Manure Alternative

[steve37341]

I live in the U.S. and finding cow manure for soil buildup is quite difficult. Most of the farmers around my area use their manure on their own farms which is quite understandable. I can get horse manure but it seems to have a lot of extra straw and seeds. Would it be better to compost the horse manure for a year or two first and then apply it to the soil. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Steve Smith
Harrison, Tennessee, USA

[charles]

 Hello Steve

I find that weed seeds in manure are hard to ‘cook’ in a heap as it rarely gets hot enough. I also find that seeds growing out of weedy manure on the surface are reasonably easy to pull or knock around with a rake or hoe as seedlings, when small. I would spread your manure as soon as it is reasonably rotted  – dark brown, straw dark brown but probably still identifiable – and deal with weeds as you see them. Sometimes weed growth looks more daunting than it is…

[steve37341]

Thanks Charles. Being able to just spread the manure in place without the extra composting step will be most helpful. I assume I could use cardboard (I can get lots of that and in large sizes as I live near a motorcycle shop) to knock down the weeds as they come up?

[charles]

 In principle yes but it depends what you want to sow or plant. I use cardboard for initial clearing only, of really weedy ground. Once clean I use hands, hoe and trowel to keep weed growth to a minimum, using a little and often approach. We probably have more slugs than you and they can be a problem when planting through mulches, and you can’t sow direct.

[steve37341]

I can understand how planting directly in the manure would be difficult until in broke down significantly, especially for smaller seeded items such as lettuce, etc. I wanted to try no-till last year, and before I discovered your website and books, I did my own little experiment that worked out quite well but is similar to your methods but somewhat reversed. I live in an area which is fairly hot and humid in the summer so I was concerned about a way to deal with the heat on the soil, at least until the plants got started well. And I also wanted to use a no-till method. So, I took a small potato chip bag with a reflective Mylar interior. I cut nine holes in each of the four bags I used. Eight of the holes were for plants(seeds) and the ninth hole in the center was for a small drip irrigation bottle I created. I used a weed eater to cut the grass to the dirt in each of the four squares. I put each bag with the mylar side up, on the ground and put some small bricks around the edges(at first) to keep the bags in place. I made a small indention into the soil in each hole, planted the seeds with some fine vermiculite, and waited to see if they would come up. They all came up and the reflective Mylar helped keep the ground cooler and gave the plants extra light. After the plants got about four inches high, I piled the manure/compost that I had on top of each Mylar bag. When it rained or I watered the plants, the composted manure essentially drip fed (like manure tea) the plants. I planted one square each of cowpeas, radishes, chard, and lettuce. They all did excellent. After the plants were all harvested, I pulled out each bag from between the layer of compost and the dirt and I am now using the bags again on top of the now taller layer of dirt/compost. I will put compost and manure on top of the bags again just like last year. One thing that surprised me was that some of the worms in the soil migrated into the compost layer even though the bags were in place. They just went through the holes in the bags. And best of all…NO WEEDS.

[charles]

 Well that is a fascinating adaptation of different methods to a demanding climate, good luck with it this year.

[Author]

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