Fertilizer vs. Manure: Which to Use?

by Matt Gibson and Erin Marissa Russell

If you have never worked with either fertilizer or manure, the difference between the two may be a bit puzzling. They both have a strong smell that may be a little overwhelming for those with sensitive noses. Both are also common additives for gardens to enrich soil and improve plant growth. Aside from these commonalities, fertilizer and manure vary quite a lot. One is all-natural, while the other can either be all-natural or a mix of various chemicals, mineral additives, and unknown substances.

Understanding the values and differences of each substance can help you make well informed decisions when it comes to soil amendments in your garden. Read on to learn all you need to know about fertilizer and manure and how each substance can improve your garden’s soil.

About Fertilizer

Commercial fertilizers are used for both gardens and lawns in order to provide certain nutrients, namely nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, in highly concentrated doses. When you purchase manufactured fertilizers, you will know precisely which nutrients the fertilizer provides and the amount of each nutrient the fertilizer offers.

Because fertilizers offer nutrients in such highly-concentrated forms, you will not need to use very much in order to replenish soil with the appropriate amounts needed to provide for your plants. The amount of fertilizer needed will be especially small in comparison to organic matter fertilizer alternatives, such as compost or manure.

It is unfortunately quite easy to over fertilize lawns or young plants. Over fertilization can lead to burnt or damaged roots. An unsightly example of overapplication of fertilizer is a lawn that turns completely brown after fertilization.

Advantages of Fertilizer

Nutrients available immediately
Delivers nutrients in appropriate amount and proportions
Can save time and effort compared to manure
Does not introduce plant and animal disease causing organisms

Disadvantages of Fertilizer

Most fertilizers do not contain micronutrients
Fertilizers do not support microbiological life in soil
Adding fertilizer does not add any organic material to soil
Fertilizers can be costly
Overuse or misuse can burn plant tissue and cause toxic concentration of salts
Fertilizers can release nutrients too quickly
Nutrients can be leached out of the soil very quickly by rain or irrigation.

Manure

Manure is essentially animal poop. Not all animal droppings can be used in the garden, however, such as the droppings of household pets like cats and dogs. The droppings of cows, sheep, poultry, and horses are the manure that is commonly used in the garden.

Fertilizers don’t often contain manure, but manure can be used as a fertilizer. Manure contains nitrogen, which is one of the most beneficial nutrient resources in soil. Beyond nitrogen, the nutrient content of manure is quite minimal in comparison with commercial fertilizers, depending on what the animals ate before producing the manure, and the age of the manure. Manure is generally mixed into the soil, as much of the nitrogen evaporates into the atmosphere if left atop the soil, rather than staying in the soil, where it is needed. Manure is commonly used as a soil amendment to replenish soil with depleted nitrogen levels.

Advantages of Manure

Improves soil structure
Improves water retention and infiltration
Encourages microorganism activity which break down organic material, break down contaminants in soil and converts nutrients into usable forms
Greater residual effects on later crops than fertilizer

Disadvantages of Manure

Diluted source of nutrients compared to inorganic fertilizers
Can be a source of weed seeds, harmful pathogens, and pharmaceutical compounds (depending on what the animals were treated with)
Composition can be highly varied depending on what the animals eat
Release of nutrients is variable

Using Manure As Fertilizer

Manure is not the only organic material, or all-natural material that can be used as a fertilizer. Pine needles, bone meal, grass clippings, fish emulsion, and compost are all frequently used to fertilize the soil to benefit lawns and plants. Decaying organic matter, such as dead leaves, grass, or pine needles, can be left atop the soil in order to fertilize while acting as a mulch and helping to retain soil moisture.

A major benefit of using organic matter fertilizer alternatives compared to synthetic fertilizers is that the natural nutrients in organic matter feed and encourage beneficial microbes in the soil, which leads to healthier, more workable soil. The main drawback of using organic matter fertilizers is that they are far less concentrated than synthetic fertilizers, which means less nutrients per pound of fertilizer.

Safety Issues With Manure and Fertilizer

In general, both fertilizer and manure are safe to use, but there are a few varying safety concerns for each that gardeners should consider. Manure is animal waste, which is not something you want to accidentally ingest or get in your eyes or nose. Make sure to wash your hands thoroughly after working with manure, and stay focused and mindful of not touching your mouth, nose, or eyes while working with it. Manure should be worked into the soil instead of applying it directly to plants. Garden consumables should always be washed before eating but especially if they are grown in soil containing manure, or any other fertilizer.

