How to apply manure: basic requirements for organic soil fertilization
Manure was and remains one of the most affordable organic fertilizers. Knowing how to apply manure to the soil, you can maintain its fertility and get a good harvest every year. Why is it the most affordable? For example, organic matter from green mass also contains many useful substances. It would seem that weeds are everywhere, but in order to get enough greenery, there must also be a lot of vegetation. In small suburban areas, it is usually difficult to prepare so much grass. But manure is another matter, especially if there is a subsidiary farm. One or two cows or horses, pair rabbits or a dozen chickens - and you already have a whole factory for the production of manure. And it will bring maximum benefit if manure is applied on time and correctly. How to do this, we will tell you today.
When to apply manure
It is better to bring manure to the beds in the fall, for digging. Moreover, the lighter the soil (for example, sandy), the deeper it needs to be embedded. On loams, you can simply walk with a cultivator. During the winter, it will rot and give its nutrients to the earth.
How to apply manure: features of fertilizing a vegetable garden with organic matter
It is best to apply manure in a semi-rotten form. To bring it to such a state, in the spring the manure is laid out in one layer 50 cm thick. The top is covered with a thick layer of hay or straw, which prevents the manure from drying out. Over the summer, it is inhabited by worms, and by autumn they bring organic matter to "half-readiness".
It is not recommended to use fresh waste for several reasons:
- they may contain a lot of weed and its seeds, which will provoke "infection" of the site with unwanted vegetation;
- such manure can also contain pathogenic bacteria.
Fresh organic matter can be used to fertilize cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkin.
It is better to feed tomatoes with completely rotted manure, which is also called sprinkle. From fresh organic matter, they instantly become fat, and "forget" about fruiting.
How much manure should be applied
It is necessary to maintain the maximum level of humus in the soil, and this will require a lot of manure. So, for fertilizing 1 hundred parts, you need at least 150 kg of organic matter, and even better - 200 kg. It turns out that for every square meter of garden beds, 2 kg of manure are needed.
However, this amount will only make up for the losses. And in order to really increase the fertility of the soil, manure must be applied at least 2 times more. For example, for a vegetable garden of 10 acres per year, you will need 5 tons of organic matter, in particular manure. In this case, we are talking about manure obtained from the waste of cattle. When poultry manure is applied, the doses are significantly reduced due to the high nitrogen concentration.