Re: [CH] mulching?
Charles Demas (demas@tiac.net)
Thu, 11 Jun 1998 19:42:59 -0400 (EDT)
On Thu, 11 Jun 1998, Celeste or Dave Anderson wrote:
> DON'T DO IT! he shouted. Composted steer manure is scraped off of
> feed lots where they feed all kinds of stuff to cattle to make them
> gain weight quickly. While steer manure is organic, it can contain as
> much as 10% salt which is deadly to most plants.
I doubt that dehydrated cow manure purchased at a garden center is
deadly to plants, which is what he asked about. (see the text below)
Whether it might be too strong is an entirely different question.
I don't garden, so I cannot make a recommendation, but piling it on
as mulch seems excessive, and anything excessive is likely to be
wrong. You can over-fertilize. Using compost is unlikely to be
harmful, and my parents houseplants love that stuff.
> The only way I would use steer manure would be to amend sandy well
> drained soil and I wouldn't plant for a year to be sure that all of
> the salt had leached out.
If using "wet" manure, you should use manure that's well rotted. That
rotting takes a significant time.
I don't know why it's bad to use the "fresh" manure, but perhaps what
you're saying about the steer manure fresh from the animal is the answer.
Chuck Demas
Needham, Mass.
> Dave Anderson
> Tough Love Chile Co.
> http://www.powernet.net/~chilehed1
>
>
> > My plants have been in the ground and or containers for a few weeks now.
> > I didn't prep the soil as well as I wanted to this year. Lack of funds at
> > the time. I was thinking about mulching around the chiles with dehydrated
> > manure from the garden center. Any ideas or advice on this matter would be
> > greatly appreciated.
> > Steve
>
Eat Healthy | _ _ | Nothing would be done at all,
Stay Fit | @ @ | If a man waited to do it so well,
Die Anyway | v | That no one could find fault with it.
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