Farm manure raises acidity

Discussion in 'Compost, Fertilisers & Recycling' started by jineu21, Sep 18, 2010.

  1. jineu21

    jineu21 Apprentice Gardener

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    Does farm manure raise acidity of the soil?

    Thanks.
     
  2. Aesculus

    Aesculus Bureaucrat 34 (Admin)

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    I'm pretty sure it does a tiny bit as it rots down but then again so do allot of other things such as bark chippings i dare say that it doesn't effect the acidity all that much but maybe over a number of years it might be a good idea to have a check and then address the problem with lime or something to raise the ph again
     
  3. daitheplant

    daitheplant Total Gardener

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    Fresh manure would becaause of the urine in it. Well rotted manure should be fairly neutral I would think.:gnthb:
     
  4. Makka-Bakka

    Makka-Bakka Gardener

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    Stable manure certainly is very acid, just leave an ordinary spade or fork in it overnight and see!

    Also do not use lime after applying manure, you lose all the nitrogen!

    Cheers!
     
  5. Kristen

    Kristen Under gardener

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    Manure will only raise the acidity if used repeatedly (well, I suppose if you put a mountain load on that would be equivalent!).

    On vegetable patches Lime is traditionally used before the Brassica crop in the rotation to reduce the acidity - thus combating the effect of year-on-year manuring. As Makka-Bakka says don't put Lime on at the same time as Manure - it converts the Nitrogen in Ammonia gas which will just "float" away ...

    Use a soil tester before using Lime to see how acid your soil is, and thus how much lime you need
     
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