Well, my new place is surrounded by chicken ranches, horse stables, and cattle. I see signs up everywhere advertising "free manure". Does anyone have any thoughts as to which would be best for citrus or how to get the magic 5-1-3 combo?

Phillip

> my new place is surrounded by chicken ranches, horse stables, and cattle.
Must have fresh air there.

Hi,

Here is a list of their components as % ;

Animal--------- Nitrogen ----- Potassium -------Phosphorus ----- Calcium

Sheep ---------- 0,55----------- 0,15 ------------- 0,31 ------------ 0,46

Cow ------------ 0,29 ---------- 0,10-------------- 0,17 ------------ 0,34

Chicken -------- 1,70 ---------- 0,90-------------- 1,40 ------------ 2,00

Horse ---------- 0,44 ---------- 0,35 -------------- 0,35 ------------- 0,15

Remember that the manure must be processed before using, especially chicken and horse manure.You must not use fresh manure

I believe the cow manure is the safest.

Philip,

In some other countries, I believe a comma is used instead of a period. Thus, 1,70 would be 1.70.

Phillip, it is just 1.70, we sometimes use comma instead of dot.
So, the number is 1.70%.

There is no manure so hot that you can't use it directly around plants when it's fresh. It's just a matter of how much you use at a given time. Horse manure has a caveat that it sometimes contains viable weed seeds as their digestive systems are not as efficient as a cows is. This is especially the case with strawy manure that may contain hayseed. Better to compost that unless you know the horses weren't hay fed.

Now whether you should use fresh manure around food that you will be harvesting and eating fresh is another matter. But citrus is a tree fruit and typically ripens in the fall and winter whereas fertilizer is usually applied in the spring and early summer so it's not usually a problem. Fresh manure around your salad greens definitely would be.

I stopped composting years ago. Manure goes down fresh before I plant or around perennials in measured doses. The rest of my compost materials goes down as mulch. Here on the sand ridge I'd be lost if I couldn't mulch garden.

.....Alan.

I don't know Alan. Even for health reasons, I don't think I would use fresh manure. - Millet

I read that the problem with fresh manure is the carbon/nitrogen ratio is too high in fresh manure so that plants can not get benefit from that manure, it must be processed.

Here, the biggest company in milk/cheese/sausage market which has it's own animal farms started a new company.They collect all the manure, animal nails, blood etc. and make processed organic fertilizer from them.They offer the product in 2 forms, as soil type and formed into pellets.
Pellets also hold some water.

This processed organic fertilizer guarantees;

organic material 65%
Nitrogen (N) 3,5%
P2O5 3%
K2O 3%

I add that pellets in to the pine bark mix and it works fine I believe.

Well, manure won't give you a precise analysis to be sure because it varies, especially if it's mixed with anything such as bedding. You'll get a whole lot more control by the use of synthetic formulas.

The manure has a couple of benefits though. The first being that it's free. The second being that it's locally produced. If I had a nearby source of weed seed free manure I'd use it on all sorts of in ground plantings. Containers are a different matter, but for in ground plantings I'd use it. Compost it if you feel you just gotta, but for food plants that you won't be harvesting from for four months or more it's safe. Just don't put large amounts of a hot manure like poultry around anything until you've gained some experience with how much you can use under what circumstances.

5-1-3 is the ideal ratio for citrus, but in the real world the ideal does not happen. With manure you may need to supplement with some additional trace elements, but then many of us have to do that even with the use of synthetic formulas. I use soluble 20-20-20 as my standard on every container plant I own and they all do well on it. Yes it's not as efficient as a plant type specific mix but I don't have to keep many different blends each tailored to a different plant type either.

.....Alan.

Manure is both a soil conditioner and a fertilizer. Because of its high content of soluble salts, it should never be used in containers, as it can cause plant burning. As Alan writes, manures vary greatly in nutrient content. The age and the type of manure create many variables. This makes it almost impossible to know how strong it is. As a rule the older the manure, the less nutrient value, but even old manure makes a good soil conditioner (for poor soils). Manure is usually higher in nitrogen than phosphorus or potassium. Rabbit and poultry manure are about twice as rich as that of horses, cows and pigs. Sheep and goats sit some where between the two. Personally, I never use manure, as I don't want anything to do with excrements coming from the back of an animal and my food. Just me - Millet.

You mean you don't eat eggs?