yardiron
Full Access Member
I quit using manure from local farms for my garden after a few bad experiences with it. Farmers do not separate horse, cow, or goat manure and all use various vaccinations, wormers, and antibiotics on their animals to be able to sell milk or prevent various diseases. Since animals get sold and moved around, its impossible to fine purely organic manure here. The two years I did get what was supposed to be clean manure, I composted it for two years and added it to the garden at the end of the season. I had a ton of problems the following year. Squash, peppers, and corn all died and I had bacterial spotting on all the tomatoes. I had to take a backhoe and remove several feet of soil and replace it with new mushroom soil. It took me two more years to get it back to normal.
All tests showed extremely high pesticide levels and heavy metal counts were through the roof. I also had to dig up my compost pile to rid it of that load of manure. (Normally my compost pile has green covering it by mid June, between weeds and growing seeds, being fertile ground something is always sprouting. That year it was devoid of any growth. I dug it up, spread it out way back in the woods and went and got 10 yards of mushroom soil to replenish the garden and fill in what I had dug out beneath the compost pile.
I had a similar case at another house where we put down a load of mixed top soil for a new lawn. It was a mix of composted manure and farm top soil.
Nothing would grow in it. Between the contaminants in the manure, between heavy metals from the source not separating out urine to the farm soil being laced with glyphosate and a dozen other pesticides it took years to correct and amend to the point grass would grow, The issues showed up as soon as the sod went down, it turned yellow and died in a week. It turned out that the farm that was selling soil and manure had ceased planting and gone to strictly horse boarding, a petting zoo and a garden supply center along with a vegetable stand where they sold vegetables they got from other sources.
They were growing there own food for the animals therefore since none of the animals were for meat, 'organic' anything was not a concern. They were covering the hay and alfalfa fields in glyphosate and other pesticides and fertilizers to guarantee weed and pest free growth. All animals were heavily dosed for everything regardless and zero attempt was made to keep the manure they sold free of urine.
The end result was a toxic mess spread 6" deep over three quarters of a quarter acre lot where nothing would grow. It killed 115 landscape plants, a truck load of sod, and all but one existing tree there.
The one thing that did help was a wet winter and copious amounts of lime, potash, and 0-0-30 fertilizer and several large sacks of mixed grass seed meant for poor soil. It took three full years to see a real lawn and only a few landscape plants eventually were able to be put in. Yew bushes, azaleas, and forsythia was all that would grow there for years. All the typical flowering plants refused to grow. 22 years later the lawn is still poor at best and the gardens restricted to the same few plants and the only trees being one fir tree and two spruce trees. There were five spruce trees but pine beetles wiped them out 9 years ago. Going from one tree to the next till the whole row was dead. They moved through the area cutting a path heading south/southwest spreading only in one direction sparing trees only slightly out of their path somehow, thus why three trees still remain. A row of Arborvitae trees were planted in their place but were destroyed by bag worms that seemed unaffected by pesticides about five years ago. I don't live there so its not a major concern but it could easily have been here that it happened as well.
I should also note that Mg levels on soil tests here tend to be in the 40-50 ppm naturally in my area. Calcium though is how we control pH and blossom end rot.
I've not had blossom end rot issues since I started using pulverized egg shells in my garden vs dolomite lime. A one time application at or just before planting to the immediate area of each plant has proven to be the answer to both ber and various fungal issues.
Last season, although we had a few blistering heat waves, my plants hit there stride in late July and produced good, although moderate sized tomatoes through November. They recovered from the high temps by the end of August and with the help of an extra fertilizer shot and some fresh mulch, went into overdrive producing tomatoes till and after first frost. I had put a 4 mil sheet of semi clear polyethylene above the garden in Oct to prevent frost from settling on the plants. It kept my tomatoes and okra alive for several more weeks before the day time temps finally took their toll.
Normal fertilizer also tends to contain certain amounts of Mg as well, so in my area, its rarely needed to add epsom salts directly.
None of this applies to other areas though, it may not apply to someone 2 miles away let alone 2,000 miles away. Its just what works for me.
All tests showed extremely high pesticide levels and heavy metal counts were through the roof. I also had to dig up my compost pile to rid it of that load of manure. (Normally my compost pile has green covering it by mid June, between weeds and growing seeds, being fertile ground something is always sprouting. That year it was devoid of any growth. I dug it up, spread it out way back in the woods and went and got 10 yards of mushroom soil to replenish the garden and fill in what I had dug out beneath the compost pile.
I had a similar case at another house where we put down a load of mixed top soil for a new lawn. It was a mix of composted manure and farm top soil.
Nothing would grow in it. Between the contaminants in the manure, between heavy metals from the source not separating out urine to the farm soil being laced with glyphosate and a dozen other pesticides it took years to correct and amend to the point grass would grow, The issues showed up as soon as the sod went down, it turned yellow and died in a week. It turned out that the farm that was selling soil and manure had ceased planting and gone to strictly horse boarding, a petting zoo and a garden supply center along with a vegetable stand where they sold vegetables they got from other sources.
They were growing there own food for the animals therefore since none of the animals were for meat, 'organic' anything was not a concern. They were covering the hay and alfalfa fields in glyphosate and other pesticides and fertilizers to guarantee weed and pest free growth. All animals were heavily dosed for everything regardless and zero attempt was made to keep the manure they sold free of urine.
The end result was a toxic mess spread 6" deep over three quarters of a quarter acre lot where nothing would grow. It killed 115 landscape plants, a truck load of sod, and all but one existing tree there.
The one thing that did help was a wet winter and copious amounts of lime, potash, and 0-0-30 fertilizer and several large sacks of mixed grass seed meant for poor soil. It took three full years to see a real lawn and only a few landscape plants eventually were able to be put in. Yew bushes, azaleas, and forsythia was all that would grow there for years. All the typical flowering plants refused to grow. 22 years later the lawn is still poor at best and the gardens restricted to the same few plants and the only trees being one fir tree and two spruce trees. There were five spruce trees but pine beetles wiped them out 9 years ago. Going from one tree to the next till the whole row was dead. They moved through the area cutting a path heading south/southwest spreading only in one direction sparing trees only slightly out of their path somehow, thus why three trees still remain. A row of Arborvitae trees were planted in their place but were destroyed by bag worms that seemed unaffected by pesticides about five years ago. I don't live there so its not a major concern but it could easily have been here that it happened as well.
I should also note that Mg levels on soil tests here tend to be in the 40-50 ppm naturally in my area. Calcium though is how we control pH and blossom end rot.
I've not had blossom end rot issues since I started using pulverized egg shells in my garden vs dolomite lime. A one time application at or just before planting to the immediate area of each plant has proven to be the answer to both ber and various fungal issues.
Last season, although we had a few blistering heat waves, my plants hit there stride in late July and produced good, although moderate sized tomatoes through November. They recovered from the high temps by the end of August and with the help of an extra fertilizer shot and some fresh mulch, went into overdrive producing tomatoes till and after first frost. I had put a 4 mil sheet of semi clear polyethylene above the garden in Oct to prevent frost from settling on the plants. It kept my tomatoes and okra alive for several more weeks before the day time temps finally took their toll.
Normal fertilizer also tends to contain certain amounts of Mg as well, so in my area, its rarely needed to add epsom salts directly.
None of this applies to other areas though, it may not apply to someone 2 miles away let alone 2,000 miles away. Its just what works for me.
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