Chicken Manure Issues-Black Spots on Plants, Green/Orange Dirt

14 years ago

I am concerned about the composted chicken manure I'm using in my garden. It's supposed to be composted/aged; it was bagged and from a grocery/garden store. I found a lot of small chicken bones, both legs and hips(?), when rototilling it in. I picked out nearly a large paint bucket full of bones from my 12'x24' garden...it was gross! and there were a lot of flies when I first spread it. Are all these bones normal for bagged chicken manure?

Now that the seedlings are up, I noticed that nearly all of them - lettuces, radishes, pumpkin, corn and tomato - have small black "spots" all over the leaves. When you touch the leaf these "spots" come off. What could this be? Could it be fly eggs?

Also, today I noticed that my garden path, which is more compacted dirt, is green in the wetter areas. And I've noticed some clusters of brownish orange spots on some areas of dirt. Should I be concerned about any of these issues?

Thanks for your help and advice, Denise

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (11)

avajay
14 years ago
I have no answer, but I'll be interested to hear what the answers are. I've never seen the color orange, be it mold or whatever, grow anywhere before this spring, and it's on some compacted/matted leaves in an area of my property where leaves get trapped between a tall privacy fence and my garage, with maybe 6 ft of space between. Just a small portion of the leaves have this color. All of my property is clay, but this small area has gorgeous black soil, and I think it's from the natural decomposition of these leaves. I don't know what, if any, relation your orange and mine may have, but I'll be watching for the more knowledgeable ones to shed some light.
Also, did the bag specify that there may be some chicken remains included? How many bags of this stuff did you use that left you with a paint bucket full of bones? I cannot imagine how that could reasonably happen. Many organic gardeners are vegetarian, and many of those are so for animal rights reasons. My mom being one. I'd complain to the store if I were you.
0
Kimmsr
14 years ago
What you probably got was a waste product from a chicken factory instead of just composted chicken manure. Did your soil need something very high in nitrogen? What was the reason that you bought that stuff? When did you last have a good, reliable soil test done?
What you are seeing could be the result of a nutrient imbalance.
0
Related Discussions
Vinegar for black spots
Q
Comments (126)
Hi Smithga: Potassium silicate is sold on Amazon quite expensive, and I already bought crushed red-lava-rock on Amazon for $10, it helped with blooming, but DOES NOT help with black spots on Carding Mill. I know exactly what I did wrong with Carding Mill: Since that location is near tree, I put tons of alfalfa-pellets in the planting hole, and when that decomposes, it GLUE UP with my clay, roots get waterlogged in that sticky-combo. I did the same to black-spot prone Pink Peace, when I dug that up, it's a big glob of clay glued-up with alfalfa pellets. Spraying leaves is temporary solution. Permanent solution is to dig the rose up, and fix the soil to make it loamy & easier for water to drain off. What I did to Pink Peace was to throw the old sticky-gobs of clay elsewhere, put in fresh top soil mixed with FLUFFY compost, plus coarse sand, plus red-lava-rock for drainage. Gypsum or gritty lime can be added, depending on one's soil pH. The cause of black spots start with the planting hole .. I notice when the soil is fluffy, it's easier for nutrients from above to reach down to roots. But when the soil is hardened, and when you water it ... water just floats over, rather than sink in ... those are the roses most susceptible to black spots. Coarse sand is a fantastic separating-agent. I found loose spots, with sand-grains intact, where I poked holes and stuff sand in these "breathe holes" ... that's done more than a year ago. Breathe holes can really perk up roses, even without stuffing sand inside. Crimson Glory was next to a tree, the soil there is rock-hard, thanks to my mixing in peat-moss with clay. When I watered it, the water just floated over, rather than sinking in. So I used my large shovel to dig a circle around it, I meant to dig the entire rose up to fix the hardened hole. But it rained on me, so I left it there .. a circular gap around the entire rose. It perked up right after that .. and bloomed, thanks to rain-water going through that circular gap. I use a bamboo stick, a dandelion digger (great for stabbing soil), a thick butter-knife, a long thick scoop, and my big shovel just to create gaps. Then I top it with 1/2 gallon of coarse sand. It works fantastic to loosen hardened clay. A long term solution is to dig the rose up, and fluff up the clay with cracked-corn, coarse sand, and organic