CAN I PUT CHICKEN POO ON MY POTTED GARDEN PLANTS?

[Fawn and Fam]

This year I have a potted plant garden in a green house. Can I put fresh or hardened chicken poo right on the soil of my potted garden plants or do I need to put it in the compost bin 1st? What if it has a little pine shavings in it (bought from TSC), will that hurt my plants?

 

[countrygoddess]

Compost it first or the urates can "burn" the roots of your plants.

 

[Fawn and Fam]

Thank you

That is what I thought, though I didn't know specifically why it was bad. Why I was curious was I saw several postings on BYC of people doing that (or so it sounded like that they were just throwing it on their garden before composting).

 

[tcmstalcup]

Sometimes I put a little on my plants uncomposted BUT its from the brooder and has lots more shavings than manure and then u must water, water water. It's risky. Even though I do it, as a master gardener it's not really recommended. I have gorgeous plants though!

 

[Fawn and Fam]

Thanks

 

[Fawn and Fam]

Thanks

 

[Fred's Hens]

Thank you

That is what I thought, though I didn't know specifically why it was bad. Why I was curious was I saw several postings on BYC of people doing that (or so it sounded like that they were just throwing it on their garden before composting).

We apply the manure directly, but we do so from October to March. We market garden, so we're talking about a huge, one acre type garden. It gets rotted in the soil naturally and then tilled into the soil We never have any root burning and produce fine vegetables for market. Since we are organic, we couldn't produce the abundance any other way, really.









I also take very dry scrapings of pure poop from the pen floor. I fill a few 5 gallon buckets of it. It dries for months, in the barn, during the winter. I incorporate it at approximately a 10% ration into my potting soil. I do not buy any chemical fertilizers. This feeds the plants when they sprout and grow in the cells, and in the re-potting trays before being put into the garden after hardening them off. Again, experience is vital and we have no root burning.

Brooder poop is nice because the pieces are smaller and easier to incorporate.

Here are some photos of 200 potted tomato plants and 125 green pepper plants grown using these methods. They''ll go out in the garden throughout the next week to 10 days. They could just as easily be potted into 12" pots for growing on a deck or patio.

 

[Fawn and Fam]

Wow, impressive! Thanks for the tips