Having to wait an unexpected month or six
weeks after wet weather prevented forming an early seed bed may
delay sowing for so long that the season is missed for the entire
year. Obstacles like this must be kept in mind when considering
using green manuring as a soil-building technique. Cutting the grass
close to the soil line and composting the vegetation off the field
eliminates this problem.
_Hoof and horn meal._ Did you know that animals construct their
hooves and horns from compressed hair? The meal is similar in
nutrient composition to blood meal, leather dust, feather meal, or
meat meal (tankage). It is a powerful source of nitrogen with
significant amounts of phosphorus. Like other slaughterhouse
byproducts its high cost may make it impractical to use to adjust
the C/N of compost piles. Seed meals or chicken manure (chickens are
mainly fed seeds) have somewhat lower nitrogen contents than animal
byproducts but their price per pound of actual nutrition is more
reasonable. If hoof and horn meal is not dispersed through a pile it
may draw flies and putrefy. I would prefer to use expensive
slaughterhouse concentrates to blend into organic fertilizer mixes.
_Juicer pulp:_ See _Apple pomace._
_Kelp meals_ from several countries are available in feed and grain
stores and better garden centers, usually in 25 kg (55-pound) sacks
ranging in cost from $20 to $50.
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