Top dressing with manure

I always thought the ideal way to use manure in the garden was to dig it in well before planting, and that top dressing was done just because you can't really dig too much when all your established plants are there. My neighbour (who is a far better gardener than me, and considerably older and with much more experience) reckons top dressing is best for a number of reasons. He reckons that it stops the sun baking the soil dry, helping to retain moisture, and also that when you water over it (or it rains) the water picks up nutrients from the manure on its way down to the soil where the plant roots are waiting for it.

What are people's thoughts on this (oh, and I've already preempted the 'its a load of old horse poo line)

Also, most people seem to top dress in autumn or spring. Is there a reason for this? I've just chucked on two sacks of manure just yesterday.

 

Nothing to stop you digging it in, but I think top dressing (as well, if you have to) has all the benefits your neighbour says. I'm a bit sceptical about the nutritional value (there isn't THAT much in manure, compared to, say, Growmore or a liquid feed), and watering ONTO the manure may mean that it doesn't actually soak through to the plant (just something to beware of).

Top dressing tends to dry out, and blow about, and wind up being used for birds nests etc., so may not stay put where you want it :thumb:

I don't top-dress in the Autumn because I want the frost to get to my clay soil and break it up (but I do dig-in then)

When I have pefect, no-dig, soil then no doubt I will just top dress :D

 

Manure is all very well and digging in or surface dressing is OK. The most important (I think) is that the manure is well composted ,because otherwise it could do more harm than good with a high content of weed seeds,m especially things like docks and nettles which are perennial weeds and the very devil to get rid of unless you use chemicals.

If it is well composted then put it on the surface several inches thick, even if your ground is planted put it all around them and then the weeds will be smothered and the soil will benefit from the manure. Best of luck Clueless..

 

Leave it on the top and let the worms do the digging for you.

 

I would suggest that the most important thing is to get the manure on the border. Whether it is dug in or used as a mulch is secondary.

I would agree with Kristen that manure is more of a soil conditioner than a fertiliser.

 

Thanks all.

One question remains if I may. If manure is more of a conditioner than a fertiliser, what natural, non-chemical solutions are there to fertilising the ground? I'm not entirely averse to chemical fertilisers, to be honest I'm a tad lazy and a bit of a cheapskate, and carefully mixing up feed in a watering can every week or so seems like a pricey carry on. What about fish blood and bone? I like anything that I can just chuck on the ground without worrying too much about getting the mix right. What about 'green manure'? I've read promising tales on t'internet about the wonders of clover and alphalpha being dug in.

 

Fish, Blood and Bone is a balanced fertilizer - like Growmore

Bloodmeal & Hoof and Horn are almost pure Nitrogen

Chicken manure Pellets have about twice as much Nitrogen as P & K, followed by Horse, Cow and Pig manure - but the amount of fertilizer they contain, by weight, is relatively small (compensated by putting lots on!)

Bonemeal is almost all Phosphate

Comfrey (a plant which you cut right down, and it regenerates very quickly) is high on Potassium, followed by Sheep manure

 

Thanks Kristen. I'm growing some Comfrey (Bocking 14) especially to use as plant feed, but it is not well established yet.

So can I take it that Fish, Blood and Bone is my best choice for a simple, suit all solution?

I usually use chicken manure pellets, but decided I needed a relatively large amount of manure to improve the soil structure as much as to fertilise it, as it was practically dust before I added the horse manure, and gave a whole new meaning to the term 'free draining' in that it didn't hold the moisture at all. It would be practically bone dry within a couple of hours of a good downpour.

What mineral is it that plants need for flowering? All my stuff tends to grow well, but then struggles to flower. I remember reading that this is a symptom of deficiency of one particular element but I can't remember which one, or which feed is best to replace it.

 

Clueless - you said "what natural - non chemical fertilisers are there?"

Don't confuse fertilisers with insecticides. Chemical insecticides are generally not natural. They are complex artificial chemicals that are not found in the nature, and because of this there is an uncertainty about side effects.

By contrast, purchased chemical fertilisers are natural. The chemicals that you get in (say) a packet of Miraclegrow are the same simple inorganic chemicals that the plant get from the soil and from things like Fish, Blood and Bone. So actually there is nothing unnatural about them. The only difference is their relative concentrations and rate of release.

The mineral that is always quoted to improve flowering and fruiting is Potassium (K) - its the last in the N - P - K ratios quoted on the sides of packets. I say "usually quoted" because I have just been reading this link http://www.adonline.id.au/flowers/the-potassium-myth.php which implies that Potassium primarily affects the movement of water between cells and has no direct influence on flowering, which is a very complex subject. But I suspect that you will get a lot of tomato growers who will tell you it works - so who cares why.

 

Thanks for the info Peter. It's not that I'm wholly opposed to chemical fertilisers, its just that I'm never sure about how much is going in the soil. I know you can over feed with it. I'm more in favour of 'natural' solutions like rotted manure because I know that you can grow many things in neat manure, so you can't really OD on the stuff.

As I understand it, potassium is found in large quantities in wood ash. That being the case my flower beds should be loaded with it, as that's where I always disposed of the ash from my incinerator bin before I stopped using it last year.