Practical guide · Canary Islands
How to receive it, cover it, spread it and work it in so it feeds the soil, without smells and without flies.
An idea by Matías Cruz González, a partner at Granja La Cuesta
From the lorry to sowing, in six steps: the summary here, the details below.
Step 1 / 6
Manure that arrives without a plan ends up in a heap. And a heap means smell and flies.
Step 2 / 6
Where you tip it decides how much of a nuisance it is.
Step 3 / 6
A well-covered heap hardly smells, stays dry, and flies cannot lay eggs in it.
Do not add lime: it sends ammonia up, smells worse and wastes nitrogen.
Geotextile sheet
Plastic
Step 4 / 6
A thin layer dries faster and mixes into the soil better. A lump is a fly nursery.
Step 5 / 6
This is the step that removes most smell and most flies.
Step 6 / 6
Fresh poultry manure is strong: it needs a few weeks in the soil.
From the day the lorry arrives to the day you harvest.
Day 0
The manure arrives
Start spreading it the same day.
24 hours
Worked in
At the latest, from spreading. Better within the first few hours.
By law
10 days
Longest in a heap
Only if it cannot be spread sooner, and always covered.
By law
3–4 weeks
Plant or sow
Any sooner and it can burn the seed.
2 months
Harvest
At the earliest, from application.
By law
There is no single rate: it depends on the manure, your soil and what you grow. These figures are a guide for fresh laying-hen manure (around 1–1.5% nitrogen). Adjust them with the analysis and your adviser.
main and winter crops
A hungry crop. Add potassium if the analysis calls for it.
wheat, barley, rye, maize
Do not overdo it: too much and they grow tall, fall over and fill grain poorly.
broad beans, peas, lentils, chickpeas, beans
Little: they make their own nitrogen; the manure mainly gives them phosphorus and potassium.
One kilo per square metre is 10 tonnes per hectare.
A full wheelbarrow of fresh manure weighs about 50 kg. At 1 kg/m², it covers about 50 m².
Manures may add no more than 170 kg of nitrogen per hectare per year: with manure at 1.2% nitrogen, that is about 14 tonnes per hectare.
Flies lay eggs in moist manure and, in 7–10 days (less in summer), hundreds hatch. If the manure is spread and worked in within a day or two, the cycle is broken before it starts.
The smell is mostly ammonia, escaping while the manure lies in the open. Buried, that ammonia stays in the soil as food for your crop.
Gloves and an FFP2 mask when handling it, especially if it is dry and dusty.
Wash your hands before eating, drinking or smoking.
Clean wheels and tools before going back on the road.
The idea
Matías Cruz González
Partner at Granja La Cuesta
Granja La Cuesta is a family business in Gran Canaria that has been producing fresh eggs on its two laying-hen farms for more than 50 years.
granjalacuesta.comMade by
We build and look after websites for local businesses. We made this guide from start to finish:
A guide, not the law. What applies is Spain’s Royal Decree 1051/2022 on sustainable nutrition in agricultural soils, the Canary Islands Government’s rules for nitrate vulnerable zones and your municipality’s bylaws. If in doubt, ask your adviser or your island council’s agricultural extension office.
