Topic: rotting manure?

[paulie q]

hi there, I'm looking to start a small veg plot in my garden which I have only prepared just over two weeks ago. I mixed in a load of manure into my bed which hasn't been rotted down.

is it OK to plant my veg or should i leave it until next year? also are there any risks to human health from using this manure?

[javahart]

I'm still new to this but the old timers on my site say its fine to plant potatoes with fresh manure, they love it! 

There are four groups of veg - potatoes, legumes, roots, brasicca & I know that brasica's and roots hate manure due to it being more acidic.

Check this link out
http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/crop-rotation/

[saddad]

The only health risk is if you don't wash your hands properly and end up ingesting some of it...

My brassicas love it... I've had the best sprouts ever for the last two years when I put a 6" layer of muck on the bed and then turned what was left in before planting out the brassicas.  :-X

[:(]

also are there any risks to human health from using this manure?

tetanus if it gets in a cut or graze.

[Geoff H]

If you are a gardener you must ensure that your tetanus jabs are up to date. It is not just in manure, its in the soil.

[PurpleHeather]

A few years ago we had a very low bed. We filled it in Autumn with manure ( a couple of feet of it. Put black plastic over it for winter. Then In June the courgette marrow pumpkins and butternut squash went into it. It was still breaking down and an army of worms had accumulated to help it along. There was a good crop from it.

It was dug over after the harvest and left until March the next year when potatoes were planted in it. Another good crop, when the spuds came out. Over wintering onions went in.

It is lovely soil now.

There are no health risks known to me about growing vegetables and fruit in rotting horse manure. Horses, I am informed, have very delicate stomachs so their feed is restricted to what they can digest. There can be a risk if you use human manure of E-coli getting into the crop.

Before flushing toilets all waste went into a pit to rot down. Some remote areas in the world still have compost toilets and they may use that for their crops.

Personal hygiene such as washing the hands is obvious but a few people use a drop of bleach (milton for example) in the water when they are washing fruit and vegetables too, that should eradicate anything nasty still hanging around.

[lincsyokel2]

Umm there WAS a problem last year with horses eating grass that had been sprayed with the weedkiller Forefront, which then was found to be able to survive 12 months in a compost heap, contaminating any vegetables grown in it, so you should always try and ascertain  this scenario cant occur from the horse poo you a re using.

[Vortex]

Even well rotted manure may pose problems. I managed to pick up cow pox from 3 year old cow manure, and that was just by mixing it with compost when planting potatoes in tubs.
My problem was that the out-of-hours GP didn't know what it was and I only found out about 4 weeks later from talking to a friend who'd picked up a dose as a kid. I still have the marks 12 months later, although they're fading very slowly.

[pookienoodle]

If you are a gardener you must ensure that your tetanus jabs are up to date. It is not just in manure, its in the soil.

How often should you have them?
lots of conflicting advice on the internet.

[paulie q]

thanks for the tips everyone. i picked up the manure free from a local farm without really knowing what i was doing, i read elsewhere that some farms use a herbicide on the there land which therefore is digested by the horses. This may contaminate and effect the growth of your produce. I will go back and ask questions before i sow my seeds. Also does anyone know if there is a kit to test your soil for such contamination ?

[gwynnethmary]

If you are a gardener you must ensure that your tetanus jabs are up to date. It is not just in manure, its in the soil.

How often should you have them?
lots of conflicting advice on the internet.

Every 10 years- I rang my surgery today just to check when my next one is due.

[goodlife]

There is no kit to test soil contamination.
The reason this herbiside contamination came to be noticed that when people were using horse manure with the chemical in it, plants started to show signs of typical weedkiller damage..distorted growth, colour,,dying plants etc..
Signs are so obvious that you would question the health of the plants straight away..

[Robert_Brenchley]

The 'kits' were basically a flowerpot and a bean seed. It wouldn't take more than 2-3 weeks to get a result.