Manure advice

[Coopers]

I have had my plot now for a year and i was considering applying manure.

I have seen:

Westland Gro-Sure Organic Farmyard Manure 50L | Wickes.co.uk

Now i have no idea how much i need. If i had to guess id say my 7 strips are about 20ft by about 4ft each.

Help would be most appreciated.

[Jay-ell]

Thats 7.2 m2 per strip. As a rough guide1 cm depth would be about 10 litres so to cover a bed it would be 72 litres or approximately one and a half bags so 11 bags would cover all seven beds to 1 cm -£66

Probably cheaper to call around riding stables/ farms and getting it delivered. If you have the transport pick it up yourself and dig out the oldest stuff from the bottom

[WendyC]

What about this calculator?

https://www.creativegardenideas.co.u...ost-calculator

I've had some 80 litre bags and I think each one did about 2 square metres. So you've got 560 square feet or 52 square metres, 26 bags? 27 would mean you only pay for 18 of them. £107.82!!!

Don't know what the calculator suggests.

[Bigmallly]

Welcome to the vine Coopers. Are you on an allotment or garden? If Allotment, do they not have manure delivered?

[Coopers]

Wow, thanks for all the quick replies.

So it would seem i need to get quite a lot. That does work out pricey.

I have a allotment.

I heard mixed reviews about the manure that gets dropped off at my site where some people said its great and some people complained about it causing knock on issues. This then made me consider choosing organic. I thought that was the best option though i would like to cheap things as cheap as possible..

[Bigmallly]

What were the knock on issues?

[veggiechicken]

You could put manure on part of your plot this year and do another part next year.

[Jay-ell]

I think that the two biggest issues with manure are


1 if the field that the stock are grazing on has been treated with a broad leaf herbicide then this survives passing through the gut and is still active when thrown onto your beds


2 I the bedding is wood chip this breaks down alot slower than straw and the manure needs to be piled up for longer for it to break down


Try to find out where the manure comes from and if either scenario is applicable. If (1) is true avoid it like the plague, if (2) make a pile of it and allow it to rot down for at least a year.


Other things that may affect the quality of the poop is I the animals have been thateated with antibiotics or other medications which may persist on exit, this could bring harder to find out

[Coopers]

I was told about damaged plants. I believe they were stating this may be due to some chemical used at the stables

[Coopers]

Another thought is it still a good time to apply manure? Im not too late am i?

[Bigmallly]

The only thing I can relate to damaged plants would be Carrots & Parsnips. It is thought that manure causes them to twist/fork.

[Bigmallly]

I am in the process of sorting my beds out for this year & they are all getting a good mulch of manure with the exception of my Parsnip bed..

[Coopers]

Thanks for all the feedback. I think i will; buy some for some of my strips and also grab some of the free stuff and store it on my plot and let it rot down further and get some further feedback from the locals as possibly there is more than one stable dropping it off and some are better than others...

[Bigmallly]

Good idea Coopers, maybe some is more rotted down than other.

[Kristen]

1 if the field that the stock are grazing on has been treated with a broad leaf herbicide then this survives passing through the gut and is still active when thrown onto your beds

I would think that virtually all pasture, baring Organic, is treated with herbicide ... however the only herbicide that I know of that persists in the way that you describe is Aminopyralid which has the benefit, to the farmer, of being able to applied over a longer period than other herbicides (which had to be applied when the weeds were at a specific point in their growth, e.g. something like "between 2 and 4 leaf" and of course the weather may have been rubbish at that time, or farmer busy). I don't know how common its usage is, compared to other herbicides which don't have this residual effect. I believe that Aminopyralid will treat some "problem" weeds that other herbicides won't, so probably used in that circumstance, but I expect its more expensive and therefore only used "when needs must".

Anyways ... Aminopyralid was always provided with a label requiring strict control of Hay, Silage, Manure and so on coming off the farm, as the side effects were well known ... but that didn't happen in all instances, contaminated manure got put onto plots, everything died

Aminopyralid was temporarily withdrawn, and reintroduced with far greater control. We hope! There have been very few cases that I have heard of since, so hopefully the controls are working. Perhaps still some risk when using very old manure that pre-dates the improved controls (although that was long enough ago that the harmful products have probably broken down by now)

I think the greatest risk (apart from unscrupulous people) is a small stables with pastures that are treated by a contractor, and the information from Contractor to Stable owner about what herbicides have been used, and the consequences, "loses something in translation".

Try to find out where the manure comes from and if either scenario is applicable. If (1) is true avoid it like the plague, if (2) make a pile of it and allow it to rot down for at least a year.

A year is not enough sadly

Easiest thing is to grow some Beans in the manure (after it has rotted down, they might not like growing in fresh manure at all??). Beans grow quickly, are very susceptible to the chemical, and show clearly with distorted leaves. Buying a bag of Manure in a garden centre is no guarantee that it is free from the chemical, even if it is labelled "Organic" (which means nothing unless there is also a Soil Association Certified logo, or similar, on the bag)

Note that this issue also arises with other forms of Aminopyralid such as Clopyralid which is present in selective herbicides for lawns (i.e. in products available to amateur gardeners, such as Verdone Extra), so don't compost / use compost from lawns treated with that (and you are not supposed to but the clippings in your Council composting bin either)