You know what? You're right! What a crappy thread!AlabamaJack said:you know I been thinkingabout this thread and I think it is about a bunch of Bull S*** or plain ol' Horse Manure...
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fertilizer ok what about fertilizer (natural)?
- Thread starter okie joe
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'Normal' compost is just a fine you know - as long as you bring composted material to the soil; with it you bring life (little insects, good fungae,...) and the soil needs life more than 'fertilizer' there is quite some of the nutrients already in the soil, sitting there, unavailable for the plants in their 'raw' form. When you bring life you bring micro-organisms that make the nutrients available and the plant surroundings is improved so that it can cope with the unhealthy a bit more. Some call this bogus, BS or many other things - most of them or using 'miracle grow' or other 'magic from a box' fertilizer (mostly blue). When I visit some gardens I see a lot of soil that looks 'dead' the plants only seem to survive on their 'baxter' of fertilizers; when I visit some other gardens (as well my own) where compost geeks feed the soil instead of the plants you actually see life : on the soil, in the soil, what the heck even on the plants - I don't mind insects on my vegetables, I get quite uncomfortable when I see no insects at all...
Composting manure is one of the best ways to use it, I appreciate my chickens even more for their poo than for their eggs ;-)
just try it, give it some time (a season or two) and you will see the garden go better year after year. Making good compost is quite some work though; the easy way (dump it on a pile and wait) will eventually give you something to work with, but if you help the process a bit you have good results with no smell within a year...
Fertilizers (organic and chemical) are expensive so what do you have to loose ??
Peter
Composting manure is one of the best ways to use it, I appreciate my chickens even more for their poo than for their eggs ;-)
just try it, give it some time (a season or two) and you will see the garden go better year after year. Making good compost is quite some work though; the easy way (dump it on a pile and wait) will eventually give you something to work with, but if you help the process a bit you have good results with no smell within a year...
Fertilizers (organic and chemical) are expensive so what do you have to loose ??
Peter
the666bbq said:
Sing it loud, Brother Peter!
I compost the leaves and grass clippings and other yard trash. I do just pile it up, but in a few years I have beautiful compost to work into the various garden beds or the clay that runs down the middle of the backyard. You can alway tell when it's done, it smells so wonderfully earthy.
you could indeed try multiple methods but I'm having problems already finding enough material for my current system (3,5 compost heaps - 0.5 is the lower one that the chickens can access and pre-process) so more systems would mean even more material to find (or less for my current system but that's a no go since composting is easier when you have more material)
buy three chickens and you have a farm of your own ;-)
buy three chickens and you have a farm of your own ;-)
I have been vermicomposting (a fancy name for a worm farm) for years. This is spunky, the red-worm jefe of the worm farm:
The end product can sometimes be high in nitrogen, depending upon what was put in the container last. The other advantage of worm poop is that it absorbs and maintains water in much better propportions than most soils.
I keep 2 farms in the cellar and they are odorless and keep pace with any amount of vegetable material put in them.
The end product can sometimes be high in nitrogen, depending upon what was put in the container last. The other advantage of worm poop is that it absorbs and maintains water in much better propportions than most soils.
I keep 2 farms in the cellar and they are odorless and keep pace with any amount of vegetable material put in them.
ddufore
Hey okie joe, Just take all your manure and any organic waste that you have and put it in a pile. Add a little water so that it's moist (not wet) and let it sit there. It will heat up and decompose on it's own. If you turn the pile once in a while it introduce air that will speed up the decomposition. If you have worms in your ground they will move into the pile after it cools.
When this stuff is ready (it might take a year) add a shovelful to the soil that your plants will be growing in. It works wonders. Good Luck
Hey okie joe, Just take all your manure and any organic waste that you have and put it in a pile. Add a little water so that it's moist (not wet) and let it sit there. It will heat up and decompose on it's own. If you turn the pile once in a while it introduce air that will speed up the decomposition. If you have worms in your ground they will move into the pile after it cools.
When this stuff is ready (it might take a year) add a shovelful to the soil that your plants will be growing in. It works wonders. Good Luck
ddufore,
I've read pros and cons of turning the compost. Some say it speeds it up, others that it slows it down (by letting heat escape). I've got about two cubic yards of it that I collected over last year that I'll turn just once this year - when I move it to another place in the yard this spring. Since some of it has been composting since last spring, it shouldn't need to do a whole lot more decomposing except for the leaves that were added in November or early December. They will be at the bottom of the pile. By next spring (2009), I should have 2-3 inches of compost I can spread over the garden.
Mike
I've read pros and cons of turning the compost. Some say it speeds it up, others that it slows it down (by letting heat escape). I've got about two cubic yards of it that I collected over last year that I'll turn just once this year - when I move it to another place in the yard this spring. Since some of it has been composting since last spring, it shouldn't need to do a whole lot more decomposing except for the leaves that were added in November or early December. They will be at the bottom of the pile. By next spring (2009), I should have 2-3 inches of compost I can spread over the garden.
Mike
I have came to a conclusion that the way to composte is get your sh-t together and let it sit for awhile and turn it over. I need to do more research on the worm thing for it gets really hot in Oklahoma and I don't think they would survive the turn barrel. But since I posted this I am really getting my garden ready for the cows haven't stop produceing waste and neither has my chook so I think spring is around the corner and I got my barrel set and ready to go 
i think the barrel would be a happy medium since you can turn it but its enclosed so it wouldn't let too much heat escape. the downside i guess is you have to have smaller amounts of compost or many barrels...
GB,
With the exception of the end of the year, when I pulled up all the plants, I really didn't add much at a time. Some grass clippings, weeds, egg shells, tea bags and stuff.
My reason for wanting to let it set for a year is to make sure all the seeds (tomatoes among them) are completely killed. Plus, eggshells don't seem to decompose real fast.
Mike
With the exception of the end of the year, when I pulled up all the plants, I really didn't add much at a time. Some grass clippings, weeds, egg shells, tea bags and stuff.
My reason for wanting to let it set for a year is to make sure all the seeds (tomatoes among them) are completely killed. Plus, eggshells don't seem to decompose real fast.
Mike
Thread moved. Growing topics go here please.