Smelly Mel's mix

My father came over today and remarked that my MM smelled like a farm. I mixed a day ago. This got me to worrying, is it safe for plants if it's got a manure smell? My mix is:

2 CF shrimp/seaweed compost

2 CF cow manure bagged fully composted

1.5 CF cow manure with humus bagged fully composted (40lbs)

1.5 CF chickitty-doo-doo (40lbs)

2CF leaf compost

8 CF vermiculite

3.8 CF compressed Peat

I see now that I may be off with a bit extra compost, but is it enough to keep the manure smell? I thought likely its the chickitty-doo-doo that's making it smell. I planted strawberry's in the mix and just want to make sure I am not going to hurt my family using it too soon?

It smells like a farm because 3 of your 5 products came off a farm. The odor will dissipate. NO worries. The plants aren't going to care how it smells. You could put some shredded bark mulch on and that will keep some of the odor down if it bothers you. Remember, always wash the fruits and vegetables before they go to table.

Like Camp say's, it's what it is but it will sweeten up in about three days and stop smelling overly strong . I had the same prob with all twelve bags of my pourchased stuff

It will not have been aired whilst in the bags and will have usually have sweated a bit . Most bagged composts are not fully composted like they will be when you make your own. They are taken so far along the stages of composting usually just enough to be classed as composted and sold as soon as possible to generate cash asap .

It might also give a slight wiff when you water things but again over the next two or three weeks even that will reduce to almost nothing just like mine has.

plantoid wrote:Like Camp say's, it's what it is but it will sweeten up in about three days and stop smelling overly strong . I had the same prob with all twelve bags of my pourchased stuff

It will not have been aired whilst in the bags and will have usually have sweated a bit . Most bagged composts are not fully composted like they will be when you make your own. They are taken so far along the stages of composting usually just enough to be classed as composted and sold as soon as possible to generate cash asap .

It might also give a slight wiff when you water things but again over the next two or three weeks even that will reduce to almost nothing just like mine has.

Thanks to you both!!! As it's my first time, I became paranoid last night at work with fears of E-Coli and worse running through my head with my 2 year old son... I had convinced myself it was the worst thing I've done!!! You've put my mind to ease

philct wrote:

plantoid wrote:Like Camp say's, it's what it is but it will sweeten up in about three days and stop smelling overly strong . I had the same prob with all twelve bags of my pourchased stuff

It will not have been aired whilst in the bags and will have usually have sweated a bit . Most bagged composts are not fully composted like they will be when you make your own. They are taken so far along the stages of composting usually just enough to be classed as composted and sold as soon as possible to generate cash asap .

It might also give a slight wiff when you water things but again over the next two or three weeks even that will reduce to almost nothing just like mine has.

Thanks to you both!!! As it's my first time, I became paranoid last night at work with fears of E-Coli and worse running through my head with my 2 year old son... I had convinced myself it was the worst thing I've done!!! You've put my mind to ease

Gonna throw my 2 cents in here; take it or leave it as you wish: e-coli comes in many strains, some of which cause disease in humans, many of which don't...honestly, your son is far more likely to get an e-coli infection from touching a lizard, toad or frog, then putting hand to face. That's really common down here in the Deep South. My son got it when we moved here at around 10 months of age; we caught it right away, took him to the doctor, and antibiotics cleared it right up. He must've developed some immunity to that particular strain from that experience. I think the media hypes it up to make it sound much worse than it really is in most cases...the exceptions being the elderly and small infants who don't have the proper flora components in their guts and have weak immune systems. Make sure your son eats yogurt regularly, preferably an organic type, to ensure his gut flora is balanced.