Commercial fertilizers are highly concentrated and excess use can result in environmental concerns from runoff which can affect streams and waterways. Some manufactured fertilizers, especially those that are non-organic, can be harmful to pets and animals. Always read a commercial fertilizer’s label and take note of safety concerns to consider before purchasing so that you know that the product is something that you will be comfortable using.

Important Differences Between Manure and Fertilizer

Manure is not as rich as fertilizers in plant nutrients
Manure is prepared in the field and is decomposed by dumping animal and plant waste into open pits, whereas fertilizers are created in factories through chemical procedures
Manure is organic material that is prepared by decomposition of crop residue or animal droppings, which is added to the soil to improve fertility. Fertilizer is any substance, organic or inorganic, that is added to the soil to increase the yield of crops.
Manure is insoluble in water and slowly absorbed by the soil. Fertilizer is easily dissolved in water, therefore can be used by plants immediately
Because manure is generated out of decayed plant and animal waste, it provides humus to the soil, which increases the soil’s water retention capability. On the other hand, fertilizer does not provide humus to the soil, nor improve water retention
Manure is economical and can be prepared by farmers themselves, whereas fertilizers are industrially manufactured chemicals that are often costly
Manure does not cause any harm to soils, but in fact, can raise the quality of the soil in the long run. Fertilizer, on the other hand, can be harmful to the soil if used in excess, and can cause harm to organisms that are already present in the soil

Fertilizer Versus Manure

Manure has many benefits that you cannot get from chemical fertilizers. Organic matter enhances the physical properties of the soil structure, lightens the texture of the soil, enhances rainfall infiltration, and increases the cation exchange capacity. Increasing the cation exchange capacity refers to the ability of the soil to store nutrients and pesticides which makes them more productive than if you were just applying fertilizer alone.

Manure applications increase the activity of microbial life within your soil, which improves soil quality tremendously. Adding manure increases the amount of organic matter in your soil. Extra organic matter helps increase your soil’s water retention capability.

Using manure as mulch is not recommended, as doing so allows large amounts of ammonia nitrogen to be lost into the atmosphere. However, large-scale commercial farmers that allow organic matter like manure to remain just above the topsoil in no-till farming operations are actually containing runoff issues by doing so.

Manure and fertilizer compliment each other. As fertilizer is often a chemical product, there are specialized instructions that should be used when adding it to your soil. There are no instructions to be followed when adding manure to the soil. Excessive use of fertilizer can reduce the soil’s fertility and lead to water pollution, so whenever possible, it is best to replace fertilizer with manure. Manure is an organic substance which is environmentally friendly and also recycles the waste of plants and animals, so it is better to replace fertilizer with manure as often as possible.

Common Questions and Answers About Fertilizer Versus Manure

Can I plant directly into manure?

Manure can be used as a soil amendment or as a component in compost, but you should not plant directly into manure without combining the manure with soil or other mediums. The high levels of nitrogen and ammonia can “burn” plants if manure is not diluted in a soil mixture. Plants can be burned by manure that hasn’t been aged for at least six months due to the nitrogen, ammonia, and salts fresh manure contains. In compost, manure that includes bedding is a balanced green and brown ingredient.

To use packaged commercial manure as a soil amendment, refer to the instructions to determine how much to use and what to mix it with. If your manure didn’t come with instructions, the general guidelines below will tell you how much you need as an amendment; work the manure into your soil to a depth of six to eight inches. Chicken manure must be worked into the soil within 12 hours of spreading, or evaporation will waste much of its valuable nitrogen.

Cow manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- With no bedding, 75 pounds
- With bedding, 95 pounds
- Composted, 200 pounds
Sheep manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- With no bedding, 40 pounds
- With bedding, 50 pounds
Poultry manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- Without litter, 20 pounds
- With bedding, 30 pounds
- Composted, 70 pounds
Horse manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- With bedding, 65 pounds

Can I spread fertilizer when it’s windy?

Unless you’re using a drop spreader, avoid applying dry, or solid, fertilizer when it’s windy outside. If you put out fertilizer on a windy day, you risk the wind carrying your fertilizer off to neighboring gardens, the street, or whatever else may be nearby. Some gardeners recommend watching tree branches and hedges—if it’s windy enough to move the foliage noticeably, it’s too windy to fertilize.

Can I use flower fertilizer for vegetables?

