Cow Manure For Lawn

[Neeranam]

I get lots of dried cow poo for free. My lawn is not growing so well due to my clay soil. Would covering it with cow poo help, or any other suggestions?

[teletiger]

It'll cover it in weeds. The kee vuar should be composted first, to kill off seeds and other things. Mix it with straw or coconut skin (dust), any other kitchen greens. Add some EM or compost tea. Keep the whole pile damp and after a couple of months it should be ready for your lawn.

Lots of really excellent pinned stuff here on composting. Look it up.

Regards.

[kickstart]

Or / and, put some water on + EM, cover it with a plastic sheet, put some weight on top ,old car tire's?,again leave it 2 monthes ,it will ferment ,produce heat , which should help kill off any weed seeds.and it will make good compost.

Farm near me have a fish pond and rear, cat fish, bla- dook,they also have some pigs , and the pig muck is washed in to the fish pond, also they are rearing a few cattle, and growing some Napier grass for the cattle,and they are watering the grass from the fish pond ,and this time of year no rain, is the grass growing ,puts my grass to shame, and the land is crap sub soil, from where they dug the fiish pond,

So would some Kee Wuar,soaked in water ,then fed to the lawn help ,in the form of a tea,land being clay, would hold the water, should grow.

At a guess being a lawn, walked on a lot , and clay soil, the grass root's can not grow well ,probaly a pan under ground, maybe a steal spike, or a muck fork ,if you can find one, prodded in to the lawn every few cm's ,will help to airyate the lawn, have had thiis problem in the UK the spiking did help.

As a PS , a old boy in the UK I worked with, allways said sheep muck or cow muck soaked in water, best fertillizer for tomatoes.

[cooked]

I agree about spiking the lawn, you will have to water it first. What I have done in the past when people didn't want to redo their lawns completely, has been to scatter and rake in quartz sand at the rate of 1 M3 per 100M2. Lawns, that is grass, prefers lighter, well drained, slightly acidic soils. A lot of the sand around will not be quartz sand, which is generally dredged from rivers. Apply a few drops of the bathroom cleaner Vixol, if the sand bubbles, it is not acidic. Clay is very reluctant to release its nutrients and leads to a yellowy poorly growing lawn.

Your cow manure should give results, water it in immediately, go easy on the dosage.

[Jotham79]

I agree with the above posts, but it will depend on how old the manure is. If it is old, dry, and powdery it will be less likely to burn your grass. If it is fresh and moist it will damage what grass you have. Assuming in is not fresh, you could water regularly for a few days and let the grass grow long. Then apply a small amount and work in it so it doesn't sit on the leaves. Keep watering often (daily) until the you don't see any more of the manure and repeat. When you mow, do not pick up the cuttings. Let them settle down to help you build a layer of sod.