Horse Manure as fertilizer ?

[Sawyer Rob]

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.

That is true, the carbon (wood) binds up the N, BUT! Once the carbon is composted out, it RELEASES the N, so you get it back...

BTW, I'd take all the horse poop I could get! Personally I get all the turkey poop I want, and most all the cow poop I want too, but I'd not turn down available horse poop!

SR

 

[NorTracNY]

I believe the horse poop is the only good thing about horses! Yes, as others have correctly stated, horse manure will have more seeds than cow. Good composting will greatly reduce that. I turn my piles about 8 times before using.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I put it straight into the garden between the rows, then cover it heavy with grass... I don't care what kind/amount of seeds are in it, they never have the chance to grow!

SR

 

[grsthegreat]

Ive tried it in the past with no luck. First off, if the horses are fed grass hay expect lots of grass and weeds. If there fed an alfalfa diet, the manure wont have the weed issues.

My horses eat grass hay.

Second, i composted a pile for 2 years then ran soil tests on pile. All i could get were trace P and N. Not very impressed with quality of fertilizer.

Tested some steer manure... Off the charts.

Ill stick to the bagged steer manure. Also, its weed free

 

[grsthegreat]

That is true, the carbon (wood) binds up the N, BUT! Once the carbon is composted out, it RELEASES the N, so you get it back...

BTW, I'd take all the horse poop I could get! Personally I get all the turkey poop I want, and most all the cow poop I want too, but I'd not turn down available horse poop!

SR

your a poop-a-holic

 

[Sawyer Rob]

your a poop-a-holic

AND proud of it!! lol

SR

 

[tcreeley]

AND proud of it!! lol

SR

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Sodo]

AND proud of it!! lol
SR[/QUOTE]

Thats nice Rob! You EAT all that stuff?
I'm envious of folks living the good life on the land.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Thats nice Rob! You EAT all that stuff?
I'm envious of folks living the good life on the land.

Naaaaaa, we leave the poop behind!! ha ha ha

I have two fair sized gardens and we do can/freeze for the winter months... The pict above is of my front garden, here's the back garden,

Both picts are from last year...

SR

 

[McREBEL]

I tilled in some fairly fresh horse manure in the garden once a couple years ago. I don't plan to ever do it again with fresh. It was full of viable grass seed. With the composted stuff you shouldn't have much of a problem. I just got some from my neighbor that has been composting for a coupe of years. Hopefully this weekend I can get it spread over the garden. I had planned to till it in but couldn't get it until after the garden had been planted. It may or may not not work miracles. The benefit will depend on what nutrients are in the composted manure and what nutrients the soil is in need of. I also have some partially composted sawdust that I am going to put in the middles with a little MAP sprinkled under it. That will get tilled on to the bed next spring.