Potatoes and chicken manure pellets

Are dried chicken pellets any good as a potato fertiliser?

 

Well I suppose that's a "Yes and No" answer!

Chicken Manure Pellets are good stuff ... however they are higher in Nitrogen than Potash, and a conventional Potatoe fertilizer will be higher in Potash.

Chicken Manure Pellets NPK is 4 - 2.5 - 2.3
whereas
Potato Fertiliser NPK is 7 - 5 - 12

 

I usually throw a handful or two along the rows at planting and again at earthing up.

I seem to get a reasonable crop without much else in the way of manure or fertilisers.

I was under the impression that high potash was for fruits and flowers.
Although I can see it might be helpful in the latter stages in helping maincrop types ripen up and perhaps improve keeping qualities.

 

Chicken manure pellets do it for my potatoes - and everything else.
But I'm no expert in anything - I'm just a woman growing vegetables :D

 

That is very high in K for spuds

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner John

 

When used for allotment paths, straw from the hen run (enriched with chicken poo) has doubled the size of adjacent spuds.

 

My hens are right next to my veg patch. I have been using shavings for their pen and coup. I heard recently on R2 that shavings strip out Nitrogen from the soil as it degrdes. Now switched to 100% straw!

 

Thanx Zigs, was on here before under name of johnbinks. Couldn't seem to log with that user name though.

 

Chicken pellets for me,started using then 3 years ago and have had some of the best all round crops in that time.Last year I was getting 40/45 potatoes per plant.Out of 110 potatoes planted I got 41/2 bags ,lovely clean spuds.

 

That's very encouraging. I have 4 ex bat hens and I frequently mix their muck in with the top soil in their pen. This is going to fill my raised beds next year or at least mix with the soil in the raised beds. Also I have been using chicken pellets as fertiliser for the last 3 years. Early days yet but things are looking good this year.

 

When I plant my spuds I always put a 50/50 layer of compost and grass clippings mixed with a good handful of poultry manure pellets in the bottom of the trench and set the seed potato on that. Then when I earth up I mix another handful into the soil. I have to say that I always get good results and therefor continue to do it.

 

Have merged the two accounts

 

Its an organic product specific for spuds, I've had good success with it over the years.

I thought spuds needed high K fertiliser? For example, lots of folk line potato planting trenches with Comfrey leaves, also high in Potash ...