Using a fertilizer meant for flowers on vegetable plants won’t do them any harm. The fertilizer just won’t be optimized for your vegetables, so the results won’t be as impressive as they would with a veggie-specific fertilizer blend. That said, you don’t want to use fertilizer meant for lawns in your garden. Lawn fertilizer has too much nitrogen for other plants, and the weed control chemicals in lawn fertilizer can be damaging to the plants in your garden.

Can I use manure in my vegetable garden?

Amending the soil in your vegetable garden with manure adds nutrients and organic matter, making the soil better able to support healthy plants. It’s best not to use fresh manure, as fresh manure can burn your plants due to the high nitrogen and ammonia content, and it can also contain weed seeds if the manure is from an animal that consumes plants. Manure should be aged at least six months before you use it in an active garden.

If you must use fresh manure, wait 120 days before harvesting or eating vegetables that come into contact with the ground to avoid spread of salmonella, E.coli, parasites, and other pathogens. Experts recommend gardeners not use manure from pigs, cats, or dogs in the garden, as their waste can contain pathogens that can live in the soil and infect humans. Chicken and cow manure are most commonly recommended for vegetable gardens, with chicken manure having the most beneficial nutrient profile for your plants.

Can organic farmers use manure?

Organic farmers can use manure in their gardens as long as it meets the USDA and National Organic Program regulations. You can review the regulations for manure in organic farming in this tipsheet from the Sustainable Agriculture Program.

Can you over fertilize plants?

Yes, it’s possible for plants to get too much of a good thing when it comes to fertilizer. When levels of the nutrients that plants need to thrive are too high, they can actually be harmful. Too much fertilizer can also result in excess salt building up in the soil. Plants that are over fertilized can see stunted growth and become vulnerable to diseases and infestation by garden pests, even resulting in death. In addition to stunted growth, signs of over fertilization include wilted or yellowed foliage, “burned” or dried out leaf margins, collapse of the plant, and eventually, death.

If your plants show signs of over fertilization, reduce fertilizer use and flush the soil out thoroughly with water three or four times, allowing the water to drain completely between treatments. Sometimes, it’s best to use less fertilizer than product packaging recommends—and remember to only fertilize your plants when they’re in an active growth period.

Can you put too much manure in your garden?

Too much manure can give your garden too much nitrogen and ammonia, resulting in plants being “burned.” Follow the instructions on commercially packaged manure for dosage, or follow the guidelines below, worked into your soil to a depth of six to eight inches.

Cow manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- With no bedding, 75 pounds
- With bedding, 95 pounds
- Composted, 200 pounds
Sheep manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- With no bedding, 40 pounds
- With bedding, 50 pounds
Poultry manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- Without litter, 20 pounds
- With bedding, 30 pounds
- Composted, 70 pounds
Horse manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- With bedding, 65 pounds

Can you put chicken manure directly in the garden?

The high nitrogen content of fresh chicken manure means it will “burn” plants it comes into contact with, especially tender young plants. Before putting chicken manure in your garden, you need to age it for at least six months, or use it in one of the following ways. First, you can add chicken manure to a compost pile, if you have one going, or just mix it with lawn clippings or dead leaves. Untouched, the compost is ready in six to 12 months, or if you turn the compost every once in a while, you can have it ready in four to six months. A quicker solution is to make manure tea by placing the chicken manure in a burlap sack with a brick or large rock, then soaking the sack in a trash can filled with water for three to four weeks.

If your garden is dormant, you can go ahead and use the fresh chicken manure if you have three or four months before you’ll be planting. Spread 50 pounds of chicken manure over 100 square feet of soil and till it or work it in to a depth of six to eight inches. It will age right in the ground and give your soil a nutrient boost so it’s ready for spring planting if you spread the chicken manure after fall harvest is complete. Chicken manure needs to be worked into the soil within 12 hours of being spread, or much of the nitrogen it contains will be lost to evaporation.

Do carrots need manure?

Carrots don’t need manure, and using manure on carrots can have undesirable results. If you use fresh or aged manure when growing carrots, the carrots will send out side roots, leading to a forked or leggy appearance.

Do onions like manure?

Because onions don’t need much nitrogen to thrive, they don’t benefit much from manure. In fact, you should avoid growing onions in soil that has been treated with manure recently.

How do you add manure to soil?

There are a few approaches you can use when adding manure to soil depending on your needs and timeline. If you have a compost pile going, manure is an excellent addition to the heap and is balanced between green and brown. If you aren’t composting yet, you can do a quick version by mixing manure with lawn clippings or dead leaves and turning the pile occasionally. The finished compost will be ready in four to six months. (If you don’t turn the pile, it will take six to 12 months to be ready.) Even quicker is compost tea, where you put the compost in a burlap sack weighted with a brick or large rock, then soak it in a trash can full of water for three or four weeks.

