The use of quail manure as a fertilizer. Quail manure as a fertilizer

Kira Stoletova

All owners of dachas and country houses know that in order to get a good harvest from the garden, it is necessary to carry out regular fertilizing of plants with fertilizers. Gardeners find minerals of organic origin useful for growth and productivity in pigeon or quail droppings. In addition, such a fertilizer from fresh quail manure can be given to a person for free if he keeps such birds at home. It remains only to find out how much quail manure is used as fertilizer and how to use it rationally.

The value of organic fertilizer

Quail manure is highly valued by gardeners because of its saturation with minerals that are especially useful for plants. Cow dung or any other bird droppings have a more modest composition. So, even nitrogen and phosphorus in them are several times less compared to quail droppings. Many gardeners also note that the use of quail fertilizer is perceived by the root system of fruit plants better than with other organics. And its beneficial effect has a positive effect for 36 months. No organic fertilizer in the world has such characteristics.

Quail litter, in addition to its positive aspects, also has disadvantages. One of them is the content of uric acid in the composition of the fertilizer. In a certain concentration, such a substance adversely affects the root system of plants. In addition, improper use of quail manure can destroy the plant. In some cases, it leaves burns, but most often leads to its poisoning, so many gardeners, before using quail droppings, process it, defend it and dilute it with other substances useful for vegetation.

Features of litter processing

Plant nutrition plays an important role in obtaining a good harvest. But in order for the litter from domestic quails not to destroy the plants due to the uric acid content, it is necessary to process it. Processing of quail manure is its overexposure. This procedure has its own characteristics that everyone who decides to do this should know.

The most effective method of overexposure is composting. Quail manure containing urea must be settled for several months so that its level drops to a safe level. Using a fresh product will not bring the desired effect, but will only damage the plants. At home, the processing of quail manure occurs as follows:

Prepare a large volume container (barrel, metal tank, etc.).
Pour liquid quail manure.
Cover with a layer of sawdust or straw.

Each gardener uses quail droppings as a high-quality feed for fruit plants in order to get a good harvest in the summer season. The soil receives the minerals it needs, which leads to increased growth of seedlings. We must not forget that the feeding itself also requires certain knowledge in this area. Compost should be used for its intended purpose only in the fall, so that the quail droppings are well absorbed into the soil before the cold weather. It is forbidden to make compost in the spring: such actions can lead to disruption of the vegetation and ripening of the fruits themselves.

Feed preparation

Placed quail manure in compost barrels is used only as fresh fertilizer. But, if there is no time to wait, manure should be diluted with water and let it brew for several days. The resulting substance is called top dressing. The use of such a tool allows you to enrich the soil and the plants themselves with useful substances in the summer. You should know how to feed and what proportions of water and quail droppings will be safe for vegetation.

Experienced gardeners recommend preparing top dressing from quail droppings a week before using it. To do this, you must use an ordinary bucket with a lid, in which quail manure (0.5 l) is placed and water (10 l) is poured. The resulting substance should be thoroughly mixed and covered with a lid. In a week, quail manure fertilizer will be ready. It should be used instead of watering.

Fresh or dry?

Before you fertilize fruit plants with quail manure, you need to know that this product can also be used dry. Fresh litter contains:

1.5-2% nitrogen;
1.5% phosphorus;
0.7-1% potassium.

After heat treatment, the product becomes even more saturated with useful substances:

5% nitrogen;
3-4% phosphorus;
up to 2.5% potassium.

It is very difficult to produce such an increase in the indicators of nutrients for plants on their own. This is due to the processing of the product at high temperatures. On an industrial scale, drying takes place in specialized cabinets at a temperature of 700-800°C. In the household, such equipment is not used. It is more expedient to buy a ready-made product in a specialized store in the form of a powder.

The dry product has a composition richer in useful elements. Even after heat treatment, the manure does not lose its properties and becomes even more effective. This difference in performance determines the higher demand for industrial products. In addition, fresh litter has to be used after long-term processing, and dry litter has a smaller list of requirements.

What are gardeners talking about?

Quail manure and a large variety of organic fertilizers have become less popular in recent decades than they used to be.

This is due not to the poor qualities of the product itself, but to the fact that specialized top dressings have appeared on the market that do not require long-term processing. But why buy something new if a quail population is grown on a personal plot? In addition, for garden purposes, manure is no worse than specialized tools.

There are also certain rules governing the proper use of quail manure in order to obtain the highest possible yield from vegetable crops. The owner of the garden should:

Apply quail droppings for white cabbage at the rate of 2 kg/sq. m.
Use manure for pumpkin and tomatoes at 3-4 kg / sq. m.
Fertilize root crops at 2-2.5 kg / sq. m.
Apply 2-2.5 kg/sq. m. substances for onions, garlic and herbs.

Experienced gardeners have noticed that quail manure as a fertilizer has some features that manifest themselves in different ways in the frequency of its use. So, in 1 year, manure is similar to other fertilizers, but in the next 2-3 years you can notice a significant increase in the amount of the crop. We must not forget that quail droppings can be different. It depends on the quality of the birds' food, their health, age and even breed.

Every farmer knows that quail manure as a fertilizer has good indicators of the benefits spent on it.

That is, how many kilograms of grain or other food a person spends on feeding quails, he will receive the same amount of the desired product. The ratio of 1 to 1 allows you to use manure for your own purposes free of charge, since this product is no longer suitable for any purpose.

The use of such fertilizers can also cause some difficulties in terms of quality and quantity of the crop. To understand the essence of the problem itself, it is necessary to know the composition of the fresh product, as well as information about what reactions occur with it during composting. According to experts, a large concentration of nitrogen useful for plants is contained in urea, which is harmful to them. The use of composts and their infusion leads to a partial loss of nutrients. In addition, insufficient manure treatment harms the plant, kills it and poisons the fruits, saturating them with nitrates.

Fertilizer for indoor plants

Some apartment growers are often interested in the question of how to fertilize indoor vegetation with quail droppings. Growing fruit plants in houses and apartments is a rarity. Most often, the main activity stops at keeping flowers in pots. It is impractical to introduce litter into the soil, mixing it with a small amount of earth. Most often, fertilizer in small doses is placed on top of the soil, and nutrients get to the roots of flowers with each watering.

We must not forget that a large dose of fertilizers applied can adversely affect the condition of plants. Experts advise pouring no more than half of 1 tsp. into one container. Equally important is the location of the compost. It should be placed at a safe distance from the stem so that the product does not burn it.

In recent years, there has been a clear trend among gardeners and gardeners to abandon the use of mineral fertilizers and switch to organic farming. It is obvious that a complete rejection of the use of fertilizers is impossible, since in the process of growth and formation of fruits, plants actively remove nutrients from the soil, which ultimately leads to soil depletion. The introduction of mineral fertilizers allows you to quickly make up for the loss of nutrients, but even here there are pitfalls. Firstly, the excessive use of mineral salts will inevitably lead to soil salinization. Secondly, nitrogen fertilizer mixtures can accumulate in the vegetative mass (in the form of nitrates and nitrites), as well as in plant fruits, which can lead to poisoning of humans and farm animals. This material proposes an alternative method of fertilizing crops - the use of quail manure.

Advantages and disadvantages of using quail droppings

As you know, the body of a quail is characterized by active growth, as a result of which, with the consumption of 1 kg of feed, the same amount of excrement is obtained. On large poultry farms specializing in the cultivation of these birds, a huge amount of litter accumulates, which can be purchased at a reasonable price.

One of the important advantages of quail manure is a high concentration of macro- and microelements, which are contained in an easily digestible form.

Composted quail manure is an excellent environment for the reproduction and vital activity of soil microorganisms that do a great job in terms of increasing soil fertility.

As for the disadvantages, here, perhaps, it is necessary to focus on the high concentration of uric acid, which has a toxic effect on vegetative plants. It's no secret that the use of any fresh poultry manure is unacceptable, so there are several methods for preparing organic fertilizers.

Composting quail manure

Compost is the most rational way to prepare organic waste, including quail manure.

Composting can be carried out in metal, plastic or wooden containers, and in the presence of a large amount of organic matter, in heaps or pits. The compost preparation technology provides for the layer-by-layer laying of quail manure and other organic matter (peat, sawdust, foliage, plant residues from the garden). Fresh manure and plant waste are laid in layers of 20-30 cm and, if necessary, moistened. Within 30-40 days they decompose. During the composting process, it is recommended to shovel the mass several times to get a homogeneous mixture. Properly prepared compost should not emit foreign odors (ammonia, rotten grass, etc.).

To speed up composting, you can use cultures of effective microorganisms (EM), for example, the drug "Tamir". The agent is diluted in accordance with the instructions for use and added to the container when laying the litter. EMs not only speed up the process of compost fermentation, but also significantly increase its quality and efficiency.

It is best to prepare the compost in the fall, about a month before the proposed fertilization. Ripened compost is scattered around the site, and the soil is dug up.

Recycling with worms

Dung worms are excellent helpers in the processing of various organic matter. In the process of life, the worm absorbs huge amounts of soil and returns it in the form of excrement enriched with humic acids, enzymes and beneficial microorganisms. "Worm earth" can be used for growing seedlings, applying during planting, preparing liquid root and foliar dressings.

Worm earth is considered one of the most effective organic fertilizers, however, when compared to making compost, its preparation requires a little more effort. Firstly, it is unacceptable for worms to feed fresh litter, so compost must first be prepared. Secondly, to grow a colony of dung worms, it is necessary to prepare a “worm hole” - a pit, 1 to 1.5 meters deep and 1.5 meters wide (arbitrary length). Inside, the pit is sheathed with boards, filled with compost and a culture of worms is introduced. Depending on the number of individuals, compost processing can take up to 3 months. In the process of processing, it is necessary to monitor the moisture content of the compost, and also periodically (if necessary) add food for worms.

Liquid plant food

Preparing such top dressing is quite simple:

Fresh quail manure is placed in a container (for example, in a bucket) up to half the volume, then filled to the top with water.
The litter is thoroughly mixed, and the container is closed with a lid.
After 7-10 days, the top dressing will ferment and become suitable for use.

It should be noted that the fermented manure contains a high concentration of active substances, therefore, the liquid must be diluted before use. For irrigation under the root, a bucket of water is taken from 0.5 to 1 liter of the mixture. For foliar treatments, 1 cup of the mixture is taken per 10 liters of water.

Liquid dressings are applied at the rate of 300-800 g per 1 sq. meter.

Dried quail manure

Dried and powdered manure-based organic fertilizers are known commercially as "powders". It is difficult to prepare “powder” at home, as this requires special equipment and cultures of microorganisms. "Powders" do not contain pathogenic microorganisms and weed seeds, and are also devoid of toxic substances. In order to increase efficiency, dried quail manure is recommended to be diluted with water (at the rate of 50 g per 1 m2). The introduction of "powder" for digging is also effective, although it is costly (250 g is required per 1 m²).

Recently, granulated quail manure can often be found on sale.

Today, due to the sharp increase in the production of industrial mineral fertilizers for crop production, such a valuable natural fertilizer as quail droppings has been undeservedly forgotten. However, experienced gardeners know its true value, so they often use it in their backyards.

Advantages

Low cost relative to the spent feed for quails, namely 1 kg of feed = 1 kg of litter;
It contains many useful minerals, including nitrogen and phosphorus;
After being introduced into the soil, a beneficial effect on the growth and development of plants persists for three years;
Due to the fact that quail manure contains microelements in an easily digestible form, they are quickly absorbed by plants, therefore, after application, their rapid growth is observed;
Restores soil fertility, activates the formation and ripening of fruits;
Helps to increase plant productivity;
Increases the shelf life of the crop;

Flaws

One of the disadvantages is that fresh quail manure contains, along with many useful substances, the so-called uric acid. This substance is toxic, has a negative effect on plants (can lead to plant burns). Therefore, like any litter, it cannot be used fresh. It should lie down for some time, and immediately before use it is diluted with straw, sawdust or peat. This is not the only method of preparing quail manure before applying it to the soil, more on other methods ...

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Quail droppings processing

As mentioned above, fresh quail manure contains some toxic substances that can harm plants and adversely affect yields. In this regard, this substance should be overexposed for some time to get rid of toxic substances. Open storage is not recommended, as this causes the loss of a large amount of nitrogen and other nutrients. The most rational way is to compost quail manure.

In addition to composting, there is an excellent recipe for making plant food from quail manure.

How to prepare plant food

To prepare top dressing, you will need a container that is half filled with litter, and the other half is filled with water;
Then mix thoroughly, close the lid and leave for a week;
Before use, the resulting mixture is diluted with water: for 10 liters of water - 0.5 liters of the mixture.
Such top dressing is used exclusively in the summer for watering plants.

Heat treatment

At home, the heat treatment process is somewhat difficult, but the purchase of quail manure at a poultry farm can serve as a way out. In industrial conditions, manure is dried at high temperature using the bacterial fermentation method.

Litter after heat treatment surpasses manure and other mineral fertilizers in its favorable properties;
The beneficial properties of fresh litter are preserved;
It contains no pathogenic microorganisms and weed seeds;
It can be used to fertilize the soil when growing seedlings, as well as in the form of plant nutrition;

Using quail manure as a fertilizer, you will soon notice a positive effect, the plants will certainly thank you with a generous harvest!

