hey guys I'm a new garden enthusiast! i have a question about my fig and citrus trees. i was told recently by a Disney gardener that it is a good idea to procure cow or horse manure (Fresh) mix it with water then water my trees with it as much as i want (manure tea?) is this true? i have seen other sources say you have to age the manure or treat it? i was also told not to put mulch down????
NO NO NO!!!! do not use fresh. Use composted or aged only. Fresh horse or cow manure will burn your trees. But you can use aged as much as you want. Fresh also has the potential to be contaminated with e-coli from the cows intestines. You don't want to get sick being exposed to something such as this. I, myself, growing up with animals have never been sick from the manures (farm kids are a hardy lot..or well inoculated.) but city kids or the un-exposed to the bacteria seem to be more susceptible to getting sick. Rabbit manure is a great alternative to large animal manure and it can be used fresh. Check around to see if there is anybody that has rabbits. I keep them just for the manure. Oh...Hi and welcome. Glad to have you with us. Please join in anywhere and ask away or contribute your knowledge where you have some, too.
Thank you so much! is it safe to mix store bought black cow with water to make manure tea? or should i just ix it with some soil and lay a new layer around the base of the trees? and whats your thoughts on mulch?
How old are your trees? How much or even if you fertilize at this time of year depends on the tree's maturity. Older trees, fine; young or recently planted trees, hold off on the fertilizer. To mulch or not depends on whether or not you need to retain moisture in the soil. We mulch around our fruit trees, but keep the mulch 2" away from the trunk (think of doing a volcano crater rather than an Alpine peak with the mulch). Mulch helps suppress weeds and retains moisture in the soil. And as Carolyn said, NEVER use fresh horse/cow/sheep/chicken/goat manure on any plant. Bunny manure is fine, but the others really need to be composted before use.
Mulch mulch mulch!!!! and as Jane says...Keep it away from the trunk. If you get it up against the trunk you will draw insects to bore into the bark and kill your tree. You also want to avoid covering the graft union. Mulch will suppress the weeds which will compete for nutrients and will win over your tree. We always add a small amount of fertilizer to the hole when we plant, but not much. You want to avoid a lot of nitrogen which will give you fast growth, but the roots won't be able to support that once it gets stressed from heat or drought. I don't have citrus, but I assume it is the same for them as any other fruit. good luck on them both. Live long and be fruitful!
Hmm ok! i got my trees from LOWES, so they were fairly good size, and i planted them about a year ago. i live here in Florida and our ground is more sandy than anything else. i was planing on doing a soil and black cow mix then putting a thin layer of mulch down but the guy at lows was all like NOOOOOO? but i asked another person and they said it was a good idea????? and what is the Onion?
What do you mean? the satirical web site? If the trees have been planted for a year...go ahead and give them a layer of compost and mulch. The compost should add a lot of humus to the soil which will hold more water than just sand and the mulch will help retain moisture, too. I would give it a good layer of the compost and the width of the canopy of the tree is the rule of thumb for fruit trees up here.
HAH i meant " the graft union" my auto correct hates me. :-D ok well tomorrow i shall put some black cow and mulch. should i mix the manure or just put plain manure? and should i leave 2 inch gap same with the mulch or manure (black Cow) up to the trunk? I so sorry for asking so many questions I'm jus so new and i want to do the best for these babies! thank you for so much help.
LOL! I kept re-reading evey post to see if someone mentioned anything that I thought was a mistake. On all of my apple trees there is a rootstock and a scion. The rootstock is hardier and it controls the size my tree will grow (I don't know how- it just does). I have no idea if your fig would be grafted or not and I assume oranges may or may not be. It usually is about 6" or so up from the roots and is a bulge on the trunk where the root stock and scion meet and are grafted together. It is like a big scar. Plain or mixed makes not much difference I would think. Leave the compost and mulch away from the trunk. NO contact. Ask your questions. We also want you to be successful. It is cheaper to ask and think it was a stupid question( and really it wasn't) than to not ask and your trees died from neglect or ignorance. ask ask ask!
See, that's what is to good about GS. It's people like carolyn who are sooo soo smart about things. I learn so much by just reading here. Thanks everyone. PersianNerd, I agree with you about that dang "auto correct", it has a mind of it's own...
HAHAHa it does have a mind of its own and thank you so much carolyn! your the bees knees! I'm also trying to grow a dragon fruit from a cloned piece i bought from Disney so i hope it grows, and bears fruit! if it does ill try and save the seeds and if any of you would like id send them your way. Its so cute right now i have it in the pot covered with a bag to keep it humid. i get to poke some holes in the bag around the forth to give it moor air I'm soooooooo excited!
Barb, You are so silly. I only know what I know from actually growing it. Nothing extra ordinary about that... I am just nerdy. Thanks PN...I love bees! Good luck on that dragonfruit.
bees are awesome (even if I'm allergic) with out bees we wouldn't be as lucky as we are for he fruits and veg we enjoy so much! Bees rock!
