question and love the reply. I've been mixing the poulty manure (well mainly hemp, to be fair, I think I'm soft - it's not normally too bad when I clearn them out) with the general compost - is that bad?
H
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Brilliant question and love the reply. I've been mixing the poulty manure (well mainly hemp, to be fair, I think I'm soft - it's not normally too bad when I clearn them out) with the general compost - is that bad?
That's what we do, also with hemp bedding: mix it in with the general compost waste until the bin (made out of 4 pallets) is full, cover it with black plastic on top and then leave it for at least 6 months. This year we've got lovely compost. :)
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i know you are a wealth of knowledge here ;)
just wondered if you all might help me out :fc:
i know certain muck is better for some fruit and veg than others
could you let me know what is best veg for the following muck
thinking it might be better to keep my mucks separate
horse :horse:
alpaca :llama:
pig :pig:
chicken :chook:
thanks in advance
All of them ... what a fantastic varied source of nutrients you have . you could grow boobs on your baby bruvver with that lot as a well amde compost blend .
They want composting properly though , look up " The Berkley 18 day hot composting method ",
If there is plenty of straw bedding that's good, if neat dungs add about 20 % well wetted straw in 3 inch thick layers for a quick compost & cover the pile with a poly sheet to get it sweating an d retain the heat. .
If they are all part composted you can virtually reduce it to a ten day composing period .
If you follow the Berkley method over a year and compost anything in their lists that has ever grown you'll have some of the finest non plant burning compost you could ever wish to lay your hands on.