"Black Kow" brand compost

Does anyone have any experience with "Black Kow" brand compost that they can share?

Thanks

I am always suspicious of the ability to compost properly when they can't spell. LOL

Good point, but at 5.00 per 50lb when I don't have any ready (compost) and do not want to use non-organic fertilizers, I thought I would try and find someone here who had used that brand and get their comments before committing money to the soil building project.

i think it's mushy and repels yet holds water at the same time. i know that doesn't make sense. when it's dry, it seems to form a hard barrier. you don't ever want to put it in a pot. very well mixed in with your own garden soil would probably be ok. my local ace hardware sells their own brand of compost and the black kow as well. at 1.79 a bag for the ace stuff, i use that one and it seems to blend in better with my own soil.

trackinsand - what size bag is that for 1.79. Also I am using forest topsoil instead of the sand/clay which the yard is built of, in raised beds. We do have an Ace here and I am sure beyond a doubt that is they do not stock it they would order it in for me.

dyson, 40# bags. they come in on palettes. i picked up about 50 bags over the past 2 months to do some top-dressing and amendment. they also carry ace brand topsoil and ace brand potting mix. so far i like the compost pretty well. it's better than what i had, sand! the ace's that are more out in the country seem to carry that stuff. check your surrounding areas for an ace that may already carry it.

I have found the Black Kow cow manure to be less than great; like Tracks says, it is either rock hard or swamp muck. However, I like the Black Kow brand mushroom compost.

Thanks folks, I will check with the local ACE (we are kinda "out in the woods" here).

I did a run at the ACE website w/o much luck, I think they need some help in the IT Dept will check the store tomorrow afternoon. Thanks everyone for the info.

This message was edited Jan 29, 2007 6:53 PM

Just a comment. I understand that Black Kow and other brands are made from commercial feed lot processed manure and other waste, and contains a high level of salt, maybe too much for some plants.

Me thinks that any commercial manure bagger is getting their material from feedlots. No where else to collect the volumes they need. We gardeners are the only ones dumb (ambitious) enough to gather from many sites small volumes.

Dyson,

FWIW, I saw a ref. to this in another forum - manure, not compost. This person loves it!

http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=3167461

Suzy

What type of compost does the guy at your local feed store sell?

Gotta check out SS (southern states) tomorrow.

I used Black Kow for the first time last year. I think that the texture was fine. There were some harder lumps from time to time, but most of it was fairly smooth - just like when you are adding any other additive. There definitely was a slight oder, but that disappeared when I opened up the mulch, which really smells.

It is hard to tell how well it actually helped the soil. Since this was my first growing season at this house, I don't have another comparison. I can say that it was inexpensive, and I really liked the fact that it was natural. I will probably be using some again next year. I am trying to cut back on using chemicals where ever I can.

Here it's way more expensive than the generic composted cow faeces in bags, which is usually around a buck a bag -- or was, a few years ago, when I was buying a lot to try to improve my soil for roses, asparagus bed, and so on. (And what's the big idea of selling this stuff by weight, anyway?) From the descriptions above, Black Kow doesn't sound much different from the generic version, which had all the lump, water repel/absorb, and other problems described.

I should buy a trailer for my Rav4 (rolled the Explorer the other year) and start hauling in horse manure from the farms to the south near Ocala. Sheet compost it and whack down the grass that springs from undigested hay seeds, or whatever. Oh, and maybe a couple stinky hogs in a movable pen would grub up all the perennial weeds here as well...

Mark., sigh

Or chickens.

They'll also forage for the seeds before they sprout, too...

I agree the mushroom compost from the same company is good, but I've never been impressed by the black kow stuff ;o)

I've done well with black kow here. I wonder if it's processed in more than one place. I use it liberally every spring along with bone meal to get my plants started. Lowe's started handling another cheaper brand and I got it because it seemed to spread nicely but then I noticed it is full of sand.
If I could find a better composted manure I surely would give it a try. My son-in-law works for Gaia herbs and they grow strictly organically using chicken manure. He has promised me some.