I put manure on my garden last year and my plants turned yellow. Any idea why?
Chances are the manure you used wasn't as well composted as it should’ve been. The fresher the manure is, the more nutrients it contains.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that manure that isn’t properly aged can do more harm than good when mixed into your garden. If it's really fresh it can burn your plants, which is why it's a good idea to make sure that any manure you're contemplating adding has been aged for at least a year. Even then, it can sometimes cause problems like the one you're describing.
The yellowing you're noticing in your plants is likely due to a lack of available nitrogen. This happens when the manure is still actively composting and requires its nitrogen stores to fuel the process. Once that process has reached a certain point, the remaining nitrogen will be available to your plants. But clearly it hasn't reached that point yet.
The solution is to start applying an organic fertilizer as soon as you notice any yellow leaves. Blood meal and fish fertilizer are both good for this.
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to me at vanessa@gardenmuse.ca.
