I have a nice area next to my chicken coop that I plan on planting a vegetable garden this spring. I mulched and dumped many fall leaves from a large maple tree there this fall. I have raw horse manure I was going to pick up this week. Is it to late to spread it out now? I also have a large supply of white fish meal. I do not think my compost bin will be ready this year.
What can I do now to help prepare the space?
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Laurel leaf
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rainbowgardener
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There is really no way to answer questions like that without knowing where you are and what your climate is like. Please change your profile or your signature line to show your location. And welcome to the Forum! 
In general, people lay down manure in the fall, minimum 3 months before you will be planting, preferably a bit more. Fresh manure can be too N heavy and burn plants and it also can have lots of weed seeds and even some pathogens. If you don't have long enough before planting, you can put the manure in the compost pile. Mix it in with a lot of other stuff and let it break down and then it will be wonderful stuff for your garden.
In general, people lay down manure in the fall, minimum 3 months before you will be planting, preferably a bit more. Fresh manure can be too N heavy and burn plants and it also can have lots of weed seeds and even some pathogens. If you don't have long enough before planting, you can put the manure in the compost pile. Mix it in with a lot of other stuff and let it break down and then it will be wonderful stuff for your garden.
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Laurel leaf
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Cool. I updated my profile.
Thanks for your reply. I was curious about how long it would rake for manure to break down enough to be plantable. 3 months will still work, although I'm sure the fall would have been ideal. What do you think about the white fish meal. I know rose gardener love it but have not found much info on it in vegetable gardening.
Thanks for your reply. I was curious about how long it would rake for manure to break down enough to be plantable. 3 months will still work, although I'm sure the fall would have been ideal. What do you think about the white fish meal. I know rose gardener love it but have not found much info on it in vegetable gardening.
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DoubleDogFarm
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What I have read, fish meal is high in nitrogen , phosphorus and low in potassium. There is also a concern with heavy metals/ pesticides. More so for leafy greens. What label are you buying.Laurel leaf wrote:Cool. I updated my profile.
Thanks for your reply. I was curious about how long it would rake for manure to break down enough to be plantable. 3 months will still work, although I'm sure the fall would have been ideal. What do you think about the white fish meal. I know rose gardener love it but have not found much info on it in vegetable gardening.
Eric
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Laurel leaf
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I probably need to examine the ingredients more carefully. This isn't a specific brand, I work on an Alaskan Pollock processor vessel and brought a bunch home last season. I have about five hundred pounds of this stuff. I do know that this product is primarily used for eel and fish farm foods in Asia.
When you use any organic fertilizer the NPK will rarely total 20%. Nitrogen in fish emulsion is about 5%, chicken manure is around 3%, blood meal 15%
However, most of the NPK, is bound or in a form that must first be converted by the soil organisms into a form that is readily available to plants. So when you use an organic fertilizer you are feeding the soil, which in turn will slowly release nutrients to the plants. When you use synthetics you are feeding the plants directly since the synthetic NPK is in a readily available form to the plants.
Most organic fertilizers which contain nitrogen from animal sources like manures are in a bound form and not all of it is available readily. The time of application matters as well since the microorganisms in the soil are more active when the weather is warm and will release nutrients faster than when the weather is cold.
Soil microorganisms consume the nitrogen and carbon from organic sources such as manures, composts and tillage and use it to maintain their populations and when those organisms die the nutrients stored in their bodies are released to the surrounding soil to be consumed by other organisms and plants. So if you don't wait a little while between applying manures or composts, young seedlings will be competing with the soil organisms for nitrogen at a time when they most need it.
Other elements phosphorus, sulfur, etc go through a similar process. Minerals and trace elements usually are present in the rocks the soil was originally made up of and are required in trace amounts.
That is why there is such a push to go organic. Organic sources contain low NPK but the fillers are usually also organic things like composts, such as composted manure. The organic materials feed the soil while synthetics will be more available to the plants in the short run.
Synthetics, in the long run make for lazy soil organisms. Because nature always tries to use the most efficient method to go from A to B and always strives for balance. If there is readily available NPK to plants there is also readily available NPK to soil organisms so they stop making their own and get very dependent on the synthetics. But over application can cause other issues and toxicities.
Too much phosphorus interferes with the availability of micronutrients like zinc. A high phosphorus on a soil test can mean two things, either more phosphorus was added usually over a period of time than was needed or since the soil test indicates total phosphorus in the soil, not just available phosphorus, and if the number is persistently high without the addition of any more phosphorus, then most of the phosphorus is probably in a bound form and it can take years to correct it.
The imbalance can easily occur with synthetics over time since their NPK is higher, but organic sources can also cause the same issues as well as pollution as the excess elements from either source leaches into the ground water, streams and oceans.
So even if you are using an organic fertilizer or even if you are using synthetics it pays to also add organic composts to feed the soil. For a new garden, I would also get a soil test and ask for organic recommendations so you only apply what is needed. Since organics take awhile to become available and the availability varies with the seasons, it may take about 3 years to get the soil up to a point where you continue to feed the soil and the soil in turn feeds the plants and becomes more self-sustaining. As long as inputs and outputs are balanced. The first couple of years while you are building the soil the results may not be as good as with conventional farming methods but will pay off in the long run.
