Fertilizer

[CarolM]

Hi Everyone.

Would chicken manure be ok to use as a fertilizer in the garden where I am growing my tort food?
All opinions and advice would be appreciated.

 

[Maro2Bear]

Hey there... id say a lot depends. Fresh or aged or composted with other “things”. Sometimes it’s the other things that you don’t know about that are bad -

Heres a good link - http://www.seattletilth.org/learn/resources-1/city-chickens/compostingchickenmanure

One key para..

Manure Safety Tips
Fresh chicken manure may contain disease organisms that could contaminate root crops (carrots, radishes, beets) and leaves (lettuce, spinach), so DO NOT spread uncomposted manure on the soil in your vegetable garden. The following “Safety Tips” are summarized from the Stewardship Gardening Program provided by Washington State University:

• Apply only aged or composted manure to your soil.
• Always wear gloves when handling livestock manure.
• Thoroughly wash raw vegetables before eating.
• Do not use cat, dog or pig manure in compost piles.
• People who are susceptible to food borne illnesses should avoid eating uncooked vegetables from manured gardens. Those who face risks from food borne illness include pregnant women, very young children, and persons with cancer, kidney failure, liver disease, diabetes or AIDS.

 

[CarolM]

Hey there... id say a lot depends. Fresh or aged or composted with other “things”. Sometimes it’s the other things that you don’t know about that are bad -

Heres a good link - http://www.seattletilth.org/learn/resources-1/city-chickens/compostingchickenmanure

One key para..

Manure Safety Tips
Fresh chicken manure may contain disease organisms that could contaminate root crops (carrots, radishes, beets) and leaves (lettuce, spinach), so DO NOT spread uncomposted manure on the soil in your vegetable garden. The following “Safety Tips” are summarized from the Stewardship Gardening Program provided by Washington State University:

• Apply only aged or composted manure to your soil.
• Always wear gloves when handling livestock manure.
• Thoroughly wash raw vegetables before eating.
• Do not use cat, dog or pig manure in compost piles.
• People who are susceptible to food borne illnesses should avoid eating uncooked vegetables from manured gardens. Those who face risks from food borne illness include pregnant women, very young children, and persons with cancer, kidney failure, liver disease, diabetes or AIDS.

Thanks Mark. It would have been from the nursery. I was hoping it would be usable to put some nutrients back into the garden. But if other stuff is normally added, I will need to carry on looking for something else that I can use to add nutrients into my garden.

Any recommendations?

 

[Maro2Bear]

Id get the manure, make a nice large compost bin, continue to add clippings and old veggies and other things and spread down later. Composted chicken manure works great once aged off. I used to have a hen house, and had tons of compost from their waste. Garden loved it.

 

[CarolM]

Id get the manure, make a nice large compost bin, continue to add clippings and old veggies and other things and spread down later. Composted chicken manure works great once aged off. I used to have a hen house, and had tons of compost from their waste. Garden loved it.

Okay great. Sounds like a plan then. Will take a little longer than planned but if I start now I should then have some good fertilizer for next year at least.

 

[CarolM]

Last question hopefully. In the meantime if the nursery can provide a fertilizer that says organic fertilizer. Can I use that in the meantime until I can grow/make my own?

 

[Hugo's Home]

Last question hopefully. In the meantime if the nursery can provide a fertilizer that says organic fertilizer. Can I use that in the meantime until I can grow/make my own?

I would and I do. I just harvested my pumpkins which suck so many nutrients along with the sunflowers still growing.also the corn yesterday.
So preparing my second summer garden and succession planting, I top dress the beds with 3 inches of organic compost from thenursery mgand a mild 5-4-5 slow release organic fertilizer. My sunken beds also have tons of redwigglers so they eat so much compost and mulch during the year which drops the soil levels.

Kinda over did it with the sunflowers this year lol but grew about 10 pumpkins for Hugo during the winter!