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Australian Native Plants

cow manure on natives? can i use it

21 years ago

hi there peoples, i have some aged cow manure, and i have built a garden around a very large gum tree, i was wondering , if i put cow manure in the new garden that i am building will it affect the gum tree.....and can u use cow manure on other australian natives? banksias, eucalypts, bottle brushes etc . i no that i cannot put it against the trunk of the tree :-)

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Comments (5)

gardenlen
21 years ago
g'day clarebear,

so long as you don't dig the manure in i can't see a lot of problems, just lay the manure around the drip line area and cover with mulch, this way the feeder roots find the manure not the manure finding the roots sort of.

len

mail len

lens garden page
Robert_NSW
21 years ago
I use the bagged form of cow manure a lot on my natives. Whenever I am planting natives I mix in copious amounts of it. Have not had any bad reactions yet. I feel that provided it is well aged it is fine.

Has anyone had any experience with Horse poo?
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when to use and how to use cow manure
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pnbrown's advice is right on - nothing fresh belongs in the garden. While some root crops will tolerate fresh, it isn't recommended because of the associated health and food safety aspects. Using only well-aged or composted manure is the safest and easiest way to go. Here are links to several informative articles on the safe use of manure in the vegetable garden. They should answer all your question. Fresh Manure and Food Gardens Don't Mix Reduce Risks of Using Manure as a Garden Fertilizer Manure for Your Garden Tips Guidelines for Using Manure on Vegetable Gardens Dave
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If you Google 'how to make manure tea' you'll find that most all the articles recommend using only well aged manure - anywhere from 6 months to a year - never fresh, when making tea with it. And using it only as a root drench, never as a foliar spray. It also is usually diluted further before application. There is a FAQ here about it and the discussion linked below is from over on the Organic Gardening forum where the subject of manure tea is often discussed. Hope it is of help. You might also want to do some reading here on the safety issues associated with using manure in the home garden. Many discussions that a search using 'manure' will pull up for you and a couple of them are just a bit further down the front page here. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Manure tea issues discussion....
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Sorry but while manures are great soil amendments, you should never use fresh manure in the garden because of the pathogen risks associated with it as well as the high N levels it contains (especially if it also contains urine). Standard recommendation is to compost all manures (with the possible exception of rabbit) for a minimum of 5-6 months prior to use. You can do it several different ways: (1) add it to an existing compost pile or build a new compost pile with it and add multiple carbon sources to it, (2) age it in a pile by itself although odor and flies will be a problem, (3) spread it over the garden in the early fall once harvest is finished and let it compost in place until spring when it can be tilled into the soil. Don't pass it up but use it safely for best results. ;) Dave
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Comments (4)
Manure is not a great component to any potting soil mix so it does not surprise me much that plants grown in the soil to which this stuff was added struggled compared to their mates in plain potting soil. Manure is 100% organic matter and OM continues to decompose and breakdown with time, water and mild temperatures. When this happens in a potting soil mix, it reduces air space (pores between the potting mix particles) and impedes proper drainage. This compaction reduces the oxygen that is able to reach plant roots and contributes to excessive moisture retention. Lack of oxygen and too much water stress roots and hamper plant growth.......if left unchecked it can result in plant death. Container grown plants need a coarse, textural and very durable potting mix - a combo of the bark fines and peat is about ideal; often there is a drainage enhancer like perlite or pumice or clay added. Any nutrient requirements need to be supplied by you, not the soil. You will find that with a good quality, free-draining potting soil with you providing any necessary watering and fertilizing, your plants will thrive. If you need confirmation of this info, check the Container Gardening forum and look for a post on "water movement in container soils".......you will be enlightened :-))
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lou_aust
21 years ago
I use horse and cow manure regularly without any problems at all. I even add bags of sheep manure to a big mulch pile we start every autumn with grass clippings and plane tree leaves collected from the local streets. My garden plants - mostly natives - love that mulch which we then slather over the garden in late spring.
nathanhurst
21 years ago
I grow most of my plants in cow manure, sometimes diluted with cheap potting mix (the $2/25L type stuff). Never had any problems. I've grown everything from Lechenaultias to Mountain Pepper to mallee gums. I have found it an excellent replacement for peat, and it is renewable/sustainable too!

I usually buy it in bags where it seems to be reasonably composted, but I suspect that even fairly raw poo would work fine. (It seems very 'soft' as a food)
kbranksome
21 years ago
Do not use fresh cow or horse manure or it will burn the blazes out of your plants.

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