Neutrog Cock-a-Doodle Doo, what it is and when to use it
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What it actually is
Cock-a-Doodle Doo is composted poultry manure that has been put through a pelletising process, which is the whole reason people use it instead of raw manure out of a trailer. Raw chook manure is strong enough to burn a plant, it smells for a fortnight, and it brings a crop of weed seed with it. Composting takes the heat out of it and the pellet makes it something you can spread with a gloved hand without wearing most of it.
The important part is that it is a soil food rather than a plant food, which sounds like splitting hairs and is not. A synthetic fertiliser feeds the plant directly and is gone in a few weeks. A composted manure feeds the microbes and the worms in the soil, they break it down slowly, and what you are really buying is soil that holds water and nutrient better next season than it did this one.
When to put it out
The best time is a few weeks before you plant, because it needs time in the ground to start breaking down and the plants will get more out of it that way. If you are setting up a veggie bed, get it in when you are digging the bed over rather than when you are putting the seedlings in.
On an established bed or around fruit trees, put it on at the start of the growing season and again partway through if the plants are working hard. Spread it around the drip line rather than piled against the trunk or the stem, because manure sitting against bark or a crown holds moisture there and that is how collar rot gets started.
Water it in properly once it is down. A pellet sitting dry on the surface is doing nothing for anybody, and it is also the version a dog is most likely to take an interest in.
How much, and the honest answer about rates
The rate is printed on the bag and it is different for a veggie bed than it is for natives or for a potted plant, so read it rather than guessing. What I will say is that people almost always go heavier than they need to on a pelletised manure, on the reasoning that if some is good then more must be better, and with anything manure based that is the way to burn young roots.
Spread it thin and even, then water it in. Go back in a month if the plants want more. You cannot take it back out once it is down.
Where it does not belong
Australian natives are the main exception, and it matters because a lot of people fertilise a whole garden with one bag. Plenty of natives, particularly anything in the grevillea and banksia families, are adapted to low phosphorus soils and a rich general fertiliser can do them harm rather than good. Natives get a native specific fertiliser, and that is a different bag entirely.
Seedlings and anything freshly transplanted are the other one. Wait until they have got going before you feed them heavily, because a plant that is still finding its feet does not need a rich root zone, it needs water and to be left alone.
Which bag do I actually want
The Neutrog range is easy to be baffled by, because half a dozen of the bags look like they do the same job. The short version is that the pelletised manures go in the ground and work slowly, and the liquids go through a hose or a watering can and work quickly, so most gardens end up wanting one of each rather than arguing about which is better.
If you are not sure which one suits what you are growing, bring a photo in and we will work it out at the counter. There are no stupid questions in a hardware shop, and this is a question we get constantly.
Shop related products
- Neutrog Cock-a-Doodle Doo 20kg. The composted poultry manure this post is about.
- Neutrog Rapid Raiser 20kg. The other pelletised manure based bag in the range.
- Seamungus Green 20kg. A pelletised soil conditioner if you want something to put through the whole garden.
- Neutrog GOGO Juice 2L ready to use. The liquid end of the range, for when you want something to act quickly.
Did you know we also keep several Neutrog lines in store that are not on the website, including Bush Tucker for the natives, Seamungus in the 10kg bag, Nincompoop and dolomite lime. Give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.
The full range we have online is in Neutrog garden products, and the rest of the garden centre is in garden products. A 20kg bag is an awkward thing to get into a car, so our local delivery runs Tuesdays and Thursdays, $5 around Strathalbyn and $10 on the regional run.
Keep reading
- How to build better soil in any garden
- How to turn compacted soil without wrecking your back
- How to make compost at home without it going wrong
I still think a bag of chook poo is the least glamorous thing in the garden centre and the one I would keep if I had to pick one.
Candeece
