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REFERENCE COW MANURE

• Message 1. 

  Posted by chris (U14479141) on Thursday, 27th January 2011

  thank you to all that adviced me on what to do and use,,im a bit confused and not 100% sure what to do,so i think i will revert to what i did last year and just use blood,fish,and bone and also some grow bags,i produced some great veg and probably think this is the safest thing to do,it will be interesting to hear what you think of doing this again,regards chris

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Tee Gee (U10012255) on Thursday, 27th January 2011

  Hi Chris I can understand why it is confusing I was once.
  
  How I got over it was;
  
  I know there is normally a fertiliser content in animal manure but the problem is; how much and of what types?
  
  To overcome this I just assume there is NONE! in it which is probably quite near tthe truth, or at least by planting time there is very little if any!
  
  I dig in my manure in autumn so by planting out in April/May much of the said fertiliser may well have leached out with the action of the winter weather.
  
  Again I would be faced with thought; Is there enough fertiliser in the bed/s?
  
  I now only think of manure as a soil improver not a fertiliser, and if there is any fertiliser in it I consider that a bonus, a top up if you like.
  
  At planting out time I top dress with FB &B to the required amounts for what I am growing.
  
  At least this way I am not wondering if there is enough fertiliser available from the animal manure, I know that my plants have got what they need.
  
  I also find with this method I do not have to supplement the feeding (outdoors) again all season.
  
  In the greenhouse and containers that is a different matter.
  
  
  
  
  With the aminopiralid issue which I had big time last season ( I found out too late) you can only test as the others suggest.
  
  Having said that I found that although my potao tops were hit hard the crop was quite good.
  
  Tomatoes were a bit so so and peppers were seriously affected!
  
  But what I did notice was; Areas that were manured the previous autumn did not do too badly, but crops that that were planted out in ground that was manured a few days before planting reacted badly and were quite poor!
  
  This year what I have done is bought another load, and yes it has been treated with a aminopiralid weedkiller but this load will lie in the heap until this autumn when I will dig it in, meaning it will be around two years old by the time I plant out in these areas.
  
  I have saved a bit of last years load to dig into my greenhouse borders in spring so hopefully like the fertilser content the weedkiller content will have leached out as well!
  
  Fingers crossed!!
  
  As I see it; There is not a better soil conditioner (at the price) than farm yard manure, so in my book, it is simply a case of 'experiment' and hopefully there will be a successful outcome.
  
  I hope this article has not added to your confusion but animal manure is a bit of a minefield these days as supermarkets screw the farmers, the farmers buy the cheapest product that will give them the results they want then we often have to pick up the pieces!
  
  Sad really
  
  

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by bogus the fungi man (U14705597) on Thursday, 27th January 2011

  Having seen what can happen with aminopiralid (and thankfully it hasn't happened to me) I decided to stick with Fish Blood & Bone and add spent compost from the works compost heap. This worked really well but I found supplying enough compost for the allotment was backbreaking. In the end I stuck with just the FB&B and regular watering, I have a good supply, and have seen no significant difference in the crop. The allotments have a regular supply of cow muck which, so far, hasn't caused any problems but the yield of other plots compared to mine seems to be no different. Surprising I know.

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by realfood (U13916672) on Friday, 28th January 2011

  TeeJay, I think that you may have a problem with any stored contaminated manure, as not much happens to alleviate the problem by leaving it in a pile. Only when the contaminated manure has been dug into the soil and exposed to the soil bacteria, will the weed killer start to be broken down.
  Last year, I did the bean test on a bucketful of contaminated manure which had been tipped out on the ground for 1.5 years, and it was still lethal!!
  Details of the symptoms of aminopyralid contamination and the bean test are here :-

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• Message 5

  , in reply to message 4.

  Posted by Tee Gee (U10012255) on Saturday, 29th January 2011

  Thanks for your reply and link Realfood!
  
  Yes I was aware of the 'moving around' issue having read up on the subject when I first came in contact with it!
  As I mentioned, I had noticed a difference beween recently applied (contaminated) manure and that applied many months before as described in this passage of my previos reply;
  
  But what I did notice was; Areas that were manured the previous autumn did not do too badly, but crops that that were planted out in ground that was manured a few days before planting reacted badly and were quite poor! 
  
  So my intention is; no manure this year thus allowing my heap to rot down further, then this autumn I will apply the manure.
  
  Meaning that the manure has been moved, and deposited well before it will come in contact with any plants, i.e. bought in 2010 in use in 2012 so hopefully all will be OK.
  
  What will happen this year due to not manuring my plot I don't know but considering I have manured my plot every year for over twenty years I am hopeful that I won't see too much of a difference.
  
  The type of summer we have will play a part I guess, if it is dry, I might have to supplement the water supply ( I never water my plots) but if it is a damp summer then I think there will not be a noticable difference in output.
  
  So I guess its fingers crossed.
  
  BTW the reason I still decided to use manure that I know to have been treated with the aminopropylid is;
  
  I can't find a better substitute soil improver than farmyard manure ( at the price) so I decided to get some and use it in a different manner!
  
  The other factor was; in my research last year it was said the produce was edible meaning that someone had grown stuff to fruition and eaten it to establish this.
  
  Unlike the other people on the plot who were affected and pulled up their crops at the first sign of the disease, I chose to leave mine to see what would happen, and oddly enough I got a fairly good crop of potatoes, my brassicas were as good as they always were.
  
  The only thing I found that was badly affected was peppers and some tomatoes.
  
  So my wait / test was reasonably successful as I hope my current experiment will be!
  
  So once again; thanks RF for showing interest in my predicament, it was much appreciated!

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• Message 6

  , in reply to message 5.

  Posted by realfood (U13916672) on Saturday, 29th January 2011

  My experience was that the Brassicas were the only crop that seemed to be able to cope well after aminopyralid contamination.
  The farmer that supplied our contaminated manure 2 years ago, was very upset this year when we refused to have any more from him!!

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