[markp76]

Now i dont know if this is true or not but i was talking to our allotment/farm owner today who's heavily in to the biodynamic way of growing, we started talking about the merits of horse muck and he actually said that cow muck is better for root veg and brassicas as it has 40% {or there abouts} more nitrogen content than the horse poop, is this true? He said horse mucks great for top growth, fruit and flowers but he'd use cow every time if he had the choice.

[peapod]

Not sure about the nitrogen content of either to be honest...but every lotty owner I have spoken to on our site, and that includes 30+ year old holders, uses horse muck.

No-one has ever said that one is better than the other, but I dont see a problem with any of my root crops.  My swedes are huge, and my spuds have been great, and Ive used good old horse manure.

I'll be interested to hear more, but I would also be worried about the amonopyryllid (or whatnot) that I would assume would still be around in cows muck much more than horse.

[Zippy]

I use horse muck in preference to cow muck because:

I am friends with the farm Manager at the local organically managed Duchy Agricultural College and he has horses who are well maintained and well treated, and;

I am opposed to using cow muck because of the mass production and destruction of cattle in the interests of the milk and meat market. I prefer my manures to be humanely sourced.

I'm not getting at anyone or being holier than anyone else; its just my reasoning behind my choice.

[JayG]

An interesting analysis of different manures from right under your very nose Mark (and you don't even have to sniff it!) 

http://www.allotment-garden.org/fertilizer/npk-manures-compost.php

[compostqueen]

I like horse muck as it's generally easier to shift than cow muck which is extremely heavy.  I use both when I can get either 

[Trillium]

My mum, who learned from her mum in Europe, prefers cow muck for most veg. We're talking humanely raised, organic cow muck here.
But if you don't have any of your own, then take what you can get. All I can get now is fresh chicken muck each fall (delivered free by my kind neighbour). It's quite rich (had an awful lot of 7 ft tall plants this summer) and I'd prefer cow muck, but beggars can't be choosers. I get the light, pebbly stuff from my neighbour and the day he delivers is the day it gets spread everywhere because it inevitably rains the next day and then the stuff weighs a ton. 

[Fisherman]

Different manures can be used for different crops dependent on the plants nitrogen requirements. However its rare to have the luck of being able to choose between manures because of their unavailability. Manure nitrogen levels will also be affected by the bedding content so may not always be as strong as quoted. You can't really go wrong with either cow or horse manure assuming it is good quality and well rotted. Don't use it on carrot and parsnip beds as the high nitrogen levels tends to make the roots fork.

Horses for courses really

[DD.]

I think it's more the lumps that make root veg fork, but whatever it is, they don't need too much manure anyway. I don't really understand the comment about using the higher N manure on root veg anyway, as surely this would encourage more top growth.

[nipper31]

I'm really confused with all the advice  given about fertilisers 

I don't understand NPK ratio's and all that, sorry for being thick !

Is there a list of which fertiliser you use for specific crops? I have been using farmyard manure, BFB and bagged compost all over my plot. Just sprinkled lime on one bed where I'm putting a few spring cabbages this month.

ANY help will be most appreciated, thanks 

[potatogrower]

I am opposed to using cow muck because of the mass production and destruction of cattle in the interests of the milk and meat market. I prefer my manures to be humanely sourced.

I would agree. Use horse manure where possible. today's method of producing milk and meat don't look that good so i wouldn't use it if traces of chemicals and compounds can be found in the cow's manure despite the tight regulation. With all the scare surrounding Beef meat, i would preferably steer clear of it, best used for methane production for eco fuel.

[arugula]

I don't really understand the comment about using the higher N manure on root veg anyway, as surely this would encourage more top growth.

That's what I thought when I read that... 

[JayG]

I'm really confused with all the advice  given about fertilisers 

I don't understand NPK ratio's and all that, sorry for being thick !

Is there a list of which fertiliser you use for specific crops? I have been using farmyard manure, BFB and bagged compost all over my plot. Just sprinkled lime on one bed where I'm putting a few spring cabbages this month.

ANY help will be most appreciated, thanks 

Don't worry Nipper; you are doing nothing wrong as far as I can tell!

In general, Nitrogen is needed to promote leafy growth, Phosphorus for flowers and good root development, and Potassium for general health as it is an important constituent of plant cells and is more likely to be deficient than calcium (which is also important, but less soluble than potassium.) A truly "balanced" fertiliser therefore has equal proportions of all 3 of these "essential" elements and is expressed as a ratio of the percentage by weight of each (eg 7:7:7 for growmore.)

Manure helps to improve the structure of the soil, retain moisture and therefore nutrients, boosts the worm poulation, and supplies some nutrients (including trace elements)

Additional fertilisers like pelleted chicken manure, growmore, BFB and the like are useful in boosting the fertility of poor soils (particularly light, sandy soils.)

They are all good general purpose fertilisers and you don't really need to worry too much about the differences between them other than perhaps to not overdo the PCM on root crops as it tends to contain a bit more nitrogen than the others and could promote too much leafy growth at the expense of root development.

Growing parsnips and carrots in newly manured ground does increase the tendency to fork, and liming soil prior to growing potatoes does increase the likelihood of scab.

Other than that, manure is a great soil additive for all soils, and additional fertilisers are very unlikely to do more harm than good when used as per instructions.

Hope this helps! 

[markp76]

only just had chance to catch up with my post thanks for all the interesting replies folks, i must add the the cow muck comes form a organic heard that are on the farm next door to our plot so no problems with animal welfare there :-)