Neal ...
The guy at Lowe's is correct.
"cow patties" ... all steer manure ... contain a lot of salt. If you water the plant very well the day before you add your cow patties, you reduce that toxification affect. Too much salt will kill soil organisms and burn the feeder roots of plants. After you have applied your manure, water it in well. That, too, will reduce the impact of using straight manure.
There is no need to put manures in the planting holes. The feeder roots of most plants are near the surface. Since nature drops all organic materials on the surface, plants have adapted by putting those roots where the nutrients are found. Soil bacteria which break down the nutrients are also more active near the surface because they have work to do.
Horse manure contains less salt than steer manure ... not sure about chicken poo ...
I haven't research this myself, but learned it from my rose mentor. He had a garden of over 1,000 roses in the high desert in southern California. A friend would deliver trailer loads of horse manure to his garden. Kim told me that he even applied fresh poo to roses in that garden using the method described above.
There is a caveat. Kim was gardening in an arid climate with high heat, which breaks down the manures faster than if he was gardening in a cooler or a more humid climate.
However, the information about the salt content and soil bacteria is not climate specific.
Smiles,
Lyn