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See - quail droppings as a "golden" organic

And here the imagination of experienced summer residents has no limits. What kind of fertilizer recipes have not been invented. In recent years, litters to increase yields have become increasingly popular. But no, not chicken, as you might think, but such a bird as a quail. It is quite often bred, as well as chickens and ducks. Experienced gardeners consider it one of the best fertilizers. Today we will tell you how to use quail droppings as a fertilizer.

Quail litter. Advantages and disadvantages

Before we tell you exactly how to make fertilizer, it is worth pointing out the pros of using it. And there are a lot of them. Among many store-bought preparations, there are various top dressings that people are in a hurry to buy so that there is less hassle, and they believe that such fertilizers have everything that is needed for the harvest. But many of these products contain chemical compounds that accumulate in fruits, and this is dangerous. Simple folk recipes on organic matter are safe and environmentally friendly.

The use of quail manure as a fertilizer has its own individual advantages:

the fact is that for those who keep these birds, it is not difficult to get good fertilizer. The output of top dressing, according to summer residents, for 1 kg of feed is 1 kg of high-quality fertilizer;
its charm is that the litter contains all the necessary elements, while it can be stored for a very long time;
but more importantly, the effect of the use of quail droppings persists for the next three years;
it should also be noted that quail fertilizer is better than chicken;
it must be said that it is quail manure as a fertilizer, we will tell you how to apply it below, it helps to stop and prevent the development of diseases in the soil;
its assimilation by crops is much faster than top dressing from the store. Accordingly, the result will be obvious.

For information!

For those who do not like to waste time and fiddle with bird waste, there is a ready-made litter packaged. It is sold in garden stores.

You also need to indicate the two main disadvantages of feeding from quail droppings:

It is low in potassium. And this is the main element for a good potato harvest. To solve this problem, ash is added along with the litter.
This top dressing is very strong, since it contains a lot of urea, and it can burn the plants. To prevent this from happening, you need to do everything right and process the litter wisely. Let's talk about this already.

How to breed quail droppings for feeding

So that quail droppings do not become poison for your crops, it must be properly processed. There is nothing complicated here. Find a barrel in your area. Litter is laid at the bottom of it, after which a layer of straw is laid. Approximately 20 cm of waste, cover with 30 cm of straw. After that, it is done in exactly the same way layer by layer.

What is it for. The fact is that dry straw will absorb all unnecessary substances and absorb moisture. You can also take sawdust. So, the barrel should stand for three months.

Important!

It is better to lay such a fertilizer on the site in the fall. Therefore, calculate the time. And the barrel should stand for at least three months. During this time, the straw will absorb moisture, have time to rot, which will give even better fertilizer. All pathogenic flora will also die.

It is best to start cleaning quail manure in late spring, summer. Then in the fall you can do everything right. When the top dressing is ready, they simply scatter it on the site and plow the ground.

USE OF LITTER

It can be assumed that since ancient times, when man had just begun to engage in agriculture, one of the first fertilizers was, of course, bird droppings. Sowing different plants, the first farmers noticed that in places where manure was accidentally scattered, the plants grow much better. And gradually, in order to increase the amount of food from their garden, people began to bring in bird waste.

Until now, on some islands of the Caribbean Sea, guano is mined in large quantities - the droppings of seabirds decomposed in a dry climate. This fertilizer is even exported. In the mid-60s-70s of the XX century, due to the production of a large amount of mineral fertilizers, bird droppings somehow faded into the background. But today, an undeservedly forgotten fertilizer is becoming popular, especially on homestead plots.

With a long-term keeping of quails, a large amount of quail manure accumulates, since the yield of manure in relation to the feed is approximately 1:1 by volume, i.e. a bucket of feed - a bucket of manure. Of all types of organic fertilizers, bird droppings are considered the most valuable. In terms of chemical composition, it is 3-4 times richer than cattle manure. Nutrients in it are in a combination favorable for plants and soil microflora, quickly dissolve in water and are easily absorbed. According to the effect on the crop in the first year of application, poultry meth is close to mineral fertilizers. But due to the high concentration of organic components and their gradual release, bird droppings affect the yield in the next 2-3 years, that is, it has an aftereffect. And this must be taken into account when introducing litter, as well as the fact that the amount of nutrients in the litter varies depending on the type of bird, its age and feed composition.

However, bird droppings should not be considered a panacea. The ratio of nutrients is not suitable for all garden crops, in particular potatoes, some root crops and other "potassium-loving" vegetables. Potassium deficiency can be compensated by adding fertilizers, such as potassium chloride (100 g per 1 kg of manure), or by adding ash.

