Nitrate leaching is a very serious problem that could affect the environment and your water supply. When you first add the manure to your potting soil, nitrate levels are pretty low. However, the microorganisms in the soil convert the ammonia in the manure to nitrates.
Eventually, those nitrates will migrate through the soil and infiltrate the groundwater supply. There, they can wash away and wreak havoc on nearby streams. Nitrates can kill marine ecosystems. Not only that, but high concentrations of nitrates in groundwater could cause poisoning in humans. Another problem with too much manure is the accumulation of phosphorus. Plants eat nitrogen up no problem. It only moves about an inch or two a year through the soil.
As a result, it accumulates over time. Several years later, that phosphorus could still be in your potting soil. So, the next time you plant something in it will be problematic. Phosphorus is an essential nutrient. These include iron, manganese, and zinc. Overproduction might seem like a good problem to have.
The season you apply manure may provide you with tons of fruit or flowers, but it will also result in unwanted growth. The plant could get leggy or experience a boost in greenery. When the next season rolls around, your plant will struggle to keep up with the demand for all that new growth. To avoid some of the issues I mentioned earlier, you have to know when to add manure to your potting soil. The first thing you should consider is whether or not your potting soil could benefit from the manure in the first place.
High-quality potting mixes are usually more nutrient-dense than basic soil in the garden. Consider testing your soil before jumping in with the manure. You can pick up a simple test kit to measure pH balance and figure out what nutrients are present. Collecting fresh manure from farm animals? Curing, or composting , is a step that you cannot miss. When manure cures, its ammonia and nitrogen levels drop down to manageable levels. This will help you avoid some of those aforementioned gardening issues.
The curing process also kills off the bacteria and harmful pathogens. This is especially true for plants you might eat raw. Curing can take around six months if done correctly. During this time, the temperature of the manure will rise. Six months is the average. But, it can take up to a year if you let nature take its course.
If you are proactive about speeding up the curing process, it may take as little as three or four months. I guarantee friends and neighbors will be happy to share their supply.
Years ago, I discovered the value of adding soil containing minerals. It made a noticeable difference to the success of everything growing in my garden. Minerals are the most important ingredients that no one seems to talk much about.
You can check out a lot more on mineralizing your soil in my podcast on the subject. Here in the Atlanta area, granite is everywhere, so most mineralized soil blends here are made of granite dust.
Azomite is another common and great option. If you can find this in bag or bulk, buy it. Fortunately, a little goes a long way. Worm castings are significantly higher in all the primary nutrients your plants need to thrive. In fact, worm castings add five times the nitrogen, seven times the phosphorus and ten times the potassium than ordinary topsoil.
Castings add one more layer of complexity to overall soil makeup. Suffice it to say; this medium is one of my secret weapons to creating highly-productive garden soil. Adding vermicompost composted worm manure to your raised bed gardens will provide another layer of organic richness.
Mushrooms are grown in mixtures of natural materials like hay, gypsum, corn cobs, cottonseed hulls, etc. Ground Bark: There are many varieties of ground bark from which to choose, but pine is the most commonly available.
Be sure to use aged bark for this application. Freshly-chipped wood will rob from rather than benefit your soil during initial decomposition. Ground bark is a good carbon source.
It will break down over time, and its coarse texture provides space for the movement of water and oxygen through your garden beds. Ground bark brings a diversity of particle size that can really amp up your plant health. Composted Cow or Poultry Manure: Well-composted animal manure has been a mainstay of organic soil fertility for thousands of years because of the nutrients, organic matter and variability of particulate matter that it adds to complement overall soil make—up.
What has changed are farming practices and the resulting risk of manure. For that reason, I recommend you use cow or poultry manure but not horse manure. Purchase composted cow or poultry manure by the bag and from a trusted source. Many people have poisoned their soil with killer compost including me , by inadvertently adding herbicide—tainted ingredients usually found in horse manure.
I do not add horse manure — anymore — because horses are more likely to consume hay which may have come from fields sprayed or oversprayed with persistent herbicide. The traces of herbicide no matter how minute they may be will kill or severely disrupt the normal growing habits of many garden edibles as effectively after being composted as the day they were manufactured.
There may be a source of horse manure you would really like to use. In that case, you can perform a bioassay test. Perform this simple test before you ever let the manure come into contact with your plants, soil or compost pile.
This image demonstrates an important visual of how worms break down organic material to create a soil profile that helps bind soil particles in a moisture-rich environment. Horse Manure: It bears repeating. If tempted to use horse manure, be sure to check out the link for the bioassay test. That little bit of time could save you years of grief. Peat Moss: This may come as a surprise. Peat moss is, however, not a sustainable material.
It takes hundreds of years for peat to develop in peat bogs. It can aid water retention, but once peat moss dries out, it is difficult to re-hydrate. Have you ever watered a dried out container, but the water just rolled off the surface?
Artificial Fillers: Although it may be tempting to take up space with fillers as you first build those raised beds, I advise against them.
Although they might save you some initial cost, even organic fillers can be problematic. Over time, they will break down, and the surface of your garden bed will sink, requiring you to add more soil later. Most importantly, fillers can hinder drainage. I performed my tests using containers so that you can see it for yourselves. Whether in a small space like containers or a large space like raised beds, the science remains the same. Fill Dirt: This, too, might be tempting as a cost savings, but it will hinder all your other efforts to build that healthy growing environment.
What is fill dirt? Fill dirt is underneath the topsoil and includes none of the inherently good qualities of topsoil. Biochar does have some nutrient value. Photo: Mark Highland. Fire Ash: I recommend against putting any fire ash directly into your garden beds.
If your fire ash is all wood-based, it can be a good addition in a small quantity to your compost pile. Mycorrhizae: This fungus is very popular as a soil ingredient in bagged products. Adding mycorrhizae to your soil may provide a benefit. Building that initial raised bed garden environment with quality ingredients will provide you good results the first season.
However, those crops you grow will be making non-stop nutrient withdrawals from those beds. How do you do that?
Amend your soil once or twice each year with organic nutrients like those I described above — not synthetic fertilizer. By amending your garden beds, you will see better soil in season two, great soil in season three, amazingly rich soil in season four, and so on.
Before you amend your soil for the first time and about every couple of seasons, I recommend that you get a soil test. A soil test will determine the pH levels and deficiencies of your soil to help guide your amendment choices. The nutrients you provide the soil will be most optimally taken up by your plants when the soil is at a neutral pH.
High-quality potting mix might cost more than you really want to spend on dirt, though, especially when you're filling a raised bed or numerous large pots. When you raise livestock, poultry or horses, you have a ready source of manure -- a key ingredient in a rich potting mix suitable for indoor or outdoor plants.
Make sure composted manure is fully finished, then has cured for one to three months for best results. Place a soil sieve over a wheelbarrow.
Because clay and sand are not very effective in small quantities enormous amounts would have to be mixed into the soil to make a real difference. A fall in soil organic matter of 0. Happily there is no need to test soils as it is relatively easy to judge whether a soil is manageable and add more organic matter if you encounter difficulties in make seed beds, planting or if the soil dries out in summer.
With experience it is quite feasible to maintain enough soil organic matter to garden, and there is no need to add more than the minimum required to do this.
A soil that is light coloured and sets solid when wet or dry is likely to require organic matter. Home made garden compost is ideal on cost, quality and environmental grounds. Gardeners that do not have facitilies for home composting or cannot make sufficient compost for all their needs, will need to buy in extra.
Organic matter is sometimes sold simply as 'soil improver' or 'soil conditioner'. See our introductory page on organic matter for a list of types. As organic matter is used in bulk, applying kg lbs per square metre yard bulk sources are usually much more economical that bagged or baled material. However, bagged or baled materials can often be bought by the pallet load when the price difference with bulk materials is less.
In many small gardens a few bags of organic matter are sufficient, and in some urban areas all that is available. In rural areas manure is available from farms and stables, either delivered or for collection.
The rules on trade wastes should be borne in mind see problems below. Similarly mushroom farms often offer spent mushroom compost.
Municipal compost is now offered by councils or contractors, and can be a cost-effective source but note the need to test for weedkiller residues - see problems below. Composted wastes, stable manure for example, are frequently available. Less widely offered materials such as spent hops from local breweries can be a cost effective choice. Ideally materials should be in a well-rotted state, especially manures.
In some cases un-rotted or partially rotted organic matter is offered; these will not look as dark or as uniform in texture and colour. On sanitary grounds these materials are best stacked, covered and used when decomposition is complete.
If used fresh apply at half the usual rate and not to ground used for crops that will be eaten raw e. Organic matter contains soluble or mineral nutrients and organic molecules that contain nutrients. The action of soil microorganisms turns the latter into soluble nutrients.
Microorganisms work quickly in summer, but slowly or not at all in winter. Well rotted composts and manures will be relatively poor in soluble nutrients but rich in insoluble ones. On most soils they are best incorporated by cultivation in spring March and April in most of the UK just before growth starts. Sandy soils are best manured from late winter. However, autumn application can also work on all but sandy soils.
The cold soil will slow breakdown over winter. Avoid applying in late summer as the warm soil can lead to significant nutrient loss as the materials will breakdown quickly to produce soluble nutrients easily washed out leached by winter rains. On a garden scale it is often feasible to cover vegetable beds with a plastic sheet to shed excess rain and retain valuable nutrients. Fresh manures are rich in soluble nutrients and are best composted before use but if applied fresh best done in spring so the soluble nutrients are not washed out into ground water, ditches or drains where they can be a pollution hazard - see Problems below.
For mulching late winter or early spring February and March in most of the UK is the ideal time as there will be little loss of nutrients, any soluble nutrients will be washed into the root zone by the last of the winter rains, winter rain will be protected form evaporation and weeds will be prevented from germinating as the soil warms in spring.
Organic matter can be stacked and stored for use later. Aim to make a stack on the smallest feasible 'footprint', cover with rainproof material to prevent nutrients being washed out and to exclude weed seeds, and ensure any run-off does not enter drains or ditches, and ideally be collected and applied to the garden.
0コメント