Manure on lawns

[Mark Anderson]

The other day I watched an episode of Magnum P.I., a television series that ran in the very early 80s. Magnum P.I. was based in Hawaii. Not to get into any specifics but in this episode Higgens had ordered a pallet of dried manure to place on the lawn to increase nitrogen (as he claimed in the show). At the end of the show they show him shoveling this manure and throwing it right onto the lawn.

Does anyone do this and is this better than the standard weed and feed that you get at the local big box store? I'm a bit curious as to the properties of manure since I'm thinking of experimenting with it as part of my soil mixture in my container garden this year but I don't want to add too much.

[Travis M.]

Manure is better than weed-n-feed.

[Wolf Kirchmeir]

Just make sure it's well rotted, else those seeds that need to pass through the cow's gut to sprout will come up all over your lawn.

[Phisherman]

I tried this ONCE. Never again. I used "mushroom compost" which is rotted horse manure used to grow mushrooms. I introduced a lot of weeds into my lawn that took two years to eradicate. Processed palletized manure is great, if you can find it. I used palletized chicken manure on my lawn with excellent results, but I can not find it for sale anymore. I do use Milorganite (processed sewage) on my lawns.

[sherwindu]

I hear there are some health concerns with Milorganite. It is human fecal material. I think it is banned in some states. I never bought the stuff, but I understand the sellers refuse to list on the bag exactly where this material comes from.

Sherw> >

[presley]

[Warren]

It comes from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District's Jones Island sewer treatment plant. For 35 years I was a proud contributor to it's raw materials.

[sherwindu]

You can be proud of your contribution, but Milwaukee occasionally dumps their raw untreated sewage into Lake Michigan. I fish and boat out of Racine Wisconsin just south of Milwuakee, so I'm not happy with your donation.

Sherw> sherw> >I hear there are some health concerns with Milorganite. It is human fecal

[George.com]

also if it is fresh it will very probably burn your grass

rob

[Chuckie]

Dry chicken manure is very effective it will make the grass greener. It will also make your yard have a very special odor for a while and your neighbors may complain.

[Starlord]

I've used old SM for ages, when I ran my lawn service I'd give lawns a good dose of it, mind you, not coving the grass totaly, but a good amount and then a good soaking of water. Some lawns where the soil was all but used up would come back to life with a nice lawn starting up again. Now out here in the desert where I live, I use it to feed my Iris and my I.Canna and just about anything else I grow.

What's funny about that show, you can only get steer at the big box stores (Eagle hardware,etc.) because the pineapple companys have all rights to that SM that comes from the island based farms. So what people buy over there comes from the mainland.