chicken manure question - Page 2

SEAMSFASTER · February 20, 2012

Years ago I lived in the deep south and tried to garden in very sandy soil. After my first year of almost complete failure, I took the advice of other growers. I tilled in about 3" of VERY fresh, VERY hot, VERY stinky (enough ammonia to knock you out if you breathed deeply), straight chicken manure (almost no wood shaving or bedding debris of any kind).

I planted in that soil two weeks later and was amazed at the huge difference it made. I harvested 5-10 times as much per garden area that year. Yes, I burned and killed a few plants, maybe 2% of the total.

I certainly wouldn't do that in the heavy clay soil where I live now, but it sure did the trick in that virtually sterile sandy soil! Besides, none of the poultry farmers will sell fresh manure around here. Liability and health issues...

Tracydr · February 26, 2012

The best garden my parents ever had was when they went to the turkey farm and got a truckload of very stinky, fresh turkey manure and tilled it in to their garden. Planted right in it. I think they had about 1/6 of an acre, maybe a little larger. They had an awesome garden that year. Boulder, CO and we had sweet corn, okra and tomatoes to fill the freezer and basement for the entire winter!

stormymater · February 26, 2012

Did an experiment on a plot of very acidic (pH 3.5 - 5.5) terribly sandy soil that had not been used to grow anything for over 40 years. Used straight chicken droppings ffrom a free range hen house - cleanout was once a year so aged & gooshy fresh , rabbit droppings from beneath rabbit hutches - again mix of old & just produced, & a mix of the two.

I amended the soil heavily with lime & used one of the three mixes above + pelleted Ca/Mg. The straight chicken manure outproduced the other two with no burning. I was impressed. Will begin shoveling the chicken poop into the wheel barrow out there soon as our little cold spell (what I guess is our winter this year) breaks.

Additional experiment for this year - bull poo from a lot where the bulls have been fed only beer wort & salt marsh hay - no freakin' aminopyralid to contend with.

Tracydr · February 27, 2012

Last year I grew my tomatoes in straight horse poo, mix of old and new. Dirt wasn't really available because I have hard caliche and what I could find was crappy topsoil.
My garden grew fantastically. I mixed a bunch of pine straw in to keep it from compacting too much.

willyb · February 29, 2012

6 weeks is lots of time to mellow the manure in your climate. No worrys

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February 20, 2012	#16
SEAMSFASTER Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: American Fork, Utah Posts: 160	Years ago I lived in the deep south and tried to garden in very sandy soil. After my first year of almost complete failure, I took the advice of other growers. I tilled in about 3" of VERY fresh, VERY hot, VERY stinky (enough ammonia to knock you out if you breathed deeply), straight chicken manure (almost no wood shaving or bedding debris of any kind). I planted in that soil two weeks later and was amazed at the huge difference it made. I harvested 5-10 times as much per garden area that year. Yes, I burned and killed a few plants, maybe 2% of the total. I certainly wouldn't do that in the heavy clay soil where I live now, but it sure did the trick in that virtually sterile sandy soil! Besides, none of the poultry farmers will sell fresh manure around here. Liability and health issues...

February 26, 2012	#17
Tracydr Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7 Posts: 3,207	The best garden my parents ever had was when they went to the turkey farm and got a truckload of very stinky, fresh turkey manure and tilled it in to their garden. Planted right in it. I think they had about 1/6 of an acre, maybe a little larger. They had an awesome garden that year. Boulder, CO and we had sweet corn, okra and tomatoes to fill the freezer and basement for the entire winter!

February 26, 2012	#18
stormymater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Pleasure Island, NC 8a Posts: 1,162	Did an experiment on a plot of very acidic (pH 3.5 - 5.5) terribly sandy soil that had not been used to grow anything for over 40 years. Used straight chicken droppings ffrom a free range hen house - cleanout was once a year so aged & gooshy fresh , rabbit droppings from beneath rabbit hutches - again mix of old & just produced, & a mix of the two. I amended the soil heavily with lime & used one of the three mixes above + pelleted Ca/Mg. The straight chicken manure outproduced the other two with no burning. I was impressed. Will begin shoveling the chicken poop into the wheel barrow out there soon as our little cold spell (what I guess is our winter this year) breaks. Additional experiment for this year - bull poo from a lot where the bulls have been fed only beer wort & salt marsh hay - no freakin' aminopyralid to contend with.

February 27, 2012	#19
Tracydr Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7 Posts: 3,207	Last year I grew my tomatoes in straight horse poo, mix of old and new. Dirt wasn't really available because I have hard caliche and what I could find was crappy topsoil. My garden grew fantastically. I mixed a bunch of pine straw in to keep it from compacting too much.

February 29, 2012	#20
willyb Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Sherwood Park Alberta Canada Posts: 147	6 weeks is lots of time to mellow the manure in your climate. No worrys