Is Pig Manure A Good Fertilizer?

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Pig manure is a product of the processing of all kinds of food in the digestive tract of our "piglets". And where manure is, there is always a question - can it be used as fertilizer? In the case of pig manure, everything is far from so unambiguous - in some cases it is really capable of bringing great benefits, while in others it can cause irreparable harm to plants. So what to do - to resort to his help, or is it still not worth it?

How is pig manure different from other types of manure?

Pig manure differs from manure obtained from other animals primarily in that it contains much larger volumes of acids. This is due to the fact that the digestive tract of pigs is simply unable to break down acids into other useful compounds.

Advantages and disadvantages

Gardeners and gardeners appreciate pig manure for its availability, as well as for its saturation with a number of useful substances. There are especially many nitrogenous compounds in it. In addition, such manure is characterized by impressive porosity and nutritional value, and it is extremely unimportant to let heat through, which is also a plus.

As for the shortcomings, there are not so many of them in pig manure - firstly, it is really too saturated with acids, and, secondly, it is characterized by a longer decomposition period than all other types of excrement.

Features of use

If you use pork manure wisely and carefully, it will only be beneficial. At the same time, both humus and completely or half-rotted manure can be used. In principle, you can use fresh raw materials, but this must be done with extreme caution, and this is usually done either in the fall or in the spring, when garden crops have not yet been planted. If you risk feeding the crops planted on the site with fresh manure, they can get quite serious nitrogen and acid burns, and the soil under these crops will for a long time lose its suitability for their full growth and development. In addition, residues of plant seeds and food contained in fresh manure can severely clog the soil, and it has long been known about parasite eggs that they can pose a serious danger to both people and pets. If suddenly there is a need to urgently fertilize the soil, it is recommended to add a little lime to the fresh manure and combine it with horse or cow manure in equal parts. And mulching the soil with fresh raw materials is generally not worth it!

Half-rotted pig manure is a raw material that has lain from six months to a year. Such manure is much less dangerous for both soil and vegetation, however, when using it, some caution and a reasonable approach will also not hurt, since half-rotted manure is usually still quite moist and is characterized by a fairly decent content of nitrogen and acids. It is suitable for adding to the soil during autumn digging, while its amount should be relatively small.

And the rotted manure that has lain for more than a year is even more useful - it is no longer so oversaturated with nitrogen, most of the acids contained in it quite safely disintegrated into separate valuable elements, the parasites in it died, and the seeds of weed vegetation were thoroughly rotted. As a rule, such manure loses up to fifty percent of its original weight, however, in any case, it continues to be a rather concentrated fertilizer, and therefore it is not worth using more than five to six kilograms of rotted manure per square meter of area. And, of course, after using it, you should not apply nitrogen fertilizers to the soil - the nitrogen contained in the manure will be more than enough!

The best organic fertilizer is definitely humus! And in order for pig manure to turn into this very humus, it must spend more than two years in a compost pit or heap! Such humus is an ideal raw material for fertilizing the soil: it will be guaranteed excellent heat transfer, balanced volumes of nitrogen, the absence of helminths and parasites, as well as impressive friability and a minimum of acids with a maximum of useful trace elements. And in order to speed up the process of obtaining pork humus at least up to one and a half years, you can mix it with horse or cow manure, or add ash or sawdust to it. By the way, pig manure containing sawdust can also be used as bedding for trees! So if you have such raw materials on your site, be sure to try to find a worthy use for it!