corn questions...

[trunkman]

I got one of my gardens tilled yesterday and made 14 eight foot rows about 30 inches apart for my corn, feels so good getting it planted, I didn't get to plant any last year because I got a late start with my large garden. My question is: I don't want to use chemical fertilizer but I do have some wood shavings spread out in the chicken run that came from cleaning out the coop, I'm wondering if that would be good enough for an all around fertilizer for the corn, or do you think I will have to resort to the chemicals?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd hesitate to use the wood shavings without composting them first. Wood shavings are mostly carbon. When the microbes break down the carbon, they can tie up a lot of the usable nitrogen in the soil. Eventually the nitrogen becomes available for the plants to use, but only after the decomposition process is complete. Corn is a heavy nitrogen user.

 

[The Mama Chicken]

The other problem with using fresh chicken manure on your corn is the risk of disease. Organic guidelines require that it be composted for 120 days for just that reason. It can also burn your plants. I would personally find a good organic fertelizer to use. Another option would be already composted manure, you might be able to get some from a horse stable if you have one nearby.

 

[digitS']

I use an organic "lawn" fertilizer, Trunkman.

It is 8-2-4 and I put it on before planting seed and get it out there again, before any tassels show up in the corn patch.

The corn grows fairly well with it . . . but, the plants seem to get a little nervous when they hear a mower running in the grass nearby.

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

I got one of my gardens tilled yesterday and made 14 eight foot rows about 30 inches apart for my corn, feels so good getting it planted, I didn't get to plant any last year because I got a late start with my large garden. My question is: I don't want to use chemical fertilizer but I do have some wood shavings spread out in the chicken run that came from cleaning out the coop, I'm wondering if that would be good enough for an all around fertilizer for the corn, or do you think I will have to resort to the chemicals?

We always put chicken litter right on the garden and till in in, plant soon after. Have never had a problem. Moma chicken what do you mean by disease? Human disease or crop disease?
I don't think you would get a disease from a crop like corn-lettuse maybe. Don't really know.

 

[The Mama Chicken]

Most chickens carry e. coli and salmonella, even healthy birds. For low growing crops (lettuce, root veggies, etc) the 120 day rule is the norm, for things that fruit higher off the ground (corn, staked tomatoes, etc) 90 days is okay. I put chicken litter on in the late fall and plant in the early spring, just in case. If your crops are going to be eaten by someone with a compromised immune system I would do the full 120 days. That's just me though.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Some success in what you till in may depend on what crops you are growing since some need more nitrogen than others and some are more easily burned by the manure than others, part may depend on how much that litter has aged, and part may depend on how much chicken manure is part of the litter. If it were in the run for a while, I'd think the manure might have washed off or been scratched off and it would be higher carbon content with not a lot of nitrogen-rich manure. Also the concentration of litter in the soil could make a difference. I have no problem turning some non-decomposed mulch under not that long before I plant, but I try to keep the concentration down. I actually try to rake the old mulch up and reuse it as mulch. In my opinion, some high-carbon organic matter in the soil is healthy for the soil. It keeps the right bacteria alive.

Without knowing a whole lot of Trunkman's specifics, I'll give a generic "safe" answer. Based on what I read, I would not do it.

On the disease thing, there are a lot of recommendations out there. I would not worry about "fresh manure" all that much on some things from a disease perspective, like tomatoes or corn that don't touch the soil. But things that I would eat that might touch the soil, like maybe lettuce and other leafy greens that are not cooked or maybe root crops, I'd be more careful.

As an aside, remember that fresh manure can cause scab on potatoes.

 

[trunkman]

That's all good to hear, this garden was started last year, it was a lasagna garden and that is when I put the manure in it, and that must explain why some of my potatoes didn't fair well. The garden has been sitting dormant since last September so I tilled it yesterday, I didn't add any manure, wood chips or anything, just tilled, slightly mounded and planted the corn.
Btw, when I clean out the coop I push all the used litter out in the run and usually let it weather for a couple to a few months before I use it that way the chickens scratched through it quite a bit and it gets exposed to the elements for that amount of time...
I'm glad you all mentioned the disease part of chicken manure, I didn't know, I'll have to be a bit more careful from now on... I'm going to have to add my chicken mixture in the fall instead of spring from now on... Thanks all...

 

[digitS']

Most chickens carry e. coli and salmonella, even healthy birds. . . I would do the full 120 days. That's just me though.

Not just you, TMC.

I was once told by a person in the local Cooperative Extension office that the system never had any real funding until so many people moved back to the country during the Great Depression. Folks were getting sick left and right from food-borne diseases and the government tried to help with information going out on how to be a little safer.

Off-topic: despite the HUGE migration out of Dust Bowl areas and the continuing migration of Black Americans out of the South, the number of people living on farms in 1932 and 1933 actually increased. There was a tremendous movement of people throughout the Depression and food was a strong motivation. The number of family gardens in the cities also exploded in number and continued into WW2.

Lately, CoopEx ratchets up its information on manure and crops after every major disease outbreak. Like to check that out? Do a google search "site:colostate.edu" for e. coli and gardening - now that there has been that recent problem with so many folks getting sick from contaminated melons. You can also check the dates on similar searches like for Arizona's spinach problems in Yuma, Washington State's problem with unpasteurized apple juice and California kind of on-going.

For me, it finally came down to even just adding bagged and composted manure to the compost instead of directly to the garden. The sweet corn was the last place for me to do the direct application, however.

Steve

 

[vfem]

I got one of my gardens tilled yesterday and made 14 eight foot rows about 30 inches apart for my corn, feels so good getting it planted, I didn't get to plant any last year because I got a late start with my large garden. My question is: I don't want to use chemical fertilizer but I do have some wood shavings spread out in the chicken run that came from cleaning out the coop, I'm wondering if that would be good enough for an all around fertilizer for the corn, or do you think I will have to resort to the chemicals?

Here's my suggestion. Chicken manure is hot as stated about, and pine is high in acidity fresh. Throw them into the compost pile, or create one. Let it sit, turn it and wait a good few months or so until the corn is a good size and side dress the corn stalks with it. I have mine set up to do that for my corn now. I have a pile of shavings and chicken manure, plus old leaves, rabbit manure and newspaper I shredded. I will plant my corn on 4/1 and wait a month to side dress mine anyways... then 30 days later I will side dress it again. I'll then start a few pile for the fall. It should feed it and help choke out weeds at the same time. I'll also be weaving pumpkins and squash inbetween my corn stocks and flanking the ends of the rows with sunflowers. Hopefully they will thrive because my last attempt at sweet corn failed and I've done decorative corn and popcorn since and those thrived!