Cotton bur compost

[gbowland]

I'm going tio start an organic program this fall. I have used a lot cotton bur compost in my flower beds. Will it work just as well on my lawn? I have a newly planted Plametto St Ausgustine lawn. Unfortunately we are having brown patch problems because of using to much high N fertilizer and over watering. Did'nt want to dry the new grass out.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Newly planted St Augustine is often subject to fungal disease. You want to use ordinary corn meal at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet.

Compost is also a good idea on new sod to help establish colonies of good microbes in the soil. I don't know anything about cotton burr compost, but the big questions I have about cotton compost products are how much herbicide was sprayed on it, and how long has the compost been composting? If it has been composting long enough, then the effect of the herbicide is negated by all the bacterial activity from inside the compost. I would want it to be at least a year old.

[CCC/Kidnasty2001]

I can share a little insight into this very fine product. I know a man who works for a cotton burr composting company. What he explained to me is cotton burr compost is generated through a series of agricultural recycled wastes.

First the ranchers have towering cow dung piles they don't know what to do with, so the cotton farmers eventually found out if this dung is composted for a while it makes a great cotton soil fertilizer. So the cotton farmers took it off the ranchers hands and fertilized their cotton with it. After harvest time the cotton farmers are left with cotton burr, the pod the cotton is picked from. This pod is filled with all kinds of nutrients and such which is just waste to them. So the South Plains Compsting Company got a bright idea to snatch the cotton burr from the cotton farms and compost it, in turn making cotton burr compost ect. The whole process is supposedly natural beacuase more and more farmers are turning to organic fertilizers to help curve years of soil abuse from harsh chemicals.

Anyway this is straight from the source and I've used Back to Nature cotton burr compost and am quite pleased with the product.

[Billusa99]

I have used th Back to Nature stuff a lot... good stuff! It's fine enough to easily use in a spreader.
See here: http://www.backtonaturecompost.com/

[pridgeon]

Yes, the manure is nice but it's what the cotton is sprayed with while it's growing that's the problem. My co-worker's family grows cotton and she talks about spraying this and spraying that all growing season, insecticides and to me the worst is the defoliant they spray so they can harvest the cotton balls without any leaves getting in the way. Don't know if this is long-lasting in the burrs, but I'm not taking any chances!

[Billusa99]

pridgeon wrote: Yes, the manure is nice but it's what the cotton is sprayed with while it's growing that's the problem. My co-worker's family grows cotton and she talks about spraying this and spraying that all growing season, insecticides and to me the worst is the defoliant they spray so they can harvest the cotton balls without any leaves getting in the way. Don't know if this is long-lasting in the burrs, but I'm not taking any chances!

It would be worthwhile for all of us here if you would actually check the product's spec sheet before alluding to 3rd party hearsay, via your "co-worker" who in turn relates it from her "family," and then projecting it onto this product as if it were so.

Snips from the spec sheet:
A word about the chemicals used on cotton: The USDA and EPA now require that all chemicals used on cotton be biodegradable within a two week period. An additional safeguard with cotton grown on the Texas High Plains is that early freezes all but eliminate the need for chemical defoliation. Laboratory tests show that all potentially harmful elements and chemicals in Back To Nature Composts are well below the recommended EPA minimums and, in some cases, less than those that occur in nature. An additional safeguard is our voluntary compliance with the requirements of the United States Composting Council. Our products carry the USCC Seal of Testing Assurance.
....
Back To Nature composts are produced through aerobic, windrow composting for approximately three months at temperatures approaching 160F, ensuring the elimination of insects, weed, chemicals and pathogens. They are then screened to the desired texture, packaged, and stored inside for curing to ensure the customer of a consistent, high quality product.


And, another snip (and why I like it so much!):
When properly composted, cotton burrs are a natural fertilizer with a protein content of approximately 35 percent, making them an excellent food source for the beneficial soil organisms that help to make nutrients available to plants, as well as aerating the soil and helping to keep harmful organisms and diseases in check. The outstanding ability of cotton burr compost to loosen tight, clay soils has been common knowledge in the Southern United States since the invention of the cotton gin. Cotton burr compost has excellent moisture retention characteristics and, unlike peat moss, accepts and retains water easily and also re-wets easily if dried out.

So, enjoy and have no worries. :wink: