Duck manure tea?

[Mark]

Okay, the ducks have their nice penned-in area until I get around to fencing in the garden proper. They have the lawn, their feed bowl, and a 4' plastic kiddie pool to splash around in...which they do with gusto.

Here's the question: As we all know, ducks poop a lot. No big deal, but they also poop in their pool. Again, no big deal: excess rainwater, after filling the 55 gallon barrels I use for watering the garden, flows over and replenishes the pool. BUT...can I use the poopy pool water on my garden like manure tea?

Mark

[shazzbat]

Yes. Just don't drink it like tea. At least not without milk and sugar :-))

Steve

[Frogleg]

Why would you think you couldn't?

[Ray Drouillard]

I would be worried about it being too strong and burning the plants.

In any case, I'm not going to spray it on my lettuce. ;-)

Ray

[Janice]

Bird manure is usually pretty "hot" if you have a compost bin, use it to moisten it should it need it. Otherwise, dump it in a sandy area to drain down, but remember to go out with a shovel in the pen and dig it up from time to time because their poop... and any clay in the soil.. it drawn to the surface and even if it's a sandy mix, it will seal the top layer and it will sour .. so I used to just go out and dig a bit when I saw it getting packed .. when water didn't drain well. Ducks will eat any worms upturned in the process.

Janice

[Frogleg]

Mark is talking about a pondful (kiddy pool, I believe he mentioned earlier) of water with some duck poo in it, not shoveling the manure directly onto his plants. Duck poo in 10-20 gallons of water isn't going to "burn" any plants.

[Mark]

Worried it might be too hot.

[Glenna Rose]

Would this also be true of chicken manure? I've been thinking about manure tea with it since I might not be able to get my usual amount of horse manure this year since time is running out for rototilling it in.

I'd put two or three gallons of manure in a 50-gallon drum. What think you?

Glenna

>

[Frogleg]

Not having any chickens or ducks, I'm spreaking only of what I've read. The caveats about poultry manure seem to be against heaping piles of fresh droppings directly into the garden -- the high nitrogen content may 'burn' plants. It is usually recommended to allow fresh manure to compost before using.

However, these cautions are about piles of manure maybe mixed with a little bedding/straw, not a tiny amount diluted with water. The manure, in and of itself, isn't harmful -- high concentrations of fresh manure may be.

Here's a reference that tells more than anyone needs to know about various manures: