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Webster, NY

This weekend I moved about 2 tons of manure into the patch for next year. I'll be adding composted leaf mulch in the spring. Should I get a soil sample in the spring before adding anything else? Is there something that most people add all the time, every year? Thanks for the info...

Dave

11/24/2003 7:20:54 AM

Brillion Wisconsin

I would add the leaf mulch in fall along with the manure. Most growers get a soil test done in fall and spring then add stuff after the results of the test are back.

11/24/2003 8:55:14 AM

Utah

typically how many yards are there in a ton ?

11/24/2003 10:24:56 AM

Webster, NY

I usually add leaf mulch in the spring, because the town sets it out for residents for free and I get as much as I want.

How many yards in a ton? Judging from when I moved 6 yards of topsoil earlier this year, I would say about 6 to 8 (I'm estimating).

11/24/2003 11:00:51 AM

Webster, NY

Generally, dry manure contains 2 to 3 cubic yards per ton
as per this website.

http://cetulare.ucdavis.edu/pubgrape/ng797.htm

11/24/2003 11:03:51 AM

Utah

thanks...
well i have added 36 yards off horse manure to my patch in the past two of weeks... or 15 tons (+ or - a couple) ... no wonder i'm still sore. :)

11/24/2003 1:50:53 PM

Webster, NY

g1t, nice job. How big of a patch does that cover? I have 2 300 sq ft area's and I divided mine into 2 batches. So, about 3 - 4 yards of manure per area.

11/24/2003 3:25:26 PM

Kenyon, Mn.

I would like to say here: BEWARE of the mulch,compost that towns set out "free" for residents, A fellow master gardener hauled a few truckloads of this free compost to a local town hall to make a flower bed planting, and all that grew there for two years was pigweed and some misc. weeds, it tested as having enormous amounts of herbicides and phospherous

11/24/2003 5:05:55 PM

Webster, NY

Every year the town collects the leaves that residents rake to the bottom of the yards. They put them in large mountain like piles and let them decompose. After a few years, they put it out for residents. Do you think this is all right? I haven't had any problems growing other things in it, and I use it as mulch around all the flower beds.

11/24/2003 7:19:47 PM

[email protected]

Hey Mr. B,

That compost must have been from grass clippings right? I'm curious if you know which herbicide it tested positive for. Leaf compost shouldn't contain herbicide residue unless the towns residents really had it in for their trees.

Personally I think municipalities are going to have to start testing & certifying the purity of their compost. If not, the time will come when they are held liable for their output. They came dangerously close in California when Dow Corporation's clopyralid herbicide was found in grass clipping compost last year. It says all over the label that clopyralid treated lawn clippings have to be composted for one full year or more. But I don't know of many muni's around here that take that long any more. Dow could (and should) have put up a stink. But they folded like a cheap umbrella under the political pressure. I feel the liability rested on the poor quality composting operators.

Interesting dilema.

Steve

11/24/2003 9:43:23 PM

Kenyon, Mn.

Steve, not sure what the herbicide was, will try to contact the lady and get that info, I can say though that it was mostly yard clippings, some leaves and wood chips, probably would have made better mulch! But I have seen some horrible compost coming out of these muni's and you are right,they should have to test,certify and be held liable. And the very fact that the muni's don't take a year, coupled with poor operations, well most people are going to look at this crap and see that they don't want it, maybe the bad texture is a good thing, because you sure can't tell what chemical soup is hiding inside, I can't help but think though of the ones who are not as expeirenced, this lady, she was so humililated, trying only to plant a flower garden for her town hall, set out her own, very well tended for bedding plants, and they all withered and died

11/25/2003 8:23:56 AM

Indiana

I just wish my town would even think about composting.
Steve

11/25/2003 8:40:02 AM

Webster, NY

To the best of my knowledge, no grass clippings go into this pile, just leaves during the fall cleanup. I will try to get more information and let you know. Thanks for all the info...

Dave

11/25/2003 8:53:44 AM

Kenyon, Mn.

Dave , this is not to say that all muni compost is bad, have it tested, or grow a variety of plants in pots indoors this winter, and if they make it....

11/27/2003 7:21:34 PM