Tillage also matters. Whether organic or conventional farming, mechanical tilling will unearth and disturb the soil web and kill off some microorganisms. It is more noticeable with conventional farms that use synthetic fertilizer and mechanical tillers since they start off with a smaller microbial colony to start with. After a field has been planted though the soil microbe populations recover regardless of which system is used.
If you are starting with a soil that is not in balance from the outset it may take a little longer. It is very hard with organics to leave something out.
If the phosphorus levels are already high the only zero phosphorus source is blood meal. If you are adding composts though you are still adding some phosphorus.
If your pH is already 8.0 you may not want to use chicken manure which probably comes from laying hens that are given extra calcium to make thicker eggshells. What goes in comes out eventually. Chicken manure can raise the pH even higher and make the soil even more alkaline.
Even composts are not neutral. Many of them are in the alkaline range when tested. But the good thing is that the organic matter in composts help to buffer the soil so it behaves more neutrally. However, I would not try to plant blueberries, gardenias, or other acid loving plants under those conditions.
https://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/0 ... -pollution
https://aggieturf.tamu.edu/files-2005/ph ... Provin.pdf
https://www.lundproduce.com/N-P-K-Value- ... thing.html
https://extension.psu.edu/agronomy-guide ... 1-2-14.pdf
However, most of the NPK, is bound or in a form that must first be converted by the soil organisms into a form that is readily available to plants. So when you use an organic fertilizer you are feeding the soil, which in turn will slowly release nutrients to the plants. When you use synthetics you are feeding the plants directly since the synthetic NPK is in a readily available form to the plants.
Most organic fertilizers which contain nitrogen from animal sources like manures are in a bound form and not all of it is available readily. The time of application matters as well since the microorganisms in the soil are more active when the weather is warm and will release nutrients faster than when the weather is cold.
Soil microorganisms consume the nitrogen and carbon from organic sources such as manures, composts and tillage and use it to maintain their populations and when those organisms die the nutrients stored in their bodies are released to the surrounding soil to be consumed by other organisms and plants. So if you don't wait a little while between applying manures or composts, young seedlings will be competing with the soil organisms for nitrogen at a time when they most need it.
Other elements phosphorus, sulfur, etc go through a similar process. Minerals and trace elements usually are present in the rocks the soil was originally made up of and are required in trace amounts.
That is why there is such a push to go organic. Organic sources contain low NPK but the fillers are usually also organic things like composts, such as composted manure. The organic materials feed the soil while synthetics will be more available to the plants in the short run.
Synthetics, in the long run make for lazy soil organisms. Because nature always tries to use the most efficient method to go from A to B and always strives for balance. If there is readily available NPK to plants there is also readily available NPK to soil organisms so they stop making their own and get very dependent on the synthetics. But over application can cause other issues and toxicities.
Too much phosphorus interferes with the availability of micronutrients like zinc. A high phosphorus on a soil test can mean two things, either more phosphorus was added usually over a period of time than was needed or since the soil test indicates total phosphorus in the soil, not just available phosphorus, and if the number is persistently high without the addition of any more phosphorus, then most of the phosphorus is probably in a bound form and it can take years to correct it.
The imbalance can easily occur with synthetics over time since their NPK is higher, but organic sources can also cause the same issues as well as pollution as the excess elements from either source leaches into the ground water, streams and oceans.
So even if you are using an organic fertilizer or even if you are using synthetics it pays to also add organic composts to feed the soil. For a new garden, I would also get a soil test and ask for organic recommendations so you only apply what is needed. Since organics take awhile to become available and the availability varies with the seasons, it may take about 3 years to get the soil up to a point where you continue to feed the soil and the soil in turn feeds the plants and becomes more self-sustaining. As long as inputs and outputs are balanced. The first couple of years while you are building the soil the results may not be as good as with conventional farming methods but will pay off in the long run.
Tillage also matters. Whether organic or conventional farming, mechanical tilling will unearth and disturb the soil web and kill off some microorganisms. It is more noticeable with conventional farms that use synthetic fertilizer and mechanical tillers since they start off with a smaller microbial colony to start with. After a field has been planted though the soil microbe populations recover regardless of which system is used.
If you are starting with a soil that is not in balance from the outset it may take a little longer. It is very hard with organics to leave something out.
If the phosphorus levels are already high the only zero phosphorus source is blood meal. If you are adding composts though you are still adding some phosphorus.
If your pH is already 8.0 you may not want to use chicken manure which probably comes from laying hens that are given extra calcium to make thicker eggshells. What goes in comes out eventually. Chicken manure can raise the pH even higher and make the soil even more alkaline.
Even composts are not neutral. Many of them are in the alkaline range when tested. But the good thing is that the organic matter in composts help to buffer the soil so it behaves more neutrally. However, I would not try to plant blueberries, gardenias, or other acid loving plants under those conditions.
https://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/0 ... -pollution
https://aggieturf.tamu.edu/files-2005/ph ... Provin.pdf
https://www.lundproduce.com/N-P-K-Value- ... thing.html
https://extension.psu.edu/agronomy-guide ... 1-2-14.pdf
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Laurel leaf
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