Ridgerunner
Garden Master
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- Mar 20, 2009
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I don't know all the ramifications of burning that off. I'd still plant the corn and pumpkins and I'd expect them to do well. I don't see that as a lot different than what the early pioneers did to prepare a field for planting. They'd cut the trees, sometimes using the trunks for lumber of firewood but often not, pile them in a big stack and burn it off. Of course that was to get rid of the debris so they could get their crops in before the grass, weeds, blackberry briars, and brush took over. Or the slash and burn tribes will burn off a patch of forest to grow their crops. Burning altered the texture that you would have had, probably consumed some of the nutrients, made other nutrients available that would not have been due to changing the chemical bonding, and killed a lot of seeds.
I don't know how hot sheep manure is. If it is very hot, it could have damaged the plants as they came up, if it was still fresh. I'd worry more about the pumpkins than the corn on that. If it is not very hot, the straw might have tied up the available nitrogen while it was being broken down, thus robbing the corn and pumpkins of needed nitrogen while they are growing. Or it may have worked out great, depending on how hot it is, how fresh, and the percentages of straw versus manure. I'd suspect you would have been OK with it, but I really don't know. It's a shame on the timing. If you could spread that stuff in the fall and let it break down over the winter, you would be living in a great world. But it is available in the spring and not the fall.
I think if I were lucky enough to be in that situation with fresh manure in the spring, I'd pile it up and let it compost for a while. I think it would cook real well and before long you would have pure black gold. It would probably have a lot of weed and grass seed in it, but I'd sure use it.
I'll watch this thread and see what others have to say, but I personally would plant the corn and pumpkins. I'd expect beans to do real well in there too.
Good luck!
I don't know how hot sheep manure is. If it is very hot, it could have damaged the plants as they came up, if it was still fresh. I'd worry more about the pumpkins than the corn on that. If it is not very hot, the straw might have tied up the available nitrogen while it was being broken down, thus robbing the corn and pumpkins of needed nitrogen while they are growing. Or it may have worked out great, depending on how hot it is, how fresh, and the percentages of straw versus manure. I'd suspect you would have been OK with it, but I really don't know. It's a shame on the timing. If you could spread that stuff in the fall and let it break down over the winter, you would be living in a great world. But it is available in the spring and not the fall.
I think if I were lucky enough to be in that situation with fresh manure in the spring, I'd pile it up and let it compost for a while. I think it would cook real well and before long you would have pure black gold. It would probably have a lot of weed and grass seed in it, but I'd sure use it.
I'll watch this thread and see what others have to say, but I personally would plant the corn and pumpkins. I'd expect beans to do real well in there too.
Good luck!
