When we start to sow in the garden, we always have the doubt of when to put manure in the garden. The manure is used to nourish the soil and to be able to give the plants all the necessary nutrients so that they can grow in good conditions. However, not everyone knows when to use it.
For this reason, we are going to dedicate this article to telling you when you should put manure in the garden and how you should do it.
Contents
Why put manure in the garden?
The store sells us compound fertilizers, the main elements of which are NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), sometimes rich in certain minor nutrients (magnesium, calcium, sulphur), and even rich in trace elements (iron, manganese, zinc, boron, chlorine…). We can therefore think that if man cultivates with manure, ashes and by-products of daily life, we conclude that all these elements that plants need are contained in the manure.
First, we must have a historical dimension of time and space to begin to find appropriate answers. At the beginning of time, when man devoted himself to agriculture and was no longer a nomad, he found virgin lands, which They provided him with all the minerals and organic elements he needed for farming. So the human being began to cultivate and cultivate and so on for thousands of years. Inevitably, the ground was exhausted, there is no doubt. If we bring nutrients from the soil to the plants, we must replenish them by fertilizing them.
When testing a variety of the most common fertilizers, some amount of the well-known NPK triplet is found in all fertilizers, but not enough for today’s industrial production yields. In fact, besides that, almost all fertilizers lack sufficient concentrations of phosphorus in the form of P2O5. What manure actually provides is most of the fresh organic matter and nitrogen, but mostly in organic form. Therefore, the organic part of N needs a period of decomposition to become a mineral. Generally for vegetable gardens, substitution with compost made from plant waste, etc. is generally good. Although many of us need to add a little nutrient in the form of chemical fertilizers to get more tomatoes, more fruit and more.
How much is added to the manure?
Before using manure as fertilizer, there are a few things to consider.
- The main point is that cannot be added directly to crops, should be applied for some time before planting, long enough for the organic matter in the manure to degrade. Depending on the crop, it may take a month or 15 days before sowing.
- Another important thing to remember is the dose. The legal maximum is 170 kg of nitrogen per hectare. This is defined by the legislation on water pollution by agricultural nitrates. Therefore, avoid reaching a maximum of 50 mg L of nitrate in surface or ground water, as higher values can cause serious public health problems.
To know what dose can be applied, it is better to know the agronomic doses. It is the balance between the nitrogen extracted by the crop during its cycle and the nitrogen present in the soil or humus in inorganic form and used in irrigation water. To balance the balance, we will add nitrogen to the fertilizer, in our case fertilizer.
When to put manure in the garden?
One of the main issues is knowing when to put manure in the garden. To extract a single large answer. They will defend what we have planted at all times, the climate where we are and when we need to water the crop. Sometimes it will be once a year, at the beginning of the seasons or more frequently.
Of course, beware of the risks, because the greatest loss of food occurs when water escapes and ends up in the sewers, which can also contaminate the aquifer. Apply a quick-release fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium every three to four weeks. This is because the plants are in full swing and as soon as food is available they will eat it.
In the fall, when we remove the spent plants, we add a little garden fertilizer, this time slow release. It must be slow release because the plants gradually accept it, they have already grown, they have borne fruit and now the process is slower.
Of course, it also depends on what and when you plant…if the tomatoes continue to fruit into October, there is no point in fertilizing. Already at the end of winter, it’s a good idea to add compost or organic matter to maintain the quality of the soil. Just as we read the nutritional information of the products we consume, we can read the labels of the fertilizers that we will add to our garden. Therefore, we will not only know which minerals we bring, but also their proportions.
How does it apply
If we want to get the most out of fertilizer in our orchard or garden, how we decide to use it is key. One of the best ways to use manure as plant food is to mix it into your compost. By using it as compost, you eliminate the possibility of burning your plants.
Another option is to apply it to the ground with a rake before planting in the spring, either fall or winter. In general, fall is the best time to apply pure fertilizers in our flower beds and terraces. This gives the manure enough time to break down, eliminating the threat of burning crops and landscape plants.
Long-drying fertilizers are also excellent fertilizers for our plants. Almost any type of fertilizer can be used, depending on the availability of fertilizers you get. However, cat or dog poop is not recommended. These types of compost are not suitable for gardens or compost heaps because they can contain pests, bacteria and diseases that are harmful to humans.
In general, horse, cow and poultry manure, also known as chicken manure, is the most commonly used fertilizer. You can also use sheep and rabbit droppings. Until recently, bat guano has become very popular.
Most of the different types of fertilizer can be purchased at nurseries and garden centers, but if you walk around you will find that farmers or horse owners are more than willing to donate them.
I hope with this information you can learn more about when to pour manure in the garden.