Manurers are not all equal

 

 

At this time of year when I am thinking of building new rose beds or revitalizing old ones I think of what kind of soil will grow the best plants.  Of course the answer is soil rich in humus.  What is humus?  Humus is organic material and there is know better way to add organic material to your garden than by adding manure.  Now here at Roses inc. with the stable down the road furnishing quite a lot of the good stuff , manure can be a pretty deep subject. 

 

First, all manure is not the same.  According to Cornell University you should never use the manure from a meat eating animal.  The risk of parasites and disease organisms is too great. Some manurers like that of poultry are very high in ammonia and can burn your plants if you are not careful in its use.  Others like pig, which by the way will and do eat meat, have a very offensive odor that you can't wash off!  While others that are great sources of food for your plants, like rabbit , which has the highest plant food values of any of the common manurers is extremely hard to come by in the quantities needed unless you live in an area where rabbits are raised commercially.  Cow manure though plentiful in farm country is hard to harvest and has the lowest food value of any of the common manurers.   This brings me to good old horse manure.  And even horse manure varies from place to place but remember that stable down the road I mentioned.  The horses there do not eat weeds. In the past I have gotten manure from other stables that the manure was full of thistle and other weed seeds. I know this will not happen now.  The horses are bedded on pine chips which are great for maintaining a PH value that the roses love and horses fed good quality grains  produce good quality, well,you know.  Also since horses have a digestive track that uses a single stomach they have a lot of plant fiber in their manure.  Now, what was humus?

Packaged manure has little if any food value for your roses.  It is heat treated to kill weed seed and the heat kills all of the bacteria, even the good bacteria, in the manure and renders it sterile.  Unprocessed manure has billions of good bacteria in it that serve to break down the elements so they can be taken up by the plants roots and makes your soil a great home for all of the critters from microbes to earth worms.

 

As a service to our customers we offer horse manure for free.  There is a minimal charge for loading it or hauling it to your location.  Call us for more scoop on the poop.  I'm sorry , I guess I am a poet at heart. 

Roses inc Tulsa is the only exclusively rose nursery in Oklahoma.  We put all of our time and efforts into raising high quality garden roses.  You, our customers and friends are the reason we are here and we appreciate your continued loyalty.  If you need anything related to growing roses we hope you will call us first. 

 Mark