Composted manure versus composted leaves and ideal organic levels.

In a message dated 10/19/2003 4:02:22 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
pumpkins-owner@hort.net writes:
should I go with the lower quality (lower quality is cheaper
too).
If you are putting composted manure in your garden, I would go with the best 
you can find. The more nutrients the better. The question of exactly how much 
organic matter should be in your garden is not really clear in my mind. I see 
people putting tons of manure in their garden each year and I see others just 
planting a cover crop and then tilling it in. They both get respectable 
pumpkins. Too much organic matter can be a problem as can too little. In the woods 
of PA there is 5 to 6% organic matter in the soil. Farther to the south there 
is 3% as it breaks down more rapidly in the higher temperatures. The benifits 
of manure and compost are well known. The question is, "How much organic matter 
is enough?" I rememeber hearing from one grower that he put loads and loads 
of manure into his garden. Nothing grew. When he took the temperature of his 
garden he realized that he had created a large compost pile as the temperature 
was around 110 degrees. I would be interested in hearing what people out there 
believe is an upper limit for organic matter and whether it depends on where 
it comes from...compost pile using leaves, using cow manure etc.

Marv in Altoona

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