green compost versa animal manure ?

[RayFromFranceMember]

Dear Charles. I cannot find in which book I read that you were somewhat reserved about the use of animal manures, saying that using only non animal derived products for composting is just fine, the only difference being speed of growth. Was this because of the health risks using animal manure or was there another reason for avoiding animal manure ? I also read from the booklet Gardening Whithout Digging by A. Guest (written in 1949) that manure should be composted for two years (just like our own phu:) before being used in the garden. What do you think about this ? Best Regards, Raymond.

[charlesModerator]

 Gosh I hope not to have written that because animal manure is so much richer in both nutrients and fungi, compared with green waste compost which often has a high content of wood and has been fermented at high temperatures which do not allow fungi to colonise the compost. It still has value but I find it best when used in conjunction with animal manure, a layer of each.

I am doing a trial here with onions grown in cow manure, cow manure and topsoil, and greenwaste compost: all placed on top in six inch layers, grass and weeds below, no cardboard. The first two beds have superb, large onions, while the green waste compost bed has much smaller plants.

Also animal manure does not have to be two years old, personally I think that safety fears are overplayed, because the beneficial bacteria in soil are good at balancing and neutralising any harmful ones. I have used one year old manure, with good results. Any younger than that is not so good because of unrotted litter, slugs and also that nutrients have not stabilised in enough of a composting, decomposing process, so there is more chance of leaching – whereas nutrients in one or two year old manure are mostly water insoluble, yet available to make healthy plants.

[RayFromFranceMember]

Thank you Charles for sharing this. If you say that you only use one year old manure, that all makes sense to me. Two years is obvously overdoing it. But here in France some growers use fresh manure that makes BIG veggies but no taste. You say that the green compost makes smaller ognions but what about the taste ? I am only interested in strong taste and nutrient dense foods. As far as fungi is concerned, would not simply adding woodchips and sawdust be fine ? Grass and greens developpe bacteria and wood and sawdust fungi from what I read. But I agree, manure thats one year old must be fine.

[charlesModerator]

 You have a good point here Raymond, I shall do a careful taste test of those onions. But larger size does not necessariy bring a depletion of nutrients and I feel that one can assess quality by looking at the general health and vigour of growth, including the colour and sheen of leaves.
I notice on my dig/no dig experiment that keaves in the dug bed sometimes look dull and less ‘alive’, even though each bed has the same ingredients, so there is also the question of vital energies in food.

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