Topic: Picking up on Manure thread

[Les_Woof]

Morning,

Just about to start getting my compost area sorted and could do with some advise...again ;)

As we are vegetarian we do tend to have lots of peelings etc along with the usuall household compost ingredients so I was going to fill 2 large comost bins with this material.  We already have the bins so it would be a shame not to use them.

I was thinking about creating a manure enclosure, has anyone done this before and how did you go about it?

I wasn't aware that manure had to be a certain age, again I have learnt something new from the site...well done everyone :D

Is manure best to be left to rot on its own or should we mix everything up together?

All ideas and recommendations greatly received

Thanks

les.

[aquilegia]

If you leave the manure to rot by itself it's a very rich material - perfect for mulching or digging in.

If you mix it with the rest, it will (I'd guess) make your compost richer, but it won't be as rich as the pure stuff! It works as an excellent activator in compost.

Last summer I mixed one bag of manure in with my heap and it really helped to rot it down nicely. The rest I left to rot by itself.

I'm far too lazy to make an enclosure for mine - just left it tied in old compost bags and it rotted down well - kept warm and moist. Not sure if this is advisable, it's just what I did!

[Les_Woof]

Hi aquilegia,

thanks for the tip, I seem to make work for myself, what with enclosures and stuff.

how long did you keep your manure rotting for?  There was a thread here somewhere which said that it needs to be at least a year old, any ideas?

[cleo]

I`m a bit too lazy to stack it-grief I still have a small mountain to shift,it goes straight on the soil and the worms do the rest. But it is cow so not as `hot` as horse muck seems to get.

Just keeping my fingers crossed that it does not rain later on as I have about 100 bags of potting compost arriving this afternoon-I am mad ;)

Stephan.

[Les_Woof]

Good luck for this arvo :o :o  Seems like you have a lot to do.

Its raining here so heres hoping not with you
les

[tim]

Are you getting it fresh? If so, some on the compost would encourage it.

Age? Till it's ready!! Darkand crumbly  - no straw - as said in other threads. 6 months? Don't know. We only bring it in at that stage. = Tim

[aquilegia]

Les - it was probably only about three months that I let it rot, but then it was fairly well rotting when I got it (I picked the bits that looked most rotted so I didn't have to wait so long). My stables turns their heap regularly so it's usually quite easy to get at teh older stuff.

[cleo]

As Marvin the paranoid android may have said-"it rained not just normal rain but wet rain,still move this, tote that -they think I do this for fun"

;D ;D ;D

Stephan