Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
September 2nd, 2009 | 
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I get many questions about this or that type of manure and which can be used fresh and which one has to be aged first. This is a quick post to help sort that out.
Chicken Manure:
Chicken Manure should never be used fresh. Chicken manure can be acid, can heat and can cause issues like protein poisoning where the worms develop sores and wither, writhe around on the top of the bedding and die. This is cause by anaerobic bacteria in the bedding that causes acidic conditions. This same condition can happen if too much corn, bread or too little air is present in a bed.
Age chicken manure for a couple of months. Wet it down and let it heat up and when the heat drops it can be used on the beds in small patties to feed your red worms.
Horse Manure:
We use horse manure for our worm beds. We age most of it by mixing fresh manure with straw, leaves and shredded paper, wetting it down and mixing it as it heats up. When the straw is brittle and black we know it’s ready to feed our beds.
We do use small amounts of fresh horse manure to top feed our red worms, Euroworms and African Nightcrawlers. The African Night Crawlers love it. You can use fresh horse manure as food added to the top of the bed to feed but don’t mix it in. If it heats the results can kill your worms and worm capsules.
Rabbit Manure:
Rabbit manure is just about the best manure you can get for your worms. It is in a state that is ready for feeding and it is packed with nutrients that make the end product (sorry for the pun), the worm castings a potent natural fertilizer. You can age it if you wish or just mix it with peat at a ratio of 50% manure and 50% peat or coir.
Dog and Cat:
We do not recommend composting dog and cat poop. They feces from these animals can contain organisms that are harmful to Humans. Using your hands in a bin of this waste is disgusting and could harm you. Worms will eat dog and cat poop but do not use the castings for anything except maybe trees and bushes. You don’t want to use the castings from composted cat and dog poop for vegitables.
Human:
Human manure can also be composted. You should also not use it on vegetable or edible plants. There may still be organisms in the compost that can cause illness and there may be a build up of led and other chemicals in the compost that will be transferred to your food. If you have a composting toilet or need to compost Human manure then use it on trees and shrubs that will not be consumed by people or pets.
I hope this helps. Please post questions and I will answer them.
Thanks!
Ken
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Plymouth Wildlife Gardening:
In a Plymouth,Devon,garden.
Photographs of a Tenants garden grown and managed specifically for wildlife, no herbicides,pesticides,fungicides, insecticides or artificial fertilizers..
http://wildlifegardener.blogspot.com/
Be sure to visit the
British Wildlife Group on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/group/britishwildlife
From the members page:
“Maybe it’s time to have a group for british wildlife enthusiasts? spectacular and less spectacular footage documenting british creatures including mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, spiders, molluscs, plants, fungi … everything from documentaries, diaries, time-lapse footage to simply the odd speciment cought on the ‘fly’ (or ‘hoof’!?) with your phone camera – just about enjoying, celebrating, documenting and protecting british wildlife in all its forms – or something like that…
no restrictions really although not really hunting, fishing shooting or domestic or captive animals or anything like that, that’s not really what I had in mind”
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beneficial insects
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Plymouth Wildlife gardening:
Photographs of a Tenants garden grown and managed specifically for wildlife, no herbicides,pesticides,fungicides, insecticides or artificial fertilizers..
http://wildlifegardener.blogspot.com/
1st Prize Wildlife Garden 2008…
Working with Wildlife Award 2007…
Highly Commended Back Garden 2007
Be sure to visit the
British Wildlife Group on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/group/britishwildlife
From the members page:
“Maybe it’s time to have a group for british wildlife enthusiasts? spectacular and less spectacular footage documenting british creatures including mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, spiders, molluscs, plants, fungi … everything from documentaries, diaries, time-lapse footage to simply the odd speciment cought on the ‘fly’ (or ‘hoof’!?) with your phone camera – just about enjoying, celebrating, documenting and protecting british wildlife in all its forms – or something like that…
no restrictions really although not really hunting, fishing shooting or domestic or captive animals or anything like that, that’s not really what I had in mind”
-
Join in and upload your media
Ken Chiarella
Plymouth Wildlife Gardening:
Photographs of a Tenants garden grown and managed specifically for wildlife, no herbicides,pesticides,fungicides, insecticides or artificial fertilizers..
http://wildlifegardener.blogspot.com/
Be sure to visit the
British Wildlife Group on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/group/britishwildlife
From the members page:
“Maybe it’s time to have a group for british wildlife enthusiasts? spectacular and less spectacular footage documenting british creatures including mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, spiders, molluscs, plants, fungi … everything from documentaries, diaries, time-lapse footage to simply the odd speciment cought on the ‘fly’ (or ‘hoof’!?) with your phone camera – just about enjoying, celebrating, documenting and protecting british wildlife in all its forms – or something like that…
no restrictions really although not really hunting, fishing shooting or domestic or captive animals or anything like that, that’s not really what I had in mind”
-
Join in and upload your media
John Finer – Members-Only Content for WordPress
Mike Benziger shows us how he manages beneficial insects on his Biodynamic vineyard.
John Finer