matter. Cracked-corn glues up with clay, it's the gypsum and sand that helps to separate organic matter from clay. When roots can't get rid of excess water, they are more prone to diseases. Fluffy & well-drained soil is the best solution to fungal diseases. Coarse sand is a must for fixing compacted clay. I get tons of leaves in the fall ... they glue together in wet-sheaths, but if I layer sand between the leaves, they don't stick together. I posted in the other thread about the myth of sand plus clay makes brick. That's NOT true. Coarse sand is FANTASTIC to break up my high-magnesium sticky clay .. I dug up spots 15 years later, and it's stilly fluffy & loamy where I mixed in sand. IT DOES NOT GLUE up into concrete like peat moss, alfafa (both meal and pellets), or wood chips. Below is an excerpt from a link that clarifies the misconception that mixing sand with clay become concrete: FALSE !! http://rebuildingcivilization.com/content/true-or-false-concrete-can-be-made-mixing-powdered-limestone-sand-gravel-and-water
...See More
Black spot on potted rose
Q
Comments (128)
Hi Sharon: Glad to hear from you. What's the name of that beautiful blushing white rose that you posted? I love that picture !! Munstead Wood is Seaweed's best bloomer in alkaline CA, versus stingiest Lady Emma. Seaweed has alkaline soil and water. If your Munstead Wood is grafted on Dr. Huey, it can takes alkalinity well. One approach is mixing 2 tablespoon of gritty lime with 2 teaspoons of granular sulfate of potash (NPK 0-0-50), or chopped up banana peels (0-3-42). Calcium is best balanced with equal amount of potassium. Potassium is needed for disease-prevention. When I first moved here to rock-hard-alkaline clay, pH 7.7, my neighbor planted a dozen roses grafted on Dr. Huey, and watered with our pH 8.3 hard-water. His was blooming non-stop, 100% clean, vigorous, he was cutting blooms every day. I was puzzled: I had just moved from acidic clay, with wimpy BS-fest, stingy roses Went out to check my roses after all-night & all morning rain (12 hours): The roses with 1/4 cup gritty lime & 2 teas. sulfate of potash are clean: W.S. 2000, Golden Celebration, and Romantica Sweet Promise. The 5-bands in pots with compost & few red lava rocks & Milorganite are 100% clean. The rose in the ground & poor drainage heavy clay with the most Milorganite, Wise Portia, has B.S., most likely from the salt in Milorganite (sewage sludge), NPK 5-2-0. Milorganite with 4% iron is great for bands in fast-draining pots, but NOT best for roses that don't need much iron, or for poor-drainage clay that retains salt. One lady killed over a dozen rose bushes by using Mills' Magic Mix every month on her roses in hot summer. Mills Magic Mix has Milorganite for its nitrogen and phosphorus. Since my heavy clay retains salt too well, I'm going back to alfalfa (NPK 2-1-2) with less phosphorus & more potassium, zero salt. I'll buy alfalfa hay or pellets, rather than alfalfa meal, because it's slower-release & cheaper. I'll put gritty lime (pH 9) or COMPOSTED horse manure (pH 8) on top of alfalfa, so no pest nor fungi can germinate on acidic alfalfa, pH 5.7. Sewage sludge is high in salt, OK for lawn or fasting-draining pots, but not best for roses in heavy clay. In my experiments, roses break out in fungal diseases when they are stressed out, such as: 1) salt as in manure & Milorganite 2) standing wetness from poor-drainage 3) too much acid, like my lowering tap water with lemon juice 4) harsh chemicals, like MiracleGro soluble with high NPK 5) too much phosphorus, as in the bagged cow manure. Hi Jim: I agree that Rose Midge can come from elsewhere, such as Peter Schneider's comment in his book that horse manure gave his garden rose midge. Peter grows over 1,000 roses in Ohio, sandy soil. Most likely last year's FRESH horse manure (with tons of mushrooms and decayed straws) gave my roses rust. This year zero rust, despite early summer's 1-month rain. NO horse manure this year. At first I thought too much gypsum on top induced rust, but I tested that recently, putting a wad of gypsum on my smallest rose, Angel Face. Its leaves became wilted just like Crimson Glory did with gypsum-topping. The wilting is from the 17% sulfur in gypsum, that stuff burns my finger, plus corroded the metal scoop. Earthworm hates gypsum and sulfur. I prefer Encap Dry Compost to break up my hard clay, rather than gypsum. The holes with too much gypsum, like my 2nd tomato-bed: not much fruits on those tomatoes .. excess calcium drive down potassium. Potassium is necessary for blooming, disease-prevention, and drought-tolerance. Those tomatoes are the most wilted in this hot August. Thank you, Jim and Sharon, for posting in this thread. Finally found the best site with pics. to identify plants' deficiencies ... great reference, see below link: Here is a link that might be useful: Best site to identify nutrient deficiencies in plants This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Tue, Aug 5, 14 at 16:51
