Fresh Manure Brings Bad Odor and More Weeds

I had a wonderful trip to the Grand Canyon over the Thanksgiving holiday. Unfortunately I came back to a smell house because my father-in-law, the dairyman, decided to put fresh dairy manure on the fields on the windward side of our house. Not only is this a nasty smelling mess it's also likely to generate a lot of weeds.


Most people are familiar with animal manures being very high in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium which are all required for plant growth. They are also high in organic matter which improves soil structure and water holding capacity. So one would think I should be perfectly happy that my father-in-law added dairy manure to our fields and they should be very productive next year. However, my experience over the past 23 years has been everywhere I put dairy manure in my garden I fight more weeds than produce vegetables or nice flowers. I've also heard my share of people in this community brag about the free dairy manure they spread on areas where they wanted lawn only to find out they got nothing but weeds. The problem with the manure is it wasn't properly composted before it was applied and that is exactly the case with the manure in the fields around my house.

Proper composting of animal manures requires piling it up in an area with a mixture of dry organic matter such as straw, autumn leaves, or other dead non-diseased plant residues. When mixed together and allowed to sit the bacteria in the piles works on breaking down the organic matter. During this process the pile gets very hot. Once this pile reaches a peak temperature in the center it should be stirred up to allow materials on the outside of the pile to also break down and cook. The heat from this decomposition process is hot enough to kill most weed seeds and insures that nutrients aren't tied up in the organic matter or bacteria once the compost is added to the soil. Also completely composted manure and organic matter has a much more pleasant odor.

If you don't have space for composting animal manure get it from a reputable garden center of dealer who has thoroughly composted the manure. Many communities don't allow composting or the application of fresh animal manure because it can leach into the local watershed causing environmental problems. In this case you will have to purchase your manure from a garden center which should only be getting it from sources that thoroughly compost it.

If you choose to compost manure yourself, check the Internet for proper ways to thoroughly compost it. There are lots of resources. Manure can be a good way to add organic matter soils in arid regions such as the Great Basin. These soils are typically low in organic matter. However, thoroughly composted manure can be a blessing but fresh manure can be a curse. My father-in-law cursed our whole property. Worse yet he's been doing so for years because that's the way his daddy did it and his son (my husband) will continue to do it. They don't readily listen to anyone who has a better idea. They claim the weeds can be taken care of by using 'Roundup Ready' seed but if you look at the photo at the top of this post you will see the results of 'Roundup Ready' corn. This field was treated with Roundup when the corn was a few inches tall. Between those rows of corn stubble and piles of manure are the residues of last season's weeds. Yes, the Roundup knocked back the weeds enough that the corn was able to out compete the weeds but no more Roundup was applied when the corn grew taller and made subsequent herbicide applications impossible. More weeds came up and even though they were shaded and somewhat stunted they still produced viable seed. The fresh manure in those piles will only add to the seed bank and some will blow onto my garden where I've stopped using animal manure. So I'll spend more time weeding than enjoying the fruits of my gardening.

Overdue Greenhouse Faucet Repair

This post isn't the informational post that I intend to do for my blog but I couldn't help but develop a story around my experience of the day. Today I finally got my husband to relent and fix my greenhouse faucet.

I had a greenhouse built 14 years ago so I could propagate plants that were more appropriate to the growing conditions I have here in the Great Basin than the plants available at the local retail nurseries or garden centers in the big box stores that have sprung up like weeds in the past couple of decades. The past couple of winters have paid a toll on the plumbing in this greenhouse and the faucet has been leaking and creating an enormous puddle. I've been after my husband to either let me hire a plumber or have one of his workers fix it. Since we farm and the work is never done, fixing the faucet has been on the "to do" list for over two years.

Finally the level to turn in the faucet "froze" up so I could turn it off (see picture below).

So finally my husband sent a worker to fix it. The first task was getting the water off to the greenhouse. This entailed finding the right valve to turn off. However, when we opened the box where the valves are located we could find them through all the murky water that had collected from the artificially high water table created by continuous flow of water from the leaky faucet (see picture below).

The next task to get all the hoses off the faucet. This will be no easy task since they are now so slimy it's hard to get grip on them to unscrew them from the faucet (see picture below).

After getting the hoses off it's time to dig up the faucet. Unfortunately the trees from the neighbors tree line are enjoying the leaky faucet too (see picture below).

The faucet still isn't fixed and it may take days to do it. The moral of this story is you may be able to save time is if you don't keep putting of that pesky little chore until next year.

Nice Crop of Fall Weeds May Become Fire Hazard Next Summer

Wow! The winter annual weeds have come up here in Northern Nevada and my yard now is a lawn of cheatgrass and mustard weed. It looks pretty now but it won't be fun next spring and by June if I don't have them cleared out I will have a real fire hazard on my hands. I think I'll experiment with some herbicidal soap since I have a neighbor who is certified organic and I can't spray any chemical herbicide near his property and the weeds know no boundaries. If I can kill some of them now maybe I can get a head start on my spring weeding.

Winter annual weeds germinate in the fall and this year they're doing exceptionally well because we had record rainfall in early October. Here in Fallon, Nevada where I live and garden we had just over 2" of moisture which is about half of what we normally receive for an entire year. Half of a year's precipitation in only three days' time! Wow! I wonder if we are going to have a record year or the rest of the year is going to be exceptionally dry.

Regardless of whether we have an exceptionally dry winter or a wet one I better take try to reduce my weed population now. Herbicidal soap kills weeds by destroying the cuticle, thus desiccating them when they lose control of moisture lost to the atmosphere. It works best on annuals because they don't have the extensive root system or any rhizomes with leafy shoots that can be missed by the spray. It also works best if on seedlings because they don't have a well developed root system to sustain them. In theory if I can burn off the leaves and prevent the cheatgrass and mustard developing a good root system before the ground freezes I may be able to kill most of them and reduce the seed bank produced next year.

So today I started spraying them and if it works I should notice wilting leaves by tomorrow. I only sprayed a small patch and have just over an acre to go. I don't want to put too much effort into spraying unless it looks like it's going to work. Stay tuned for progress on this project.