Tino gets to the bottom of the greatest garden ingredient – manure, and lets gardeners know which poo is best for you.
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Manures can be really variable, in both their nutrient values and their suitability for your garden, depending on the animal of origin, what they’ve been fed, how old or ‘aged’ the product is, whether it’s been blended with straw or sawdust and what you’re trying to do with the poo.
Manures can be broadly classified into two sperate groups – hot and cold.
A ‘hot’ manure is one that is higher in nutrients, that, if used fresh on the garden can burn plants.
Cold manures include sheep droppings, cow pats, and pellets from llamas, alpacas and goats, and they are regarded as “cold” because they are lower in nutrients than their hot cousins.
All manures, whether hot or cold, should be aged before being added to the garden.
Horse, sheep and cow manures are often high in weed seeds, so aging these for some months before applying to garden beds prevents the spread of unwelcome plants.
There’s a couple of different ways of aging manures, whether hot or cold. It can be left to sit, covered with a tarp or similar and over time the nitrogen content ‘volatilizes,’ meaning it converts to a gaseous form and enters the atmosphere, leaving the poo cooler than when it was first deposited, and safe to use in the garden. The other method is composting, piling up the manure with layers of carbon-rich materials, keeping moist and aerated until it’s black, crumbly and ready to roll.
Manures can be added to gardens when beds are being prepared, and throughout the growing season as required. They can also be made into a tea to add a bit of life and some nutrient to soil. Using a permeable bag or shade cloth, add a few handfuls of your preferred poo, tie the top, and submerge in a big bucket of water for several hours. Once steeped, this mixture can be diluted further with water until it is the colour of weak tea, and applied to pots and plants.
Poo Safety – When collecting, storing or handling manures, especially fresh, it’s important to be aware of potential risks involved. It’s a good idea to wear gloves when dealing with bird and pig droppings, and it’s a great idea to wear a face mask and eye protection is dust is present, as it often is when clearing out an aviary, pigeon loft or chook coop. And give vegies a good wash before you gobble them up. Although the risk of getting crook is low, bird and pig droppings can contain E. coli and even Salmonella, so it’s better to be poo safe than sorry.
Regardless of what you’re growing, there is a perfect poo for you and your garden – from soil improvement and conditioning to free fertiliser, there is nothing that good poo can’t do!
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25 Comments
I age the horse manure in the bag and another benefit of this method when holes are made is if the bags are standing on dirt, the worms will move in and make min worm farms which also lets you know when the worm drench is no longer active
Haha 😂😂 thanks for getting to the "bottom" of this.
Great video! But I can't believe you forgot Rabbit manure! Best stuff ever!
What about vegans, can you use their poo? haha
If only we would stop believing we need shit from exploited animals to grow plants. Humanure or compost will do. Use your own damn poo and leave animals alone.
Really very helpful information regarding these manures. You have just answered some of my doubts over different types, esp the pig manure which seems to be blended in a lot of compost at one of our local garden suppliers.
Heyy I'm vegan and I consume mainly kale lettuce and fruits , so can I use my human feces as manure since I only consume plant matter 🙏🤔???
Hi, my10years kid rescued a rabbit last year,which poo all the time and she is a free range rabbit, all our plants stay in the exercise pan instead🤣hope her poo at least can make up something for those poor caged plants🤩
you forgot the most valuable of all. Humanure! hot compost it and let it sit for at least a year. This way you're not ruining all that precious fresh water.
Nice 👍👍
Thanks for great info. I am very worried about persistent broad leaf herbicides like "Grazon" in manures. They persist in pasture, manures, and compost for upto 2 years and they are garden killers. Fortunately they are soluble in water and unstable due hydrolysis and microbial activity. I roll down manure bags and pull wide open with 2 hands. Then use a garden fork to make holes in sides and base of bag. Then add a handful of sugar and bore water until it flows freely out of the holes. Sugar and water are repeated every week or 2 for 4 or more months. Sugar energizes the microbial activity and with water they are removed by flushing, breakdown, and time. Water is still added every week or 2. After 4 months peas are planted in the top of the bags. No sugar is added after peas are planted. When the bags are full of healthy compost worms and under the bag is alive with worms then I know that there is no trace of any wormers. When pea growth is vigorous and normal then I know that there is no trace of herbicides. Only after passing these 2 tests safe manure is added to my large mesh compost bins. My compost bins are always surrounded by composting bags of manure awaiting testing. Composting in the bag is cheap and easy and a great way to collect compost worms.
I'm from the US, what is chook?
What about medication given to the animal… Is this a concern?
Didn't you just warn us what could happen if we don't wear gloves???????
Excellent video!!
What is manure better for plants in the proteaceae family cow or sheep
Thanks for the help 👍
Seeing we have 4k sheep, it'll be nothing but pewep for me….
🐑💨💩
Thanks Tino for this great video.
Great poo video, Tino. I bought a big bag of chook pellets and did all my fruit trees, pot plants the other day. Oh my goodness, that thing stinks so bad LOL
Has it Sheep manures good option dor lawns as top dressing ??
Carnivorous poo such as cat & dog, pig & human to avoid.
Chicken & Pigeon are actually carnivorous just as cat & dog, why is OK?
Composting does not get rid of worming treatments from he animals do your research before disseminating information that is factually incorrect
Great video! Thanks
I’ve been seeing a lot of info on sheep manure for cannabis grows what’s your opinion?