Cow dung manure is crucial for enhancing soil fertility, improving structure, retaining moisture, and supplying vital nutrients (NPK, micronutrients) for healthier plants, while also being a sustainable, eco-friendly alternative to chemical fertilizers, reducing pollution, controlling pests naturally, and supporting the carbon cycle. It's vital for organic farming, boosting crop yields, and fostering beneficial soil microbes, but it must be composted first to avoid burning plants with fresh ammonia.
Benefits of Using Cow Dung in Gardening
Cow dung manure not only provides all the required nutrients to your plants but also improves the overall health of the soil. It improves soil texture, promotes the microbes living in the soil, and makes it richer in natural elements.
Cow dung is an excellent organic fertilizer used as a soil amendment, mixed with other organic matter, or applied directly to the soil. Cow dung can be used in composting to create nutrient-rich organic matter that can improve soil health and support healthy plant growth (Nagavallemma et al., 2004).
Cow manure is rich in nutrients and is suitable for plant growth. It has 3% nitrogen, 2% phosphorus, and 1% potassium—3-2-1 NPK, making it the right type of fertilizer for almost all types of plants and crops. That's because it brings back nutrient balance to fields organically.
The manure may be spread atop the soil or incorporated into the garden soil. Pig, dog, cat, and human waste should never be used in a vegetable garden. Cow, horse, chicken/poultry, sheep, goat, and llama manure are acceptable types of manure appropriate for use in vegetable gardens.
Surface-level vegetables that do not like manure:
It helps sandy soil hold water and it helps breakup clay soil so plant roots can grow. Fresh manure should be tilled into the soil in the fall, so it has all winter to break down. Fresh manure will burn plants and kill them. Composted manure bought in the garden center can be added right at planting time.
Proper use of manure in the garden can supply your plants with nutrients and help improve soil structure. Adding too much manure can lead to nitrate leaching, nutrient runoff, excessive vegetative growth and, for some manures, salt damage.
So, the best tomato fertilizer must offer all of these components in the proper amounts and make up for any soil deficiencies. Generally, animal dung from non-industrial farms is the most popular organic fertilizer used in tomato cultivation — cow, horse, and sheep-goat manures work best.
Fery recommends hot composting manure before applying it to the garden. Composting kills parasites, reduces weed seeds and makes manure easier to handle. “Hot composting balances food, water and air in a compost pile to favor microorganisms that thrive in high temperatures,” she said.
Manure can contain human pathogens and through its use near fruits and vegetables, it can spread human pathogens to produce. Pathogens harmful to humans that are often found in manure include: pathogenic E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes.
In parts of Africa, floors of rural huts are smeared with cow dung: this is believed to improve interior hygiene and repel insects. This practice has various names, such as "ukusinda" in Xhosa, and "gwaya" in Ruruuli-Lunyala.
Pathogens, begin to die once incorporated into garden soil, and research has shown that incorporating manure at least 120 days before harvest greatly reduces risks of food borne illness.
Sheep manure is the best choice for flowers and above ground vegetable, i.e. tomatoes, beans, peas, peppers etc. This is because it has a high nitrogen content, encouraging above ground leaf grow. Cow manure, with the lower nitrogen content is better for root vegetables , i.e. onions, potatoes etc.
Perhaps you've heard the expression in which snow is referred to as "poor man's fertilizer." It turns out that this is more than just an "old wives' tale." Snow can actually add nutrients, most notably nitrogen, into the soil.
Baking soda can help tomato plants by deterring some pests (like aphids), controlling powdery mildew by creating an alkaline environment, and potentially making fruit sweeter by reducing acidity, but it must be used sparingly as overuse raises soil pH, leading to nutrient issues, poor drainage, and potential sodium toxicity, so a diluted spray or light sprinkle around the base (not directly on roots) is key.
Tomatoes love compost, and a bit of pelletised chook poo won't do them any harm either. The best way to ensure top toms is to prepare the bed at least one month before planting time. Whack in some top quality compost, pelletised poo, a nice straw mulch and then count down the days!
In September, use your abundant tomatoes for fresh salads, salsas, and BLTs, or preserve them by making sauces, roasted tomato soup, chutneys, jams, or freezing/dehydrating them for later. For plants, top the plants to focus energy on ripening, prune leaves, and ensure consistent watering to maximize the harvest before frost, using green tomatoes for fried green tomatoes or relish.
Acid-loving plants, such as azaleas, rhododendrons, and blueberries, prefer a soil pH of 5.5 or lower, making horse manure with its high pH a poor companion. Equally, certain perennials like peonies, hostas, and daylilies are sensitive to the high salt content in horse manure.
Autumn is the best time to spread manure on the surface of bare soil on vegetable beds or around plants in borders.
The best time to apply fall fertilizer is typically from late September through early November, once daytime temperatures cool but before the ground freezes. A slow-release granular fertilizer works best, especially one with a balanced nitrogen content.
No, October is generally not too late to fertilize; in fact, it's often an ideal time for the final fall application to promote deep root growth before winter, as long as the ground isn't frozen and the grass has significantly slowed its top growth. This late feeding sends nutrients to the roots for winter survival, ensuring a healthier lawn in spring, but it should focus on potassium and phosphorus rather than quick-release nitrogen to avoid stimulating new blade growth.
Don't:
You should not compost onions, garlic, and citrus peels in large amounts (they're too acidic/repel worms), diseased plants (spreads illness), Black Walnut tree debris (toxic juglone), and any vegetables cooked with oils, fats, dairy, or meat, as these attract pests and disrupt the balance, but many vegetable scraps like peels, stalks, and leaves are great for compost.