This is my first year growing, and I didn't know about adding composted manure to the soil mix before planting. I added some composted manure to my more recently repotted plants and it seems to work really well for them, they look a lot greener and healthier than my older plants. So I was wondering, is there still a way to work some in at this point? They're already in the final 5 gallon buckets and the roots are spread throughout the soil, so I can't really repot them or work the compost in directly. Would it be worthwhile to either spread some around the top of the soil, and then water? Or even mix some in the water for the next watering? I'm not sure if this would work and the composted manure would get distributed very well in the soil this way....
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adding composted manure to final potted plants?
- Thread starter Avon Barksdale
- Start date
Yes you can top dress with it or make compost tea and water with that too.
If you are going to make compost tea, unless you know the compost has been "made" correctly, do not apply it to the plants as a foliar spray. CT made from unfinished or wrongly made compost (temps don't get high enough to kill pathogens) and then applied to plants or used in hydro systems can cause e. coli.
Mike
Great, thanks guys. I think I will top dress it I think. How much would you recommend per 5 gallon bucket? I just had to flush out the pots from over-fertilizing so I'm trying to be careful not to repeat that mistake. Although I'm under the impression that compost is less likely to burn plants?
Youre right about it being tough to get the soil replaced due to root growth, but you may be able to replace a couple inches on top. Just scoop out the old and replace. Compost is a great additive to any growing medium and will neutralize the soil if you otherwise have too much slow release fertilizer. Most of it is pretty neutral. I think Black Kow compost is .5-.5-.5
Dont forget to throw in some perlite.
Dont forget to throw in some perlite.
Ajarnv- its composted cow manure.
Ditter, I've got plenty of perlite in them. They're in mostly pro-mix, but I also added some extra perlite. Although it seems much of that came to the surface when I flushed the pots. By neutralizing the soil do you mean it acts as a pH buffer, or just that it is neutral itself? I'm not sure if my main issue was overfertilization, or too low a pH locking up the nutrients since the fertilizer I used was pretty weak, but it was all acidic (chemical ferts and fish emulsion, both are acidic according to some things I read)...and the rain/tapwater in Indiana is generally pretty acidic already according to a few charts I saw.
The more recent repottings where I mixed in the composted manure look great, the new growth is a dark green that I'm finally seeing for the first time. I haven't been able to achieve that color on any of the other plants.
Ditter, I've got plenty of perlite in them. They're in mostly pro-mix, but I also added some extra perlite. Although it seems much of that came to the surface when I flushed the pots. By neutralizing the soil do you mean it acts as a pH buffer, or just that it is neutral itself? I'm not sure if my main issue was overfertilization, or too low a pH locking up the nutrients since the fertilizer I used was pretty weak, but it was all acidic (chemical ferts and fish emulsion, both are acidic according to some things I read)...and the rain/tapwater in Indiana is generally pretty acidic already according to a few charts I saw.
The more recent repottings where I mixed in the composted manure look great, the new growth is a dark green that I'm finally seeing for the first time. I haven't been able to achieve that color on any of the other plants.
^ 2 cups wouldn't be too much. Just use a garden claw to work it in a bit. Then every watering it'll give up some nutrients. I put two very large bags of dried cow manure around the base of our mango tree; about 2 feet from the trunk in a circle around the tree. That lasts for 6 mos. For my in the ground chilies I put a couple of cup fulls around the stem (but not on it).
Avon- I think its pretty neutral as far as both nutrients and ph. Personally, I use the Black Kow compost from Home Depot or Lowes. With NPK of .5-.5-.5, it's pretty tame and it wont affect whatever nutrients you have in the existing soil. As far a ph, my recollection is that it starts out slightly acidic (maybe 5.5 - 6.0) and then will settle in around in the 7 range as decomposition occurs. I've seen Black Hen (which is something like 2-2-2) at nurseries, but never tried it. Alot of people here are fans of mushroom compost.
worm castings and mushroom compost is pretty safe as a top dressing. this guy at hester reccomended this new type of compost that you have to keep inside because of the live micro organisms in it. i'm gonna check it out this weekend. he already had some in the chocolate bhut plant he gave me and the stalk is way thicker than the rest of my plants. leaves are real green too.