If manure is fresh, you can use it as a soil amendment as long as your garden is dormant and you have three or four months before the planting season. If your manure has been aged for at least six months, you can use it as a side dressing, or like compost or any other soil amendment. Spread the manure on top of the soil, then till or work it down to a depth of six to eight inches. (Mix in chicken manure within 12 hours to ensure you don’t lose the nitrogen it contains as it evaporates.) Follow the package instructions, or use the amount listed below, depending on the type of fertilizer you have.

Cow manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- With no bedding, 75 pounds
- With bedding, 95 pounds
- Composted, 200 pounds
Sheep manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- With no bedding, 40 pounds
- With bedding, 50 pounds
Poultry manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- Without litter, 20 pounds
- With bedding, 30 pounds
- Composted, 70 pounds
Horse manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- With bedding, 65 pounds

How much chicken manure should I put in my garden?

Per 100 square feet of soil you’re treating, spread: 20 pounds of chicken manure without litter, 30 pounds of chicken manure including bedding, or 70 pounds of composted chicken manure. Then till or mix the soil to a depth of six to eight inches. Make sure to mix the chicken manure into the soil within 12 hours of starting to spread it, or you’ll lose lots of valuable nitrogen as it evaporates. If your manure is fresh instead of aged for at least six months, you should only use it in a dormant garden with three or four months until planting time. Spread 50 pounds of fresh chicken manure per 100 square feet of soil you wish to treat, and till or work it in as you would aged chicken manure.

How much manure should I add to my garden?

The amount of manure you should use depends on the type you have (which animal the manure comes from). Prepackaged manure should come with instructions. If your manure doesn’t have directions, you can follow the guideline below to find out how much manure to add to your garden. Once you’ve spread the manure, work it into the soil down to six to eight inches. Poultry manure in particular needs to be mixed within 12 hours of spreading on the soil, or you’ll lose a lot of the nitrogen to the air. If manure is fresh instead of aged for at least six months, make sure to only use it in a dormant garden when you have three or four months before you’ll be planting. Fresh manure can “burn” plants with its nitrogen and ammonia content, not to mention can contain pathogens such as salmonella, E. coli, and parasites that you don’t want near plants you’ll be working with or eating.

Cow manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- With no bedding, 75 pounds
- With bedding, 95 pounds
- Composted, 200 pounds
Sheep manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- With no bedding, 40 pounds
- With bedding, 50 pounds
Poultry manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- Without litter, 20 pounds
- With bedding, 30 pounds
- Composted, 70 pounds
Horse manure—apply per 100 square feet of soil:
- With bedding, 65 pounds

How often should I put manure in my garden?

Most of the time, a yearly application of manure is more than sufficient to keep soil fertile and balanced. For vegetable or potato gardens, you may wish to add manure in both fall and spring. For flower gardens, add manure in early spring. For acid-loving plants such as blueberries and azaleas, either add manure in early fall or skip it altogether.

How quickly does fertilizer work?

Some types of fertilizer work more quickly than others. Quick-release nitrogen fertilizers or soluble fertilizers start working in just days, while slow-release nitrogen fertilizers take months to start working (but their effects last longer). Combination fertilizers that have quick-release and slow-release components will start working in days but have the lasting effects that make slow-release fertilizers so beneficial.

Is chicken manure acidic?

Chicken manure is not particularly acidic. While there is a range of variation in the pH level of chicken manures depending on age of the poultry, age of manure, diet of the birds, and more, most chicken manure has a pH that falls between 6.5 and 8.0. This pH range makes chicken manure neutral to alkaline, not acidic.

Is it OK if it rains after you fertilize?

If it rains after you fertilize, the rainfall will help the earth absorb the fertilizer by watering it into the soil. However, it’s best not to fertilize just before rainfall because the rain can wash the fertilizer into bodies of water and storm drain systems, where it can affect your community’s water supply by increasing water pollution. It’s best to get the benefits of fertilizing before it rains by watering the fertilizer in yourself, so the amount of water is more controlled and fertilizer running off into the water supply can be avoided.

You can do a quick test to determine how long you need to water in order to soak your fertilizer in well. Place a few tuna fish cans around the area you’ll fertilize, then turn on your sprinklers, irrigation system, or start watering. Keep an eye on the tuna cans and the clock so you know how long it takes for the cans to collect a quarter inch of water. This is the amount of time you’ll need to water in fertilizer sufficiently without polluting your local water supply, lakes, and rivers.

Is it OK if it rains before you fertilize?

Rainfall before you fertilize your garden is a benefit, as the moisture in the soil will help the fertilizer be absorbed more efficiently. You can water the fertilizer in yourself after applying it to make sure it spreads down into your soil.

Is steer manure better than chicken manure?

Whether steer manure is better than chicken manure depends on whether you’re amending your soil for nutrition or texture. Poultry manure has more of the nutrients plants need to thrive than steer manure does. On average, chicken manure and all poultry manure provides triple the nitrogen and double the phosphate steer manure does. However, if you’re adding manure to your soil to improve its texture and not its nutrition, you can usually get more bang for your buck volume-wise when you purchase steer manure. In short, chicken manure offers more nutrition than steer manure, but steer manure is more economical as a soil texture amendment.

Is steer manure the same as cow manure?

Steer manure and dairy cow manure are different because of the varying diets of dairy cows and steers. The N-P-K ratio of dairy cow manure averages 10-4-8, while steer manure’s N-P-K ratio averages 14-5-8. And while it’s rare to find beef cattle manure on the market, its N-P-K ratio averages 11-7-10. Dairy cow manure is popular among gardeners because it’s mild nutritionally, lessening the risk of over-fertilizing and “burning” your plants. Steer manure also contains more salt than dairy cow manure, and too much salinity in your soil can lead to stunted plant growth or the inability to grow plants at all. Steer manure also has a higher likelihood of containing weed seeds than dairy cow manure does.

Should I fertilize in the morning or evening?

You should fertilize your plants when you water them so the water will help the fertilizer soak into the soil. For most gardeners, this means they should fertilize in the morning, before the heat of the day in summer (and to take advantage of the warm rays of the sun in colder seasons). Wind also tends to be less severe in the morning, so fertilizing and watering in the morning minimizes the chance that dry or granular fertilizers will blow away before your soil can absorb them. Plants get stressed when summer heat is at its worst in midday and the afternoons, and that stress reduces their ability to make use of the nutrients in fertilizer.

Should I water plants before fertilizing?

If you use liquid fertilizer in your garden, you should definitely water your plants before each application of fertilizer. Though it may seem counterintuitive, watering plants before giving them liquid fertilizer is important because hydrating the soil before using liquid fertilizer will prevent your plants being “burned” at the roots, as can happen when liquid fertilizer is applied to dry soil. However, if you use a granular or dry fertilizer, you don’t need to water plants before an application. Instead, water them afterward so the water can help the fertilizer soak into the soil, lessening the risk of the fertilizer being blown away by wind before plants can use it.

What are the advantages of using manure?

Using manure in the garden has lots of advantages, which is why gardeners have been amending soil with manure for generations. The list below details the advantages of using manure—the ways it benefits soil, plants, gardeners, and the environment.

Adding manure to the soil in your garden helps plants to grow strong and healthy and produce flowers or fruit to their maximum capability.

Gardeners can choose among a variety of ways to utilize manure in the garden. It can be added to compost, used as a side dressing, mixed into soil as an amendment, steeped into a tea, or in the case of composted manure, applied as a mulch.

It’s easy to find manure for sale at nurseries and garden centers, and many farmers sell the manure their animals produce. Some even give manure away for free as long as you haul it off their property yourself. (If you do end up choosing manure from an individual or small farm, be sure to find out whether the manure you receive is fresh or has been aged. Manure needs to be aged for at least six months before it’s safe to use in an active garden.)

Manure is chock-full of nutrients, including: micronutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It also produces carbon.

Manure is a practical, low-maintenance choice compared to other ways to improve soil fertility because it’s easy to transport and only needs to be applied once a year, as opposed to the more rigorous schedule some other types of fertilizer can require.

Soil that’s been treated with manure will stay more consistently moist throughout the seasons than soil that doesn’t contain manure. That means less stress on plants because water is steadily available—and less stress on you because you won’t need to water your plants as frequently. While manure is helping your soil hold on to moisture, it’s also helping it retain nutrients, keeping those steadily available to plants as well.

Using manure in your garden doesn’t only benefit you individually; it benefits the environment by increasing the carbon in soil and reducing carbon in the atmosphere, decreasing erosion and runoff of the soil, and lessening nitrate leaching. Choosing manure also cuts back on the energy demand of nitrogen fertilizers, some of which rely on natural gas.