...See More
Best Black Spot Remedies
Q
Comments (123)
Marigolds are annuals here... I'm not sure about your area msdorkgirl ...??? One stock with flowers on top??? I use French Marigolds here and they are very stinky.... I have no idea if Marigolds will help with thrips and Spider mites since I've never seen those insects here with or without Marigolds planted... Sorry...??? I would NOT plant Marigolds in the same pot your roses are in that's for sure ... Your situation is different because all your roses are in pots... So you would have to get more pots to plant Marigolds in then sit those pots around your roses is all I can think of??? You could of just bought a couple Marigolds and potted those up and sat them close to a rose bush you were having trouble with to see if it helped... Experimenting like that is what I did... Here's a young Marigold plant I started from seed... Here's what they look like when they get a bit older... Ours will grow like 10 inches high by 14 inches wide...They bloom heavily all season long here... I sat these 3 large pots in the back of this rose bush... I have a smaller pot in front of the rose bush... And I got 2 real small seedlings growing near that bush... This Marigold plant is in a much smaller pot....
...See More
Sad Roses - Black Spot and Maybe other issues
Q
Comments (55)
louislinus You have a beautiful house. I love your gorgeous stone-walkway. The above pic. (white rose) has a green rose slug. Rose slugs (sawfly larvae) infest roses in poor-drainage clay. You have lots of Walker's low blue catmint, which thrive in heavy clay here. The second pic. (from the top of your post) shows lots of holes in leaves, besides black spots. I also see rose-slug damage (brownish-latticed leaves). Holes in leaves are typical of slow drainage dense clay in heavy rain. I used to get holes in leaves right after heavy rain, then I moved roses and found water could not drain fast in that spot. Roses that like fast-draining like Queen Nefertiti is most susceptible to rose-slug and holes in leaves. I fixed the soil with fast-draining coarse sand, dug out all the rocks below, and NO MORE green ROSE SLUGS. Do you have dense clay soil? If so, then poor-drainage is a problem in mid-west heavy rain. I would check for drainage: dig a hole near the MOST black spotted rose, pour a 5 gallon bucket of water down that hole. If the water doesn't drain within 10 min, any rose would black spot in that area during heavy acidic rain. pH of rain in Midwest area is 4.5. With my 134 varieties of roses, black spot is no longer a problem once I check the planting hole for fast drainage by pouring a 5-gallon bucket of water, before planting a a rose. If the water doesn't drain fast enough, I keep digging and often I would find large stones that block drainage. High Country roses recommend digging a hole 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. But I often dig deeper than that to check for stones. A quick fix to slow down the heavy & acidic rain is to pile up horse manure (the type with wood-chips, rather than hay). Hay is acidic, but sawdust/woodchips decomposes to alkaline. There's a poor drainage spot where I dug down 2 feet and found water .. but Golden Celebration (black spot-prone) was 100% healthy. I piled up ALKALINE horse manure (with wood-chips) up to 1 feet tall. When acidic rain at pH 4.5 poured down, it was instantly neutralized by that pH 8 horse manure. Stable here deodorizes horse manure with shell lime (high in calcium & high pH). Calcium is the best buffer against acidic rain. The LEACHING of calcium is what causes holes in leaves after heavy rain. Once the leaves are thinned out with acidic rain, they are more susceptible to rose-slugs (green sawfly larvae). I never have rose slugs in the years with horse manure, despite poor drainage clay. In the years of topping roses with horse manure (pH 8), zero black spots in raised beds, and very few leaves with black spots in poor-drainage clay. (posted plenty of pics. in Organic Rose forum). Besides calcium, horse manure has anti-fungal trace elements (zinc and copper) to thicken leaves. Pics below are my roses with horse manure, note the THICKER foliage. Decades ago I saw the same flawless foliage in a neighbor who used horse manure & same with another garden with horse manure. From that time on, I started topping roses with horse manure. I don't spray.
...See More
suenh
14 years ago
Those large chicken factory farms will compost an entire building if they have a disease outbreak. The birds are killed and the bodies composted right there often in the sealed off building. Since that puts the building out of use for the owner it's no wonder that they might rush things or take shortcuts. Makes you want to run right out and eat a Tyson product.

