Fertilizer suggestions

[Admin]

I'm intending to build a concrete bunker type compost bin that is large enough to accept my Kubota bucket. I want to be able to stockpile lots of compost. For the time being anyway I am out and will resort to other fertilizers. What do you all recommend? What's working for you?

Thanks

[TRAPnHUNT]

Right now Im using manure and compost tea. Its working very well for me and the plants are flowering like crazy. It had made a huge difference from last season!

[cam]

I spread hay in the floor of my chicken coop. And change it out about once a year. Then it goes in my pile in the corner of the yard. With chickens you'll always have a supply of fertilizer but you dont want to fertilize with it while its still fresh.

[mike692]

I'd use things like kelp meal, bone meal, lime, and maybe cottonseed meal if you can find it. I mixed some of that last year and it made a pretty good organic fertilizer. I've also used fish oil in the past with good success.

This year I'm keeping a bucket by the back door. Everytime nature calls I'm using that bucket (just urnine). I've been letting it age and then diluting it. It's supposed to be great for plants. It also works good as a compost activator.

[acewoodsman]

i'm in the same boat with cam i clean out my chicken pens an cows barn in jan an make a pile in the back corner of my field that lets it sit long enough to not burn my plants when i start fertilizing in april this yr u could use a liquid fertilizer of some sort that doesn't burn ur plants ;D

[Ipostbulls**t]

I use fish emulsion with great success, as well I have a compost bin with leaf worms once the castings build up I soak in water for 5 days and strain off water which is great liquid fertilizer.

[Admin]

Thanks for the input folks

When making fertilizer in a TEA form, do you use composted manure and vegetation (compost) matter or do you soak green stuff?

[mike692]

I actually saw something yesterday that was pretty interesting. Someone had used an old plastic water cooler to make their compost tea. They just filled it with compost and dumped water in the top. The water would soak down through, and come out the tap as compost tea.

To answer your question, I would just use compost when making the tea. Not any green matter.

[paddyg441]

;D ;D ;D

Speaking of compost Tea, I put all organic matter in my compost. Yellow, Brown, Black and Green, along with Dry Hardwood Shavings and Hardwood Limbs which I cycle Through My Garden Compost Chipper.

The bottom of my Bin has a mixture of wire fencing, gathered from the recycle center at the local dump, which allows me to capture the liquid Tea which drains down through the rotting mixture. The openings in the layered screen avg. from 3/16" to 1/2" in size. The tea is captured (UNFILTERED) in in a Aluminum Tray, 42" L. x 42" W. x 3" H., (Mfr. local Mach. Shop).

Over abundance of Tea is stored in 5 Gal. Oil Pails/with spout, which I Steam Cleaned at the Car Wash. I could not accept the loss of the Tea around my compost Bin, where everything was growing like weeds, so to speak , yet the Garden and Flower Beds were lacking this nutrition.

Use Caution in your applications of this Liquid, as not all plants and/or soils absorb the Tea in the same Manner. My simple way of fertilizing.

[mrsbarkspud]

If your anywhere near the ocean, seaweed is a natural form of fertilizer great for tomatoes, mint, zucchini, and anything else that flowers. You don't uave to worry about acid leveles in the soil or it burning the plant either. It is good for compost tea as well. I also used pine needles in the compost bin. They are a great source of vitamin C!!

[dewolfe]

Here we throw the bedding for our chickens in a pile outside their house. We use wood shavings so it looks like a pile of it but if you just peel back the top layer and whats underneath is really fine lookin black manure. We are also able to get some horse and cow manure from a friend of ours and we always take the oldest blackest stuff. If we get some thats not quite broke down enough we store it in tubs where we turn it over a bit and by the next year its good stuff. If you are handy to the shore you can also use kelp. Kelp really breaks down so it takes alot to have some good stuff once its rotted down but its worth it. If you watch the shores after storms you can pick up the stuff easily, some storms wash it on the beach while others take it away. Sometimes if your lucky a patch of will get washed onto the shore and stay and rot till its a black soil like manure. If you ever find a patch like this take every bit of it you can get cause its good stuff. We also have compost bins but we mainly use the other stuff

[ninedeer]

chicken manure is great for the garden as long as it is dry manure.put fresh chicken poop on plant and they will burn up.when I make manure tea I use horse manure of all forms of freshness.I fill and burlap bag 3/4 full of manure.tie with bale twine.fill 30 gallon garbage can 1/2 full water place manure bag in water and let it soak to make tea.

[Admin]

How long does chicken poop have to age before it's ok for the garden? When I clean the coop, I been throwing the poop onto the garden snow with plans of tilling it under in the spring. Do you think this is a bad idea? Should I put it elsewhere to compost for a longer time?

[barkspud]

Great post jC we've been discussing a big compost pile or some sort for fertilizer. Getting some manurevand adding to we have a backhoe and need to ut it to use ;D.

[barkspud]

Great post jC we've been discussing a big compost pile or some sort for fertilizer. Getting some manurevand adding to we have a backhoe and need to ut it to use ;D.

[townson]

You may be interested in trying an airerated tea, it makes a small amount of compost go along way. I do this with both regular and worm compost. You can do this with some aqerium bubblers in a plastic tote. the oxygenated water causes the little criters in the compost to go into a raging orgy and reproduce wich fotifies the tea. Ah hell I'm starting to confuse myself trying to explain this. All I can say is I swear by the stuff and hopefully someone here has done this an can explain it better.