SuperCorn!!

Last year when I ran out of other organic material to add to my soil, I stumbled onto a great fertilizer for corn (and probably other plants as well).

I had gone to a friend's farm where they had a barnyard full of composted combined droppings of goats, pigs, horses, cows and various poultry, and I took home a load of it, thinking it would be a wonderful addition to the soil where my sweet corn would be planted, but I ran out of the stuff when there were still two rows left to plant. It was getting dark, the seed had been soaking for too long to wait until the next day, and I didn't have time to run to the store for a bag of compost and still get the seed in the ground before dark.

So, not wanting to plant the corn without some kind of fertilizer, I had to come up with a solution on the spot. I ran into the house and grabbed two cat litter boxes that were filled with "Feline Pine" which is basically pine sawdust made into pellets that dissolve when made wet. The cats generally do not poop in the Feline Pine boxes, preferring instead to use the clay or corn litter for that function, however if they do use the Feline Pine for poo, it's a simple matter to remove the lumps and empty the damp sawdust into 5-gallon buckets.

This "cat dust" is what I mixed into the soil in the last two rows, thinking it would likely prevent the corn from even sprouting but feeling reckless and a bit desperate, I took the chance.

A few weeks later the difference in the two areas of corn was astounding!! The cat-dust rows were much taller, much deeper green, and much healthier-looking than the rest of the corn! This continued being the case all the way to harvest time. The cat-dusted corn produced more abundant, much larger, much more juicy-sweet ears than the rest of the plants, which looked stunted by comparison.

Thus I started saving Feline Pine "used" dust in a plastic bin last summer and it's now in the corn patch that was planted in the last two weeks. But this time I added more stuff to the mix; in a wheelbarrow I blended cat dust with composted cow manure, old composted sawdust from a lumber mill, some human urine, sand, ag-lime and kelp meal to make what I think will prove to be an outstanding fertilizer. The corn is now coming up, and I'm anxiously waiting to see how it does... I put beans and squash between the corn too.

Reply to
Pat
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That's funny. I love accidental success stories!

--S.

Reply to
Suzanne D.

Do you find its better to soak corn seeds before planting?

If so, for how long?

Reply to
Mike

I dump the used Feline Pine (generic variety from PetSmart usually) onto my compost pile.

I usually end up having volunteer onions and stuff growing out of my compose, so I had a clue that at least the used FP wasn't *hurting* anything, but it's even better to know that once I start dumping the compost into the garden beds it'll actually jump start stuff I'm planting there.

Way to go!

Nyssa, who has to haul her own trash to the dump, so compostable kitty litter beats gotta- haul-it-to-the-dump expensive litter

Reply to
Nyssa

"Mike" wrote

| "Pat" wrote

| > It was getting dark, the seed had | > been soaking for too long to wait until the next day. | | Do you find its better to soak corn seeds before planting? | | If so, for how long?

You don't have to but it makes the kernels sprout faster. Length of time depends on the temperature. Too warm for too long and they'll ferment. You can start with 24 hours and if it's cool enough, they might not ferment for

72 hours.
Reply to
Pat

I wondered about this myself, I have a lot of dogs and will use the composted waste for flowers but I really don't want to involve myself in the life cycle of parasites, so I don't use it for edibles.

basilisk

Reply to
basilisk

Done any reading about the reasons for not using cat litter?

Reply to
phorbin

"phorbin" wrote

| Done any reading about the reasons for not using cat litter?

Yes I have.

First of all, there are no parasites in cat urine, which is what I used.

Second, my cats are regularly dewormed even through they don't need it because they're indoor-only, so even if I let a bit of their poo slip into the ground outside, it would do no harm.

Third, this substance isn't being used on plants that have edible parts in contact with the soil.

Reply to
Pat

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