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TheWaterbug
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How much manure is too much manure?

I'm prepping the pumpkin patch with my broadfork, and soon it will be time to add some amendments to till into each of the 24 planting sites. I was planning to add some steer manure mix ($1/cu ft) and some bagged garden soil ($7.87/3 cu ft), and as always, it's a debate between the size of my garden and the size of my wallet. My native soil is heavy clay, so it drains poorly and compacts easily if I don't amend it heavily. If I mix bagged soil and native soil 50/50, it doesn't even look like I've done anything to it after it's all mixed in.

Then I realized that the garden soil is 2.5x as expensive as the manure per cubic foot. Can I use just straight manure and skip the "soil?" This manure bag fine print says "steer manure mix," and it has the texture of pretty fine compost. It's much finer than the bagged soil, and it smells like poop :D

The manure bag says to spread "1 inch or less" before tilling in, but is there a reason for that particular number? I'm growing pumpkins, so I'll want a lot of nitrogen for the first 6-8 weeks while they grow out their vines.

I can get municipal mulch for free, but that involves a lot of labor and a herniated disc, and the mulch is very coarse. In fact I'm afraid the mulch is net nitrogen consumer if tilled in.

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jal_ut
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I would just put the manure on at the 1" rate and work it in. Be darned if I would buy any of that expensive mix. You could double the amount of that type manure if you want.

Do you dig a pit and mix compost and manure with the soil as you refill it for the pumpkins? Lots of people do that. I never do. Just plant the seed, water, and stand back. You know pumpkin seeds go deep, down to 6 feet,no one ever tills that deep. Don't worry, the roots somehow penetrate the soil and go.

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TheWaterbug
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jal_ut wrote:Do you dig a pit and mix compost and manure with the soil as you refill it for the pumpkins?
I don't really dig and fill; I use the broadfork to break through my hardpan and the compacted sand layer in about a 4' x 4' patch, then I dump whatever amendments on top and run the tiller in a tight, crazy circle until it's all blended in. I'll have to do a YouTube video of that some time :D

Then I smooth it over and put my seeds in.

So at approximately 1" depth, each "pit" would take about a bag of manure mix, which isn't too horrible at $1/bag x 24 sites. I wouldn't even mind $2/site if it would be good for the plants. But I'm not going to pay $5/site just to grow a few pumpkins!

If I were to "over dose" with too much manure, can I compensate for that with the municipal mulch that's too coarse? Would too much N plus an N sink cancel each other out?

I love that root website you linked. One of these days I'm going to have to do a post-mortem on a vine and see how deep they actually grew.

Dillbert
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to amend / improve a heavy clay, use as much 'pure' organic matter as possible.
spoiled hay, straw, grass clippings, well composted sawdust - what 'cha got?

a "soil mix" is only some % of organic, twice as expensive, and who knows what all else they've stuck in.

gypsum is a good additive for breaking down clay - takes time, not an instant fix.

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TheWaterbug
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Dillbert wrote:gypsum is a good additive for breaking down clay - takes time, not an instant fix.
I've read this a few times, so I bought a few bags of gypsum to try this year.

Can I just dump a few handfuls into my pits and till it in like any other amendment?

Also, I tried putting some in a fertilizer broadcaster, and it kept jamming up because the gypsum had rocks and hard clumps in it. It was really awful. Is this normal for bagged, powdered (not pelletized) gypsum? I bought some hardware cloth, with the thought of sieving it before putting it in the spreader, but part of me thinks I shouldn't have to :x

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jal_ut
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I like to check things out on Wikipedia. Good source of info.

Clay

You may also want to look up silt, sand, and soil. Interesting reading.



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