The nitrogen in manure is also more stable than the nitrogen in commercial fertilizers, manure releases its nitrogen slowly into soil over time, better meeting the needs of your plants than nitrogen that isn’t gradually dispensed.

When you amend your garden’s soil with manure, you’re not just nourishing your plants. You’re also improving the texture of the soil by aerating and loosening it, which improves drainage and allows air to circulate around plant roots. Lack of air circulation in the soil can contribute to plant diseases such as root rot. These qualities mean that manure isn’t just a fertilizer; it’s a soil conditioner and soil amendment that can help make sandy, compacted, or clay soils more suitable for gardening.

What are the disadvantages of using manure?

Like any technique or product, manure has its disadvantages. The drawbacks to using manure that gardeners should consider are listed below. Note that many of these potential disadvantages become invalid when manure is aged for at least six months, which is the minimum before it should be applied to an active garden anyway.

Because many of the animals whose waste we use as manure eat plants, seeds of invasive plants, like pigweed and lamb quarters, are prevalent in many types of manure. That means if you spread manure in your garden, you could introduce weeds along with the nutrients you’re aiming for. Aging manure for six months will reduce the likelihood that the weed seeds will sprout.

If animals consume hormones, heavy metals, or medicines that survive the digestion process, those components will be part of manure as well, and some gardeners will wish to avoid applying them to plants that produce food. An example of substances that can sometimes be found in manure and absorbed by food crops include skatole, indol, and other phenols.

Fresh manure has a pungent aroma many people can’t stand. Once manure has aged six months, its smell diminishes. However, some people find even the milder smell of aged manure offensive. Once the manure is incorporated into the garden’s soil, though, the smell should dissipate.

Long-term use of manure can make soil more acidic than is optimal for gardening while simultaneously draining the soil of calcium needed by plants.

Manure that has not been aged can spread diseases to humans because it may contain pathogens, such as salmonella, E. coli, or parasites. Because of these dangers, fresh manure must be kept away from food crops, produce handling areas, gardening supplies used on food crops, and anywhere it can enter a water supply by runoff.

Quantities of manure that are required to amend a large garden can be hefty—and so can the bags manure is often packaged in. As a result, treating a large area with lots of manure can be physically difficult and exhausting.

The salt manure contains can build up in garden soil if manure is applied frequently over long periods, and the accumulated salt can damage plants, stunt their growth, or even prevent anything from growing in the salt-permeated soil. Manure that comes from cattle raised on feedlots is especially likely to contain lots of salt.

Using too much manure—or fresh manure—can result in damaged plants that are “burned” by an excess of nitrogen and other nutrients, though these components are beneficial in proper quantities. If excess nutrients are driven into other areas by rainfall, they can cause environmental problems as well. For example, excess nitrogen that enters a body of water can result in a harmful algae bloom.

What are the three types of manure?

Manure falls into three broad types or categories: green manure, farmyard manure, and compost manure. Green manure is a bit of a misnomer, as it’s not the animal waste we traditionally associate with the term “manure.” Instead, green manure refers to cover crops. As the name implies, farmyard manure is made of animal waste and materials commonly found with it, such as livestock bedding or feed, animal hair, or the food farm animals eat. Compost manure is farmyard manure that has been composted during its aging process.

What fertilizer is high in nitrogen?

You can often tell which fertilizers are high in nitrogen if you know what the numbers on fertilizer packages mean. When you see a set of three numbers separated by hyphens (such as 30-10-20), the first number gives you the percentage of nitrogen the fertilizer contains. Urea is a fertilizer that’s 46 percent nitrogen, while ammonium sulfate has 21 percent. In comparison, standard landscaping fertilizers range from 2 to 12 percent nitrogen.

What is the purpose of fertilizer?

Because as plants grow, they will deplete even the richest soil of nutrients as they use them, fertilizer exists to replenish these nutrients and keep your garden’s soil stocked with the nutrition plants need to thrive. Fertilizers most commonly contain nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, but they may contain other nutrients, such as sulfur, magnesium, and calcium. Some fertilizers contain only one or two nutrients to suit specific needs. In some cases, fertilizers can help plants grow faster, produce bigger blooms, or yield larger fruit and vegetables. You’ll often hear people refer to fertilizer as plant food, but this isn’t quite accurate. Plants make food for themselves using the process of photosynthesis. Fertilizer is more like a multivitamin for your plants.