Fertilisers

[Goodbook]

Do you use them, organic or chemical ones?
Which ones work for you?

 

[PollyJetix]

I do use Miracle Grow. But there's nothing like real manure.
I grew up on a farm. My Papa was amazing at growing things. The flower beds around the yard were like magazine pictures. He used a lot of chemicals. And we couldn't find any worms in the gardens.
But we knew where to dig for worms when we went fishing. Out by the cow barn, where the roof had a valley. There was a spot that was southern exposure, that got a lot of water. And the weeds grew like crazy. And the nightcrawlers were immense!

Now that I'm older, I don't have a cow anymore. But I have learned that if I put my chickens in a chicken tractor (moveable pen) on the grass and move them every day, the chickens tend to eat the clover first, and then fertilize the grass so heavily that the broad-leaved weeds don't grow as fast.
I had a patch of dirt that was like subsoil in the front yard. I laid hay bale sections down on it, and let it decompose, and it created topsoil. There was grass seed right in the hay, which took off. I mowed it the second year. And by the third year, that patch was good grass.
I also had a place that the grass was rather thin, and full of weeds. I moved the chicken pen over it, round and round. It turned that spot into the best grass on the whole place.

Where I'm living now, I am forbidden to have any animals or chickens. (Silly city-slicker landlord!) Lots of grass, but I can't put a calf or a goat or even a chicken on it! How dumb is that?? So, I have to mow, and mow, and mow.

I'm moving this year, hopefully to a place where I can have chickens. I have a plan. I want to build another chicken tractor about
6' by 6' and about 6' in the center. Like an old-fashioned coop. I'll make it out of 2x2's, to keep it lightweight. Adn I'll cover it with wire first, then a tarp overtop. This chicken pen will be easily moveable.
I think over winter I can set it on a foundation of haybales to raise it up a little, and cover the ends with heavy plastic... and put down a good 10 inches of light shavings for bedding. They would be comfortable all winter, and it would make a well-fertilized bed by next springtime.

It doesn't take much to make me happy.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I've never been one for chemical fertilizers.

I miss the farm. We had chickens, and I used deep litter and composted their manure (plus they free ranged). A lot of the animals had cold manure - rabbits, goats, llamas.

My BEST was the tomato garden. There was an old barn on the property, with many feet deep of the mist amazing soil. I think it was a cow barn, mostly. We dug up a lot of the soil there and filled the tomato garden with that. Then during the summer, I put down a kiddy wading pool (biggest I could find) just outside the garden, and the ducks and geese spent a lot of time dirtying up the water. Every couple-few days, I used a pump to cycle that water onto the tomato garden to water it, and gave the animals fresh. We had the most amazing crop of the tastiest tomatoes ever!

This year I'm going to try just a few tomato plants in buckets so I can control the water (it rains too much for them here), and plan to use composted veggies, leaves, and yard waste to start them, and I guess BUY some manure ... and see where that takes me.

The chicken coop is done, run almost finished, but we are planning to have only a few chickens - less than a dozen. My husband is tired of his worms so I'm planning to take them over and use them for castings and tea, and will probably toss a few in the buckets. And we might be looking at a few rabbits within the year. That's about all we can do in this subdivision.

 

[afishamongmany]

I do use Miracle Grow. But there's nothing like real manure.
I grew up on a farm. My Papa was amazing at growing things. The flower beds around the yard were like magazine pictures. He used a lot of chemicals. And we couldn't find any worms in the gardens.
But we knew where to dig for worms when we went fishing. Out by the cow barn, where the roof had a valley. There was a spot that was southern exposure, that got a lot of water. And the weeds grew like crazy. And the nightcrawlers were immense!

Now that I'm older, I don't have a cow anymore. But I have learned that if I put my chickens in a chicken tractor (moveable pen) on the grass and move them every day, the chickens tend to eat the clover first, and then fertilize the grass so heavily that the broad-leaved weeds don't grow as fast.
I had a patch of dirt that was like subsoil in the front yard. I laid hay bale sections down on it, and let it decompose, and it created topsoil. There was grass seed right in the hay, which took off. I mowed it the second year. And by the third year, that patch was good grass.
I also had a place that the grass was rather thin, and full of weeds. I moved the chicken pen over it, round and round. It turned that spot into the best grass on the whole place.

Where I'm living now, I am forbidden to have any animals or chickens. (Silly city-slicker landlord!) Lots of grass, but I can't put a calf or a goat or even a chicken on it! How dumb is that?? So, I have to mow, and mow, and mow.

I'm moving this year, hopefully to a place where I can have chickens. I have a plan. I want to build another chicken tractor about
6' by 6' and about 6' in the center. Like an old-fashioned coop. I'll make it out of 2x2's, to keep it lightweight. Adn I'll cover it with wire first, then a tarp overtop. This chicken pen will be easily moveable.
I think over winter I can set it on a foundation of haybales to raise it up a little, and cover the ends with heavy plastic... and put down a good 10 inches of light shavings for bedding. They would be comfortable all winter, and it would make a well-fertilized bed by next springtime.

It doesn't take much to make me happy.

Hello Polyjetix,
That was an interesting read. The methods you describe are all part of permaculture philosophy, aren't they. We used to raise chicken for many years, 200 at a time. If you have too many on an area they will clear it of vegetation, not just through eating and scratching but also their feet exude a growth inhibitor. One time I thought of using the movable coop method with rabbits but stuck with the free range chickens.
Go well, go sustainably,
><>

 

[afishamongmany]

Do you use them, organic or chemical ones?
Which ones work for you?

Hi Goodbook,
I'm not a purist and think that a scattering of NPK can sometimes be useful. But mostly it's just my own compost that I mulch trees, bushes and beds with.
What's your modus operandi?
><>

 

[afishamongmany]

My husband is tired of his worms so I'm planning to take them over and use them for castings and tea, and will probably toss a few in the buckets.

Anastasia - You make tea out of worms??!
><>

 

[~Anastasia~]

Anastasia - You make tea out of worms??!
><>

LOL I was afraid that would be misunderstood!

Not out of worms, and not for drinking!

You can use and old stocking, fill it with pure castings, soak it in a bucket of water, and use that "tea" as a fertilizer-water for plants.

 

[Goodbook]

I use..chickens manure, green manure crops, now have a rabbit so rabbit manure, seaweed mulch, epsom salts for magnesium.

No worms, yet. Would like a worm farm.
Lots of compost, both make my own and buy bags of it.

I have tried using seaweed liquid fertiliser, aloe vera fertiliser, and before i got into organics I was using thrive and nitrophoska but ive stopped using those now. Im going the organic way. When I was using the thrive, it was like this bright yellow powder and felt like was giving drugs to my plants. They grew but probably wasnt healthy for them and made them more susceptible to bugs.

 

[PollyJetix]

Hello Polyjetix,
That was an interesting read. The methods you describe are all part of permaculture philosophy, aren't they. We used to raise chicken for many years, 200 at a time. If you have too many on an area they will clear it of vegetation, not just through eating and scratching but also their feet exude a growth inhibitor. One time I thought of using the movable coop method with rabbits but stuck with the free range chickens.
Go well, go sustainably,
><>

Could you give me a source link for that info on chicken feet exuding a growth inhibitor? I did a Google search and came up with nothing. It sounds very interesting!

 

[Goodbook]

Uh..200 chickens? Thats a bit too many...

I forgot also to mention sheep manure. Thats very good fertiliser as well.

 

[afishamongmany]

Could you give me a source link for that info on chicken feet exuding a growth inhibitor? I did a Google search and came up with nothing. It sounds very interesting!

Sorry PollyJ the best I could find was -
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jafc.6b01911?src=recsys&
and I don't think it's quite what I was thinking.
Someone, onetime, certainly told me about exuding chicken feet. But could be it's a rural myth from some ol' rural myth maker. Or maybe it's something waiting to be discovered? Anyway I think it's sure that chickens are good for clearing overgrown ground.
Go well, good growing,
><>

 

[afishamongmany]

Uh..200 chickens? Thats a bit too many..

Well we had the area for them at that time. The rearing up to weight wasn't hard work but the getting them into plastic bags at the end certainly was. Ah happy days!
Go well, good growing,
><>

 

[~Anastasia~]

I just found out we're going to have a freeze this week. In March, in Florida. Ugh ...

It's possible, and happens once every great long while. We are not quite to the latest freeze date yet (but less than a week to go). But I have spent the last two weeks getting my plants outside, getting them groomed and repotted, and so on. I'm going to have to spend a whole day bringing them back in, and find a place to put them for three days. The tomatoes and peppers are not going to be happy, and I'd probably better cover the fruit trees.

 

[afishamongmany]

I just found out we're going to have a freeze this week. In March, in Florida. Ugh ...

It's possible, and happens once every great long while. We are not quite to the latest freeze date yet (but less than a week to go). But I have spent the last two weeks getting my plants outside, getting them groomed and repotted, and so on. I'm going to have to spend a whole day bringing them back in, and find a place to put them for three days. The tomatoes and peppers are not going to be happy, and I'd probably better cover the fruit trees.

Oh dear Anastasia, did all your plants get through the cold snap? In looked terrible further up towards NY, frozen fountains and two foot of snow brrrr!
><>

 

[~Anastasia~]

Oh dear Anastasia, did all your plants get through the cold snap? In looked terrible further up towards NY, frozen fountains and two foot of snow brrrr!
><>

I brought them all in. They are tucked EVERYWHERE lol, hardy ones in the garage, seedlings on the kitchen counter, succulent babies on the microwave, tropicals took over the dining room. My poor husband has to duck through them to get to his seat.

My cat loves it though. I didn't fill the bottom because she is too easily tempted to gnaw on many types, so she found an empty corner in a tray.

I have blooms too - had to bring the Bougainvillia in.

Some of them haven't had their grooming after winter - please excuse the dead leaves.

Outside the roses are still blooming. I hope the fruit trees are ok with this year's fruit. Too early to tell. But things are doing pretty well. It was just a lot of work!

 

[Goodbook]

My friend is hinting that I should have more chickens after Mary got savaged by the dog next door and only Martha is left.

 

[~Anastasia~]

My friend is hinting that I should have more chickens after Mary got savaged by the dog next door and only Martha is left.

Poor Mary - I'm sorry to hear that.

Chickens don't usually like to be alone. But introducing a new one can cause conflict too. I usually like the calmer breeds where they get along better.

Hoping to get a couple of silkies in a week or so, to raise babies for me soon.

 

[Goodbook]

Poor Mary - I'm sorry to hear that.

Chickens don't usually like to be alone. But introducing a new one can cause conflict too. I usually like the calmer breeds where they get along better.

Hoping to get a couple of silkies in a week or so, to raise babies for me soon.

I know. Martha is spoiled though. Mum gave her an epsom salt bath yesterday.

 

[Goodbook]

Have now employed some worms to work in my garden making fertiliser for me.
They arrived yesterday.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I need to dig a little pit to put my worms in. They've been in bins in the garage, but hubby wants to space. It's so mild here, I think they'll be fine in the ground - mostly I have to protect them from drowning and birds.