You have highlighted the biggest deception in urban gardening: the low quality and high price of purchased manure. The old thinking that manures are cheap and clean no longer applies in the city, and we must abandon this approach to achieve our 70% hassle-free guarantee.

The Manure Market Reality (Bad Economics)

The decision to buy commercial manure (Cow Dung Manure or Farm Yard Manure) in the city is a financial and operational mistake for the rooftop farmer:

• The Cost Trap: When suppliers charge INR 5.00 to 10.00 per kilogram, your input cost becomes significant. A simple annual refresh for 100 pots costs INR 500 to 1,000. This expense is completely against the spirit of low-cost self-reliance.

• The Quality Trap: Most commercially available manures are poorly cured. This means you are actively introducing high risks:

o Diseases and Pests: Pathogens that survive poor curing.

o Weed Seeds: These will sprout in your containers, demanding constant weeding and directly violating our rule against unnecessary hassle.

Conclusion: Time to Pivot

Given the high cost and the certainty of introducing problems into your system, purchasing bulk manure is bad economics and bad farming practice on the rooftop.

We must move away from relying on external, low-quality sources for our bulk nutrition. There are better alternativesthat are guaranteed to be clean, high-quality, and cost-effective, and we will explore them in detail in the next section.