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Roses and Rabbit droppings?

18 years ago

Does anyone know if I can use rabbit droppings in the garden without composting them first? The rabbit hutch gets cleaned out once a week and I can't help wondering if I could just scatter all that 'free' manure around the roses!

Thanks for your help. Happy Gardening.

Provence

Comments (11)

  • 18 years ago

    Sure, go ahead and use it. Rabbit manure is full of organic material and works best when scratched into the soil.
    The NPK is 2.4-1.4-0.6. The site I got this info from recommends waiting 3 weeks before planting food crops.
    If scattered well when applied you can use it fresh from the rabbit or apply it out a little way from the base of the bush.

  • 18 years ago

    My friend's mom makes rabbit poo tea. Her plants love it.

  • 18 years ago

    I usually dump the whole pan. I assume the urine breaks down over time, shavings too I hope.

    Carla

  • 18 years ago

    Most manures are very low in nitrogen, which makes it surprising that they actually can, and sometimes do, burn plants. What actually burns the plants is a rapid release of ammonia gas, triggered by contact with soil organisms. The ammonia gas comes from either urea (mammals) or from uric acid (birds). Mammals excrete their urea in their urine, not in their feces. It's fresh mammal urine and not fresh mammal feces which can burn plants. Fresh rabbit pellets are perfectly safe (but Carla, dumping the whole pan including the rabbits' urine, is clearly not a good idea). Fresh chicken manure can be risky because birds excrete their uric acid in their feces. Fresh cattle manure can be risky because it usually contains the straw from the animals' bedding, which may have soaked up lots of urine, which contains urea. Actually, ammonia sticks tightly to soil and even fresh cattle manures containing lots of urine will usually not burn plants if they are worked well into the soil, are not used in excess, and are not placed in direct contact with the roots.

    Most synthetic water-soluble fertilizers contain very large amounts of urea but I think gardeners are less likely to see fertilizer burn with Miracle Grow, compared to manures, simply because 1) Miracle Grow comes with label directions and 2) being both more concentrated and water soluble, Miracle Grow is easier to mix into the soil.

  • 18 years ago

    Thank you, Mike Rivers, I can attest to the chicken manure. My mother never used it in the flower garden or nursery plants, but it was composted and used in the "food" garden. My SIL bought my mother's nursery and all her plants when my mother took to her sick bed and the first thing my SIL did was douse all the daylilies with chicken excrement and burned up about 1200 daylilies.

  • 18 years ago

    I used fresh rabbit manure on my roses for years.

    I am assuming the hutch is outdoors. What I had set up was a wire mesh screen for their tray--that way the urine drained down into the ground below and I was able to collect only pellets

  • 18 years ago

    Thank you everyone - I have already given the first roses their rabbit manure treats, like everything else in my garden it will be strictly organic! I will be sure to give the rabbit the first rose petals of the year in return.

    Happy gardening.

    Provence

  • 8 years ago

    I'll bet your roses have out-bloomed my neighbor's!

  • 8 years ago

    At the end of winter many sections of rose beds are covered in rabbit droppings. I figure it's a fair trade, the rabbits shear back some of the roses, help with the pruning, and the droppings are a natural fertilizer. I've not had any problems with the droppings...

  • 2 years ago

    @mike_rivers you have answered a burning question I have had for some time now! Every source I read says you have to compost cow, horse, and especially chicken manure before using because they're "hot" due to the nitrogen (they say), but rabbit manure can be used because it is cold. Since rabbit manure has a higher N rating, I didn't understand this, but thank you for the explanation!! It makes perfect sense because fertilizers with higher N ratings than manure and don't burn, and dog pee makes grass yellow but their poop does not.