Organic farming always is when you know how to use nature as it is.

As our knowledge of the harmful effects of agricultural chemicals grows, more and more farmers and consumers are rediscovering their organic history, returning to the methods of old, such as plucking insect pests and weeds by hand and hoe, and amending soil with natural fertilizers—compost. The joy in growing your own food is the joy in savoring its delicious flavor and in providing good food for others to enjoy. Discover how to rebuild your garden with an organic foundation and produce the vegetables, fruits and herbs that will nourish your family and the families of those who purchase your produce.
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Manure, Poop, Shit! An organic treat.

Many gardeners use manure instead of processed fertilizers. Manure is the ultimate in organic gardening. It has both advantages and drawbacks. Fresh manure is not recommended. Some people still fertilized their lawns with fresh manure. It smelled, and it burned the lawns because of the ammonia and high concentration of ammonia. Well-rotted manure has been allowed to partly decompose. It loses most of the odor and it won't burn plants. Sheep, cow, chicken and even rabbit manure can be used as a fertilizer once it has been composted. It's often mixed with peat moss to be used as either a soil amendment or a top dressing.

Frequently many people ask questions about the use of animal manures in their gardening schemes. Thousands of years ago, the ancient organic farmers used animal manures as a mandatory and essential agent for soil conditioning and plant fertilization. Today many people are fearful of the use of any animal manures in gardening, due to more and more scary reports of potential diseases. Also there are less farmers today that apply animal manures in their farming techniques, than several hundred years ago. So the world is finding it harder and harder to dispose of animal manures in our society today, than several centuries ago.

 Manure poop shit

Some waste treatment plants burn human excrement or ship it to landfills, which aren’t the most economically or environmentally friendly solutions. But not all poop ends its life by fire or burial. Some human waste ends up in forests and farm fields as the treated, human-feces-based fertilizer known as biosolids. We may find the idea of growing tomatoes with human excrement repulsive. Humans have been repurposing their feces for thousands of years, some more safely than others. Often known by its euphemistic name “night soil,” the most famous example of raw human waste application might be China, where human excrement was used for centuries in an attempt to close the nutrient cycle in their fields.

Manure primarily contains nitrogen, so there may be a need to use additional fertilizers that contain phosphorous and potassium which are both need for plant growth as well as trace elements such as iron and magnesium. In this way it has two advantages, acting as a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer and as a soil builder. It improves soil structure and increases fertility. In addition, the addition of manure helps soil retain moisture. Compacted clay soil greatly benefits by its addition by loosening up the soil structure. It also adds organic matter to the soil which may improve soil structure, aeration, soil moisture-holding capacity, and water infiltration.

 Manure poop shit

Nutrient content of manure varies depending on source, moisture content, storage, and handling methods. When developing a manure by-product market is important to understand that manure is a necessary by-product of the livestock industry and it is the technology involved in the treatment system that determines whether manure is a valuable resource or a costly liability. The simple fact is, untreated manure is simply animal feces while properly treated/processed manure is a value added marketable organic residual. In addition to agriculture, the potential markets for high quality, composted manure products include horticulture i.e. gardening, landscaping, nurseries or topsoil production.

Fresh manures are too strong and raw for most growing plants. It contains a lot of available soluble nitrogen in the form of ammonium or proteins. Most raw animal manures contain the wrong form of nitrogen and the wrong form of bacteria for gardening use, from the original animal's digestive tract. This can burn or kill plants if abused. Compost will never burn or kill plants. Fresh manures also contain too many complex undigested materials like pathogens, or NaCl salts from animal feeds, that may harm plants or soil organisms if not careful. Compost has all these things broken down and digested by aerobic microbes.

 Manure poop shit

Healthy soil is essential for the production of crops used to feed humans and livestock. In addition to providing a stable base to support plant roots, soil stores water and nutrients required for plant growth. Unfortunately, industrial agriculture practices continue to damage and deplete this valuable natural resource. While intensive plowing and monocrop agriculture systems have caused nutrient depletion and wide-scale soil erosion, over-application of fertilizers and pesticides has contaminated our soils and polluted our waterways. Fortunately, many farmers are choosing to use sustainable agricultural techniques such as conservation tillage, crop rotation, and organic fertilization in order to protect our valuable soil resources.

Despite the value of manure as a fertilizer and soil amendment, there are challenges in effectively using manures as fertilizers. Variability in nutrient content and form, which necessitates manure sampling and analysis to determine appropriate rates of application to meet crop nutrient requirements. Manure is not an “off-the-shelf” fertilizer and may not match the crop’s relative requirements. It has low nutrient content per unit weight or volume, which limits the distance which manures can be transported economically. As with any fertilizer, over-application of manures and improper application increases the risk of manure nutrient losses to the environment and deterioration of environmental quality.

Pacu Jaya

Pacu Jaya

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