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Re: Manure

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

On the compost list, Kelly Slocum of Worm Digest magazine noted that one
type of vermicide would break down to non-toxic levels within two weeks, and
that also could be leached from the manure by watering in a short period.

She has previously mentioned pre-composting the manure, which otherwise can
heat up and kill worms thermally; such a pre-composting will generally also
take care of most chemical vermicides, if carried on for a good month, with
regular turnings of the pile etc.

Re antibiotics, we should remember that many of them originate in soil
microbes, and thus are broken down more or less naturally in a compost pile
anyway---(the concentrations may not be natural but the compounds themselves
are...)

Again, if you can age the manure and especially compost it properly prior to
use, it will most likely be fine for worms and other soil organisms....

However if it refuses to compost, that would certainly disqualify it for any
soil application, in my opinion.

In the old JI Rodale tome, The Complete Book of Composting, the early
injunctions of the Talmud against raw manure are given, with the quote, "Do
not use your manure until sometime after the outcasts have used theirs."

Raw manure is forbidden in organic production when applied less than four
months prior to the planting of a food crop.

So, when in doubt, check out the specific chemicals that may be in your
manure; check with the veterinarian and the pharmaceutical company as well
as other sources, for some idea of the break down profile; and age that
compost well!

Frank---squirrels and birds apply manure to his piles, as do worms and the
usual panoply of wee beasties of the soil---but he uses no great beast's
manure these days, it being unnecessary---my neighbors bring me their yard
wastes!!
-----Original Message-----
From: JJLipe@aol.com <JJLipe@aol.com>
To: sqft@listbot.com <sqft@listbot.com>
Date: Sunday, May 16, 1999 5:54 PM
Subject: Manure


>Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
>I recently read that horse/cow manure will kill earthworms in your garden.
I
>believe it was because of antibiotics that the animals may have been given.
>Does anyone know anything about this??
>
>Thanks,
>Juliana
>New sqfter, Zone 8
>
>
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