Chicken compost...ammonia smell - Page 2

SeanInVa · May 24, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by nathan125

I gave the manure a solid year and added it to my raised beds a month ago. So far doing fine, plants havent been burned. The ★★★★ smell is also gone. Thanks for the help everyone.

Glad to hear its working out well.

We add "fresh" poop (from scraping off the poop boards in the coop) in the fall and turn it under with a garden fork in our raised bed. It's good to go by the spring. I've not had to fertilize at all yet and no burns.

clkeiper · May 24, 2019

Glad to hear you composted it for a year. if it was chicken manure not chick hatchery waste you saved yourself a heap of anguish. it doesn't take much to burn an entire crop to death. I did it on geraniums. it was a bag of dried manure and when it got wet it reeked.

Labradors2 · May 24, 2019

Much as I hate it, I forced myself to stash all my chicken manure in one composter and let it mature for a year before using it. I have been told that to garden organically, it should age for two years

but I simply cannot wait that long!

The volume has reduced by half

and I'm looking forward to using my first batch in the planting holes of all the tomatoes this year

.

Linda

whoose · May 29, 2019

Used neighbors organic chicken manure and all my potatoes got potato scab last year, tossed them. Now I understand that I can't get rid of the scab, I can mitigate it but it will be there forever, so no potato's, period. Be careful, know what the chickens eat and are exposed to in their environment (chemicals)

brownrexx · May 29, 2019

The scab organism is already in the soil and the chicken manure just encourages it to grow, kind of like giving it fertilizer. The scab does not come with the manure, the chicken manure raises the soil pH which provides perfect growing conditions for scab.

I struggled with this for years until I figured out that certain potato varieties (red ones) are more susceptible to it and now I grow my potatoes in straw so that the developing tubers are not actually in the scab bearing soil. I have had excellent potatoes with only a few having scab since I started doing this.

BTW, the scab is not harmful, just really ugly, so if you only have a few potatoes with scab, it can be peeled off and the potato is perfectly safe to eat.

GrowingCoastal · May 29, 2019

Even after 30 years I can still remember how sweet the scabby red potatoes were that I grew that year. I guess I too put manure down before planting. So long now I can't remember that part, only how tasty those potatoes were.

whoose · May 31, 2019

Brownrexx could you give me son details on how you grow your potatoes in straw, please.

brownrexx · June 1, 2019

I cut the seed potatoes so that there is at least one eye per piece and let them dry.

I fluff the soil and place the seed potato pieces under about an inch of soil and then cover the rows with straw.

As the plants grow I add more straw or grass clippings. Instead of mounding up the soil, I mound up the straw.

The roots from the seed potato pieces are in soil but the new tubers grow from the stems and are in the straw. I am able to harvest nice clean potatoes using just my gloved hands.

The important thing is to put the seed potatoes under a light covering of soil. Last year I tried just straw and they didn't grow. I had to uncover them and put some soil on top and then they rooted fine.

The other important thing is to make sure the developing tubers are covered with straw or grass clippings to protect them from light or they will turn green. The second picture shows the straw pulled back on harvest day. I don't know where that red one came from, maybe a volunteer from the previous year.

As you can see, I get nice clean potatoes with very little scab.

DSC00880 by Brownrexx, on Flickr

20180812_122732 by Brownrexx, on Flickr

20180915_105409 by Brownrexx, on Flickr

whoose · June 2, 2019

What type of yellow/white do you find to be the best/most resistant?

brownrexx · June 2, 2019

The ones in the photo are Kennebec and they do well for me. I have had terrible scab on the Red Norland and Red Pontiac so I no longer grow any red ones.

I have also grown French Fingerlings with no problems.

This year I am trying Lehigh Yellow but I have never had good results with Yukon gold. Not because of scab but they just don't grow well or produce much and one time they got some type of disease. I think that it was called black leg but they got mushy stems and died.

whoose · June 3, 2019

Great help

bower · June 3, 2019

whoose, there is another soil amendment that will help to reduce scab, that is shrimp or crab meal. Maybe difficult to get in Montana.

That is a very nice method, Brownrexx, didn't know it was to avoid scab, but makes sense.

My dad who grew up farming, told me many times that you never apply manure before planting potatoes as you will have terrible scab - that was not just chicken but horse or cow manure, they are just as bad.

May 24, 2019	#17
clkeiper Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: ohio Posts: 4,350	Glad to hear you composted it for a year. if it was chicken manure not chick hatchery waste you saved yourself a heap of anguish. it doesn't take much to burn an entire crop to death. I did it on geraniums. it was a bag of dried manure and when it got wet it reeked. __________________ carolyn k

May 24, 2019	#18
Labradors2 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Ontario Posts: 3,895	Much as I hate it, I forced myself to stash all my chicken manure in one composter and let it mature for a year before using it. I have been told that to garden organically, it should age for two years but I simply cannot wait that long! The volume has reduced by half and I'm looking forward to using my first batch in the planting holes of all the tomatoes this year . Linda Last edited by Labradors2; May 24, 2019 at 09:13 AM.

May 29, 2019	#19
whoose Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Bozeman, Montana Zone 6b Posts: 333	Potato Scab Used neighbors organic chicken manure and all my potatoes got potato scab last year, tossed them. Now I understand that I can't get rid of the scab, I can mitigate it but it will be there forever, so no potato's, period. Be careful, know what the chickens eat and are exposed to in their environment (chemicals)

June 1, 2019	#23
brownrexx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Southeastern PA Posts: 1,420	I cut the seed potatoes so that there is at least one eye per piece and let them dry. I fluff the soil and place the seed potato pieces under about an inch of soil and then cover the rows with straw. As the plants grow I add more straw or grass clippings. Instead of mounding up the soil, I mound up the straw. The roots from the seed potato pieces are in soil but the new tubers grow from the stems and are in the straw. I am able to harvest nice clean potatoes using just my gloved hands. The important thing is to put the seed potatoes under a light covering of soil. Last year I tried just straw and they didn't grow. I had to uncover them and put some soil on top and then they rooted fine. The other important thing is to make sure the developing tubers are covered with straw or grass clippings to protect them from light or they will turn green. The second picture shows the straw pulled back on harvest day. I don't know where that red one came from, maybe a volunteer from the previous year. As you can see, I get nice clean potatoes with very little scab. DSC00880 by Brownrexx, on Flickr 20180812_122732 by Brownrexx, on Flickr 20180915_105409 by Brownrexx, on Flickr Last edited by brownrexx; June 1, 2019 at 05:11 PM.

June 2, 2019	#24
whoose Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Bozeman, Montana Zone 6b Posts: 333	Type of Yellow? What type of yellow/white do you find to be the best/most resistant?

May 29, 2019	#21
GrowingCoastal Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Vancouver Island Canada BC Posts: 1,253	Even after 30 years I can still remember how sweet the scabby red potatoes were that I grew that year. I guess I too put manure down before planting. So long now I can't remember that part, only how tasty those potatoes were.

May 31, 2019	#22
whoose Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Bozeman, Montana Zone 6b Posts: 333	Brownrexx could you give me son details on how you grow your potatoes in straw, please.

June 3, 2019	#26
whoose Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Bozeman, Montana Zone 6b Posts: 333	Thanks Great help

June 3, 2019	#27
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	whoose, there is another soil amendment that will help to reduce scab, that is shrimp or crab meal. Maybe difficult to get in Montana. That is a very nice method, Brownrexx, didn't know it was to avoid scab, but makes sense. My dad who grew up farming, told me many times that you never apply manure before planting potatoes as you will have terrible scab - that was not just chicken but horse or cow manure, they are just as bad.