Food for thought:
General Considerations
Fresh vegetables, not fresh manure. Manure should never be used fresh (raw) if you intend to plant directly into it; composting results in a more readily usable form of manure. Composting will also destroy many weed seeds that could otherwise be introduced into new fields or gardens. For more information on the composting process, see UK Extension Publication HO-75, Home Composting: A Guide to Managing Home Organic Waste. This guide along with other home and commercial vegetable publications are available from the Horticulture Departments website at
http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Horti...meveggies.html ***FIX LINK***. Links to additional information on commercial vegetable production, including organic practices, can be found at
http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Horti...e/veglinks.htm ***FIX LINK***.
If fresh manure is used on soil, it should be worked in as soon as possible or covered with other organic materials such as straw, hay, or grass clippings to prevent the loss of nitrogen through leaching. No fresh manure may be used during the year of harvest for certified organic production so you may want to plant a green manure or cover crop on this ground for the first year (see website above for information on Kentucky cover crops). See also
http://www.kyagr.com/mkt_promo/hort/...anic/index.htm for detailed information on organic certification in Kentucky. If you are not concerned with organic certification you must still allow at least one or two months to pass before planting after fresh manure applications. This allows soil microbes to start the decomposition process that regulates nutrient availability and prevents burning of young plant roots.
Remember that some types of animal manures have higher nitrogen contents than others (see Tables 1 and 2). These include horse, sheep, chicken, and rabbit manures. These are sometimes referred to as "hot" and are best used after composting. Cow and hog manures are considered "cold" because of their lower nitrogen levels.
Application. Composted manures can be broadcast and worked into fields or worked into rows and beds for various vegetable crops. A general recommendation for vegetable gardens is to broadcast poultry, sheep, cow, or horse manure at 25 to 100 lbs per 100 square feet (approximately 5-20 tons per acre). This amount may need to be supplemented with 1-2 pounds of a complete inorganic fertilizer such as 10-10-10. Organic growers can supplement with ground rock phosphate or raw bone meal to obtain phosphorus required (see below). For crops such as melons, squash, and cucumbers, composted manure can be worked directly into planting hills and mixed thoroughly with the soil. Manures can also be side-dressed with up to 5 pounds per 100 square feet of row.
Nutrient contents.
It is important to remember that nutrient contents in manures vary widely according to age of the animals, feed used, moisture content, degree of decomposition, and the amount of litter or bedding material mixed in with the manure. The only really accurate way of determining the nutrient content of the manure you are using is through laboratory analysis. You may need to adjust your application rates up or down according to what you know about the age, quality, and moisture content of the manure.
Average nutrient composition
Source
(percent dry weight)
N P2O5 K2O
Dairy cows 1.3 0.9 3.0
Feedlot cattle 1.7 1.2 3.0
Horse 2.3 0.9 1.7
Poultry 3.2 5.2 1.8
Sheep 3.5 1.4 3.5
Hogs 3.5 0.5 0.7
Goat 1.5 1.5 3.0
Rabbit 2.4 1.4 0.6
Tobacco stems* 1.5 0.5 7.0
Bat guano 10.0 2.0-4.0 0-2.0
Blood meal 13.0-14.0 2.0 1.0
Bone meal, raw 3.0 22.0 --
Bone meal, steamed 1.0-2.0 11.0-15.0 --
Cottonseed meal 6.0 0.4-3.0 1.5
Fish meal 10.0 6.0 --
Fish emulsion 5.0 2.0 2.0
Feather meal 12.0 0 0
Soybean meal 7.0 1.2 1.5
Tankage* 7.0 10.0 1.5
Sewage sludge* 1.5 1.3 0.4
Sewage sludge activated* 6.0 3.0 0.2
"soft" rock phosphate 0 14.0-16.0 0
Greensand 0 0 3.0
Phytamin 800 7.0 0 0