Sterilised cow manure in shops – is it any good?

[compostpopeParticipant]

Almost all my available compost is now spread in a 3 inch layer on one bed, leaving 6 others looking very bare. I’ve discovered that I can buy composted cow manure in 60 litre bags from supermarket garden centres here in Switzerland. It’s sold as a mulching material for fruit and flower beds and I am assuming it will be sieved and sterilised (I’ve yet to get my hands on it to see). Would this be suitable to put on the rest of my veg beds? – my concern is that it will not be much use as due to the sterilisation it will be “dead”. Has anyone experience of using such stuff?

Compostpope

[charlesModerator]

 Your question has flummoxed us! How do you know it is sterile, whatever that means? I would use it anyway because its contents will still be food for soil life and it should "come alive" again, or may not be so bad as you imagine.

[Pete BuddParticipant]

We moved house a few years ago and I used a similar product quite a lot to improve the back garden prior to re-designing it. I don`t think it was sterilised because there was a strong aroma when the bags were opened but from what little knowledge I have about industrial composting, I think steam is used to provide heat in the process. It was a quick relatively cheap way to create reasonable growing conditions for a lawn and ornamental beds. I mixed it 50/50 with soil conditioner (another cheap compost product), and you couldn`t really tell much difference between them. I don`t think there will be much in the way of NPK in these materials but I was happy with the results. We get a variety of fungi appearing but I think that would be quite normal for any organic based medium. It would be interesting to learn a little more about the manufacturing techniques to see if anything undesirable is added. There seems to be quite a demand for any kind of organic waste materials for industrial composting these days, I can think of 2 large scale operations near us, one is run by the local council and the other is private. I think these methods need to be carefully watched but if done correctly could be beneficial to gardeners and growers alike.

Pete;-)

[compostpopeParticipant]

Thanks for the comments. I don’t know if it’s really sterile – just assumed it would be… I’ll get hold of some, maybe mix it with my own and spread it on the next bed just as soon as the snow around here melts.

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