There is another disadvantage of this fertilizer: the bulk of the nitrogen in the manure is in the form of uric acid, which, when high doses of manure are applied, inhibits the growth of seedlings and young plants. Gradually, it turns into urea, and then into ammonium carbonate, which is easily nitrified in the soil. Therefore, the result of an overdose is the accumulation of nitrates in vegetables. In addition, fresh bird droppings are toxic to plants due to water-soluble metabolites (poultry waste products), and direct contact with the plant can lead to burns, disease, and even death.

How to eliminate the negative effect of fresh litter? It must be applied together with straw, peat or sawdust in a ratio of 3:1. Litter is usually used in the first half of the growing season of vegetable crops. It is undesirable to store manure in its pure form, since a significant proportion of nutrients, in particular nitrogen, is lost in this case. Losses are especially high (up to 40%) during freezing in winter and subsequent thawing in spring. Try adding fresh sawdust, husks (husks of sunflower seeds) or fine (from a combine with a chopper) straw to this area. These materials will loosen the soil (physical action) and will also help break down and recycle excess nitrogen compounds in the manure (biological action with nitrogen conservation). The fact is that microorganisms found in the soil and in the same litter, decomposing the fiber of sawdust and other materials, spend nitrogen on this. This will have a double benefit - the soil will become loose, and sawdust, husks and straw will turn into humus, from which plants will consume nutrients for several years.

The simplest, most accessible and cheapest way to process manure, in which nitrogen losses are negligible, is composting. For this, moisture-absorbing peat, straw, sawdust, and leaves are laid out on an elevated flat area with a layer of 30 cm. Bird droppings are poured on top with a layer of 20 cm, and then again peat or sawdust and again droppings. And so they form a collar up to a meter high. If the components are dry, then moisten them when laying. And the unpleasant smell can be eliminated by covering the pile with straw and a layer of earth 20 cm thick. After a month and a half, the compost is ready. At the same time, pathogenic microorganisms, helminth eggs and weed seeds die in it. It is better to close up peat manure compost in the fall. It must be scattered and immediately embedded in the soil by digging the garden. If you add compost in the spring, the ripening of the crop will slow down. And only on sandy soils this can be done in the spring - two weeks before sowing or planting garden seedlings. Litter compost can be applied randomly, or better - in furrows or holes.

But not all gardeners keep the bird. Where can you buy this valuable fertilizer? Litter is available at large poultry farms. Here it is disposed of at a high (700 °C) temperature, bacterial fermentation is used at 250-300 °C or composted. Thermally dried manure and manure-based peat fertilizers (Piksa, Roossis and others) are superior to mineral fertilizers and manure in their effect on the crop. They retain almost all the properties of fresh poultry manure, do not contain pathogenic microorganisms and weeds, and, unlike it, have a constant composition. These modern fertilizers are used for pre-sowing treatment of seeds, growing seedlings, spring dressing of soil for garden crops and for their top dressing. These fertilizers restore soil fertility, increase yields, accelerate the formation and ripening of fruits, and lengthen their shelf life.

Of all the existing types of organic fertilizers, bird droppings are in the first place. It contains a lot of various nutrients, and plants absorb them quite easily. The drier the litter, the greater the concentration of nutrients. If in the wet state it contains up to 2 percent nitrogen, 1.5 percent phosphorus and up to 1 percent potassium, then in the dry state it contains two to three times more: 5-6 percent nitrogen, 3-5 percent phosphorus and 2-2.5 percent potassium. Dried manure is 80 percent organic matter. Many people think that the best litter is chicken. However, duck, goose, and turkey are quite close to him in their properties, only chicken gives less litter.

It is good to use bird droppings as the main fertilizer. It is necessary to apply it under potatoes and vegetables before sowing for digging in such an amount: in dry form - 100-300 g per 1 sq. m, raw - 300-900 g. The best result happens when litter is used as top dressing. To add raw manure to the holes or furrows, you will need 40-100 g, dry - 20-50 g per 1 sq.m. Liquid top dressing is even more effective: dilute 1 kg of raw manure or 0.5 kg of dry manure in 10 liters of water and apply 1 liter to the soil every 7-10 days until vegetable crops ripen. Bird droppings are indispensable in the preparation of composts, both ordinary, household and peat droppings, droppings, sawdust, cow droppings. Application rates - up to 1.5-2 kg for digging.

With a large number of birds, the further use of litter can become a source of additional income and increase the profitability of the entire household plot as a whole. It is possible, for example, to build a greenhouse and a biogas plant that uses animal waste - manure and droppings. The resulting gas can be used to heat the quail farm itself and the greenhouse. It is possible to lay quail manure in compost heaps and after some time, having packaged it in appropriate packaging, sell it as fertilizer.