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Post by mattg125 on May 5, 2011 9:28:20 GMT -5
The home depot and a couple garden centers near me have Bovung Dehydrated Cow Manure in yellow bags. I believe it is a Scotts / Miracle Grow product. Does dehydrated mean the same as composted in this case? Also- there is a "soil conditioner" Hummus & Manure by Timberline. Does anyone have any experience with store bought compost? any advice? these are all i can find locally.
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Post by GunnarSK on May 5, 2011 9:55:05 GMT -5
The home depot and a couple garden centers near me have Bovung Dehydrated Cow Manure in yellow bags. I believe it is a Scotts / Miracle Grow product. Does dehydrated mean the same as composted in this case? I don't know about this case of course, but I have two kinds of store bought cattle manure: One from PNOS, which I have been able to spread by hand in my potatoes with no (loud) complaints about foul smell, and another which came with the allotment. Of course dehydrated doesn't have to be composted, but companies go with whatever sells and is cheap.
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Post by littleminnie on May 5, 2011 19:41:28 GMT -5
Purchased manure in bags comes from feed lots. It is bad stuff IMO.
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Post by mattg125 on May 6, 2011 10:54:46 GMT -5
is it "bad stuff" morally? or "bad stuff" strictly from a soil ammendment point of view?
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bammer
Tomato Fanatic
Turkaconus Freak & Mater Head
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Post by bammer on May 6, 2011 18:31:42 GMT -5
I've used bagged cow manure for years, most all of my tomatos do excellent with this and they mass produce, I have no complaints
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Post by littleminnie on May 6, 2011 20:43:59 GMT -5
I think both because it contains a lot of salts. Because the animals are stressed I have heard the quality of the manure is bad- chemically I mean.
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Post by mattg125 on May 11, 2011 9:25:50 GMT -5
Hello- I found a landscaping supply company where i got a half yard of compost - instead of the home depot stuff i talked about above. already fully composted. nice stuff. I ammended my soil with 1/2 of it and put the rest in a pile covered with a tarp. Since it is fully composted already, do i need to do anything special to the the pile in order for it to heat up as I add things to it and turn? or will that happen on it's own?
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Post by mattg125 on May 13, 2011 8:27:55 GMT -5
anybody?
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Post by darthslater on May 13, 2011 8:33:54 GMT -5
You can add a high nitrogen fertilizer and some sand to it to reactivate or a bottle of regular{Not Diet} Coke..a litre will do..and mix it in, the key to getting it active is to keep turning it. Keep it moist also.
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jcm05
Administrator
Posts: 1,685
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Post by jcm05 on May 13, 2011 9:39:23 GMT -5
If the pile is already "done", you really don't want to add to it. Start a new pile. Ideally you want a three pile system. One pile of finished, one pile decomposing, and one pile that you are currently adding to.
Composting will happen all on its own Matt. You can help the composting process move quickly be adding "greens" to the mix and mixing the pile. Moisture and oxygen are the keys to a quickly decomposing pile.
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peppereater
Breeder in Training
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Post by peppereater on May 13, 2011 11:14:54 GMT -5
I agree with jt. You already have a finished product....But, if you don't plant to use it for a year or so, you could throw leaves, grass clippings, garden scraps, etc. in and mix it a little at a time if you simply can't get enough materials to build a new pile. The more brown materials you use, like leaves, the more you'll want to keep constant moisture. You could also just till a row to set aside for things like kitchen scraps and bury a shovelful at a time in it rather than mess with your compost. a little compost added with the scraps would contain dormant soil decay organisms and speed up the breakdown process. I've used bagged manure occasionally and it seems okay, but I have always heard warnings about the salts as minnie mentioned. Also keep in mind that feedlot manure has practically no roughage as the cows are fed low fiber, high calorie feeds, as well as massive amounts of amtibiotics, anti-parasitics for flies and other parasites, etc.....cows are very prone to stress from beign transported to the feedlots, then kept in very crowded conditions and finally fed a diet that their complex digestive systems don't deal well with. You'd want to at least work it into the soil weeks ahead of planting so salts can leach and soil flora can break down some of the synthetic chemicals, I'd like to post a question here as well, does anyone know the facts on mushroom compost? It should be a reasonable nutrient source, but I know that at one time mushroom beds were sprayed cnostantly with malathion and perhaps other pesticides as mushroom flies are a constant pest of mushroom production. I don't know what the current practices are. I believe the nutrient content is roughly 1-1-1, about the same as manure. (Horse manure is the prefered strata for mushroom culture.)
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Post by mattg125 on May 13, 2011 15:20:20 GMT -5
thanks. everything makes sense. i like the 'several pile' approach. i was definately surprised by the coke advice!
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Post by darthslater on May 13, 2011 16:27:59 GMT -5
Just telling you what has worked for me for years. I just use one giant pile and keep adding to it, and turn it with the tractor.
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bammer
Tomato Fanatic
Turkaconus Freak & Mater Head
Posts: 361
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Post by bammer on May 13, 2011 16:41:45 GMT -5
I move my compost pile (5X5X4) every 2 years. I take the top half in the beginning of the 3rd year and start a new pile, I take the bottom half and till it in, usually some time in March.
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swampr
Global Moderator
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Post by swampr on May 14, 2011 6:26:37 GMT -5
beneficial reuse of any waste product is not bad, provided it isnt toxic. i have used the composted manure and humus which was made my earthgro (now scotts) with success growing tomatoes. the facility it is made in in franklin, CT is a modern composting operation and well operated. they use both cow and chicken with other organic material.
the bovung stuff seems considerably younger, more anaerobic/smelly, and higher in nitrogen 1%. i'd be careful about overfeeding with it. spread it thinner if you use it.
that said, ironite is a bad garden supplement, as it contains toxic heavy metals.
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