Cotton Burr Compost

I was given some composted cotton burr soil conditioner. Has anyone used this product as an amendment (in slightly alkaline clay soil) and how were your results?

I'm going to prep an annuals bed this afternoon and think I'm going to try it...any thoughts?

Most composted cotton burr contains lots of beneficial bacteria which help bind soil particles together. This binding process (formation of aggregates) will open up pore spaces in the soil, leading to increased oxygen and water to the roots. At the same time, salt will be leached/flushed through the soil profile (providing that your water is salt-free).

In the trials we conducted, we also incorporated steer and chicken manure with the cotton burr compost to obtain increased microbial diversity which led to improved growth.

Hope this answered your question. Good luck!

2007-05-12 07:13:23 by Julie

Back to Nature Cotton Burr Compost

Does anyone use it? It is the one of the best soil additives you can buy, actually softens the soil to a depth of at least 18", and can be bought by the bag at most garden centers. Sometimes sold under the brand name "Back to Earth".
I have used this stuff in my own garden for15 years, or since it first became available, and I can testify that it is no hype.One of the very best natural fertilizers that there is.
Back to Earth and Back to Nature brands are both certified organic. It is true, research your source. Besides, I don't grow veggies, I have deer and groundhogs.
I mulched my garden one drought year with composted cotton burr, and when I went to plant my bulbs in the fall, with no rain for 3 months, I expected to find rock hard soil, and to my surprise, I could almost dig the holes with my fingers, it was so soft and loose.

We use "Back to Earth" compost at our stores. I highly recommend it for all outdoor trees and shrubs especially if you live in the Southwestern part of the U.S.

It works really great. You should use it at about 50% current soil and 50% BTE compost. Their is also an acified compost for soils with low acid.

Remember it is a SOIL conditioner and it does have some organic fertilizers.

BTW...BTE compost has NO chemicals, or harmful pathogens it works great in sandy soils which is what most of the southwest has.

2007-11-16 23:03:31 by Isadora

Price: $10.95 $10.95

Hi! little help needed here....

I just started my first square foot garden (I live in zone 5a, midwest)- I have two 4x4 aprox 11 inch high beds with drainage-hole-poked weed block fabric underneath and I am concerned about my "soil," make-up.

I watered the beds for the first time today and I feel a bit worried. Moisture didn't get wet all the way down until I made my beds look like a swimming pool for a bit on top... maybe that's to be expected for the first watering? It seemed slow to drain down... also I had a bunch of vermiculite float up, and the texture of the wet soil seemed more course and dense than I had anticipated.

I did not follow the "mel's mix" (1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 compost) recipe because of cost, research on all compost beds, and desire to have slightly deeper beds.... but here is what I have:

In each bed there is:

1 Cubic foot mushroom compost from nursery
1 Cubic foot mushroom compost from wal-mart
1 Cubic foot wood-fines compost from wal-mart
1 Cubic foot cotton-burr compost from nursery
1 Cubic foot hen manure compost from nursery
1 Cubic foot cow manure compost from nursery
1 cubic foot "5 mix" from wal-mart (compost, peat moss mix)
2 compressed cubic feet of peat moss (half a 3.9 bale)
2 cubic feet of medium vermiculite (half a 4 cubic FT bag)

depth - aprox. 9 inchs, now less after watering, more like 6-7
plants to grow - carrots, tomatos, cukes, zucchini, basil, onions, beets, peppers

Have I gone wrong somewhere? Should this be ok? Should I throw some seeds in and hope for the best or try to add something else?

If I missed anything, is it too late to add something and mix well now that it's all moistened?

Thanks for your help!!!
please please any suggestions will be helpfull!

You may have watered too fast. Try turning the hose on just enough to trickle, and leave it running for hours til you get it wet to the depth you want.

Also, your soil mixture is very rich in organic materials and you might not get good drainage, or there might be too much nitrogen. You could possibly have that beginner's disease where we all try too hard. If twas me, I'd have not used peat moss because it can mat up under certain conditions. One kind of compost mixed with plain old loam would have been fine. Don't be afraid of a little sand, it helps with drainage.

Can you plant a variety of things that are "heavy feeders", like rhubarb, along with the other plants that have different needs - then if some die, at least you have the others, and you will know if your mixture is too rich or not.

Or, can you shovel your mixture out onto a tarp, pull up the fabric, dig out some soil from underneath the fabric, replace it with half of your mixture that's on the tarp, replace the weed fabric (if you want - personally I don't think you need it with 6 inches of new soil on top, and if you get rid of it, your bed can improve because of the rich mixture you just buried, plus earthworms that can crawl up and help with soil structure) then take the soil that was underneath the fabric and mix it with the remainder of your mixture that's on the tarp, water s-l-o-w-l-y and then plant?

Also, it's fun to make one's own compost, if you can.

Good luck! You'll be gardening circles around everyone soon!

2009-05-25 10:09:06 by aniumus

Organic Pottting Mixture
3 qt., 5 gal., & 10 gal. Sizes Available
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