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Free Manure choices.

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Harry:
Might be a daft question, sorry.
I don't know my 5h1t about manure.
My new allotment has a pretty rubbish compost heap, so I;ve gone in search of free manure to augment it. That brought me to a few local Facebook Marketplace listings. One nearby is offering bagged up fresh manure and one a bit further away has 'well rotted' stuff to be dug from a big heap. I figure the well rotted is the better option, but is there an upside to taking the fresh stuff.
E.g. Could I use the well rotted stuff direct, but compost the fresh stuff?
daft question 2. Which would go better on my rhubarb? (and don't say custard)

I've asked the gifters about herbicides. Am I worrying too much?

Obelixx:
Not a daft question.  Herbicides with aminopyralid are often used on pastures and then pass thru the grazing animal's digestive system and end up in their manure.  They can be toxic to gardens and kill or deform plants in beds where the manure has been used.

Assuming your manure is OK, well-rotted can be used straightaway to improve fertility in beds or as a mulch round individual plants/shrubs/trees tho you shouldn't spread it up against the stems of shrubs and trees.  Lay it as a doughnut ring around the trunks rather than a volcano shape heaped up the stems.

Fresh manure needs 18 months to 2 years to rot down well.  Using it fresh can burn plants as the uric acid content is too strong.   Good compost heap activator tho.

I suggest you get both so you can use one immediately and employ the fresh stuff to get your compost heaps moving and keep that cycle going with fresh deliveries each year.

Beersmith:
Composting is not as easy as it seems.  I have one heap that has completely stalled, initially through lack of moisture but despite my efforts now seems inert.  The material has not properly rotted but seems almost preserved.  The volume is about a cubic metre and I'd like to get it to a state where it could be spread or dug back in to the plot.  I'll be pinching the idea to use fresh manure to get it active again. I'm pleased you asked.

Obelixx:
Cold composting - ie a heap too small to generate heat and rot quickly - can take a year or more and you do need to turn it once or twice to add air.   If it's dry, adding water can help or, when you do turn it, adding in layers of fresh grass clippings or green weeds or fresh manure.

I take the lids off our metre cube bins when it's raining and then put them back when it stops but we do have other loose heaps with no lids and they just have to get on with it.

Harry:

--- Quote from: Beersmith on March 03, 2023, 21:12:55 ---Composting is not as easy as it seems.  I have one heap that has completely stalled, initially through lack of moisture but despite my efforts now seems inert.  The material has not properly rotted but seems almost preserved.  The volume is about a cubic metre and I'd like to get it to a state where it could be spread or dug back in to the plot.  I'll be pinching the idea to use fresh manure to get it active again. I'm pleased you asked.

--- End quote ---
Indeed compost is a living breathing thing that needs care.
Last year, my little dalek composters roared into life (>60C) after I mixed in some swept up sycamore ( i think) leaves that had been laying on the ground, pavement  and in the gutter  from autumn into winter. It was a green area in a housing estate where the wind had a habit of swirling leaves to a quiet ignored patch of footpath. They'd almost decomposed where they lay. I just went out with a builders bag and scooped them up, to the amusement of nearby homeowners.
Made great compost.
If you don't mind pulling out the odd crisp packed, or whatever, the streets on a suburban estate can be paved with '****' :)

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