I have cow, horse, chicken, and pig crap. I was thinking of putting one of the few into a five gallon bucket with holes and water and kinda let it seep into the garden. Which should I use, and is this a good idea? Should I composte it all for next year? How?

-- julie (jbritt@ceva.net), May 09, 2002

Answers

Chicken manure will definitely be too "hot" to use the first year. I'm not sure about the others, but it is usually recommended to compost first. Composting kills the nasties, like e-coli. Easiest thing to do is just pile it up and let it sit for a year. You can also add vegetable matter, and turn it/water it occassionally for faster composting, if you want to spend the time on it.

-- mary (mary@nospam.com), May 09, 2002.

I definately would compost it first. A friend of mine used horse manure in his garden and it had so many weed seeds that his garden was a complete mess. Pile it high, add grass clippings, leaves, egg shells, coffee grounds and earth worms. I wouldn't use it till next year. The bucket with manure in it doesn't sound bad though. Manure tea.

-- Mike in Indiana (mparish48@msn.com), May 09, 2002.

If you need to use it this year, make the manure tea. My dad always told me to try it out on some weeds first, if they don't get burned, use it in your garden.

Manure should never be used fresh because as it decomposes it releases harmful compounds (such as ammonia) that can burn plant roots. It may also contain thousands of weed seeds. Compost the manure first, either alone or in combination with other forms of organic matter such as leaves and grass clippings. Let the pile cook from two to 12 months. Then spread the composted manure around existing plants, or mix it into unplanted garden soils.

Manure tea is a great tonic for your plants, and it's easy to make. Just place a scoop of composted or fresh manure in a cheesecloth sack or in old pantyhose and soak the bag in a 5-gallon bucket overnight. Apply the tea with a watering can.

We are making bat guano tea right now!

Have fun.

-- Cindy in IL (Ilovecajun@aol.com), May 09, 2002.