Here is a link that might be useful: Purdue University on Composting poultry
0
denisepuyallup
Original Author
14 years ago
I was just trying to enrich my soil with a compost that I knew was highly recommended - chicken manure vs. steer manure which I have experienced a lot of weeds with in the past. It's a common bag of composted chicken manure from a company, Whitney Farms, that I see all the time. Maybe I added too much, but I followed the recommendation on the bag. I will definitely talk with the store where I purchased it, but the sad part will be a wasted garden this season.
Thanks for your help...I'll let you know if I was able to remedy my garden. ~Denise
0
Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years ago
The description of the colored spots is too sparse to make a good guess. I suspect the path thing is algae and fungus. No big. I would definitely speak to the store, as you got a cr*ppy load of compost, and not the good cr*ppy. Bones in a bag?!?!? Sheesh. You probably want to write the company a harsh letter as well and Cc the BBB.

You likely have too much N in the soil, but N is highly mobile and if it keeps raining until July 4th, it will likely get most of that N out of the soil. You definitely don't want too much N in the soil in Jul-Aug as you'll be watering all over the place.

Dan
0
matt2
14 years ago
Denise,
I would agree with Dan that it is probably a bad compost, may not be a well matured compost, it may be a very high nutrient value compost that is going to be to high for your soil conditions. I would suggest a good garden soil test to let you know where you are at with things.
0
greengrass12
14 years ago
Denise, I am with you. I also assumed that Whitney farms was premium stuff although I have never used it. You should contact Whitney farms directly in addition to your local grocery store and get your money back as a minimum. As others have said, chicken manure does not inlude bones etc.
0
gardener_mary
14 years ago
I dump all bagged soils, compost and stuff onto a screen sifter over my wheel barrel before putting it into my garden beds. I always take a close look at it, pick out pieces of glass, plastic and things.

Whole bones (yuk) should not be in good compost, everything should be broken down so that it is not reconizable. Did you read the bag, what ingredients does it list, anything that would mean chicken bones?

I would definately complain, if they are a good company and something got away from them they will be happy to know so that they can correct the problem. If they just make really bad compost you are letting others know to stay away from it.

I sorry to hear that your having such a bad time, I hope that it gets better. Don't let it get you too discouraged. Let us know what you do and how things are going.

Good luck and good gardening, Mary
0
violet_sky
14 years ago
Oh that's terrible! Definitely a bad batch of compost... yikes! I'd be ticked. I hope you got your money back and wrote a letter of complaint to the company!
There should be no bones in
A.) chicken manure (unless you have an unruly band of wild cannibalistic chickens eating one another and pooping out the bones!) ;^)
B.) Compost in general. Everything should've rotted to an indistinguishable lovely crumbly chocolate color and it should smell like good "clean" earth.

Otherwise sounds like you have fungal issues. Usually anything orange is a fungal "rust" of some kind, though it's hard to say with a vague description. Not sure about the black spots - could be anything from fly poop to eggs to a fungus. Take a picture and share if the rain hasn't washed them away yet. If it has that might be a better thing. ;^)
0
vaart_janix_net
14 years ago
Denise I bought Whitney Farms in Vancouver WA and it had the chicken bones in it. Am using a different brand now. The store I bought the Whitney Farms said they had no problems. but the store I bought the new from said oh yeah they had heard of it.
I use Chicken Manure every spring for my Vegetable garden. 2-3 sacks per bed 16'x4' and have never had a problem. Will see what I get for Vegetables.
0
borderbarb
14 years ago
A thread in this forum discussed these orange fungal growths. The link below has pictures, this link goes to the forum thread:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/soil/msg0514485925819.html?2
///
Picture
http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/TRA/PLANTS/images/slimold.jpeg
///
Picture
http://homepage.mac.com/agunther/.Public/glob.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful: Slime mold
0

Chicken Manure Issues-Black Spots on Plants, Green/Orange Dirt

Comments (11)

avajay

Kimmsr

Related Discussions

suenh

denisepuyallup
Original Author

Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)

matt2

greengrass12

gardener_mary

violet_sky

vaart_janix_net

borderbarb

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Chicken Manure Issues-Black Spots on Plants, Green/Orange Dirt

Comments (11)

Related Discussions

denisepuyallupOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

denisepuyallup
Original Author