Horse Manure as fertilizer ?

[hslogger]

The older the manure the sweeter the garden! If you don't want weeds nuke the heck out of everything. I've been using horse pucky on my gardens, and I never worry about weeds and don't worry about chemical leaching. My and my Troybilt and composted poop git along jes' fine thank ya. When you have manure stacked twelve feet from the ground up, and turn it and watch it cook, by golly most the weeds are fried out of it.

A totally weed free garden is a sick garden. Weeds tilled under can act as a green manure crop, and ad tilth to the soil. Weed seed, is another issue all together. Grow weeds, till em under. Or pull em and use them for mulch.

 

[tcreeley]

If the horse manure is not over a year old it will contain bedding (shavings, sawdust) that hasn't composted. In the garden, the bedding will soak up the available nitrogen as it breaks down. The trouble with that is that it will starve your vegetables of nitrogen. For a few years we put down fresh manure and wondered why the garden looked so bad. When we added 10-10-10 we had a wonderful garden. We still use horse manure, but we let it sit for a year or two before it goes into the garden.

In my area- weeds are going to grow regardless of what is in the manure. We deal with that by using biodegradeble corn starch plastic mulch. Saves a lot of work and controls the weeds. We run drip lines under the plastic mulch for watering.

 

[MacLawn]

Another one is "Milestone" which was fast-tracked thru the EPA ( just add $$ ) . Its legal for use even though it kills broadleaf plants for years. If Milestone was used on the pasture (kills knapweed) then the horse manure coming off that pasture will kill your garden for years (except for the grass ! ).

Yep, I read about this LONG lasting herbicide issue in horse mess too. There's a stable near me, free horse mess, but I'm afraid to get it. It'll kill ye land if they ate hay with that chemical in it.

 

[sd455dan]

Is this good as a fertilizer? Some say it is full of weed seed. I can get some, it's 2 - 3 years old. Will be using it on a small vegatable garden.

Thanks
Harvey

Its good fertilizer And yes it is true that any weeds that were in the hay the horses ate do seem to come up in areas where we used it- but Still think it was worth using.

We compost ours for at least a couple years before using it and also turn it a couple times each summer.

hope this was helpful

 

[dragoneggs]

My :2cents: Chicken first... it's hot! Second, steer... and then horse. Horse takes too long (for me) to break down. Steer is cheap and not 'hot' like chicken. Chicken is powerful stuff but just needs a winter to do its magic. Full disclosure... I am a hobbiest gardener. No commercial for me.

 

[NativeSon]

I have used Horse Manure(it is already paid for) for years. I use to get about 30 garbage sacks a year of Oak leaves from my Dad to till into the garden. It was excellent for the Black Gumbo that we had in Denton County. Now that we're in East Texas and we have sandier soil and I have horses I put the manure in in the Fall as the garden is shutting down. I spread it out over the garden and till it in with my Troybuilt tiller. I do this a few times over the course of the Fall. During the Winter I like to till the whole Garden turning it over before a hard freeze to kind of sterilize the dirt.

Come spring I like to put down straw or hay for mulch to minimize the weeds as much a possible. I think the manure really puts out some great tasting tomatoes.

Charlie

 

[Harvey9]

Thanks for all the replies, I picked up a load, and will try it. It looks good, there's no smell so I'm assuming it's been composting for 2 - 3 years.

Harvey

 

[RobertN]

Horse manure is great. You gotta get the pile hot(composting) to kill the seeds. A good compost pile will be hot and steamy when you turn it over.

A Guide to Composting Horse Manure

A 5-Step Guide to Composting Horse Manure - Smart Horse Keeping

 

[davrow]

Is this good as a fertilizer?

Is the grass green around the Capitol? Just sayin'.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Is the grass green around the Capitol? Just sayin'.

:laughing::dance1::laughing: Good shot!