Topic: Horse poo ??? ???

[sheddie]

Hi all,

I've found this thread really useful - I have a huge pile of manure on my new allotment which the older guys advised me not to use as it was full of wood chips. They said it would 'knacker' (good old geordie word!) the soil and attract beatles - but even if it did - they'd just wander off surely?!!

Anyhow, I think I will try it bit by bit and see how it goes
Sheddie

[powerspade]

Several years ago  used rooted wood chips and saw dust on the bottom half of my plot result - nothing- yep nothing grew, No cabbage, sprouts, beans not even weeds. I was left with a plot of bare soil.

[ThomsonAS]

Great thread. Two weeks ago my significant other gave me a lorryload of horsesh*t with straw as a late birthday present ("You talk it half the time, so now you can fork it" was the message). It got dumped just where I was planning to have a shed!

I've since spread it over a couple of beds prior to digging in but am cautious about speading too much too soon - as I'm already having to plan my planting rotations around it.

I understand that raspberries and gooseberries and rhubarb like heavily manured soil but that parsnips and onions are less tolerant. My plan was to try a dozen autumn raspberry canes in one of the beds, courgettes in another, to mulch my rhubarb with some but to hang back on spreading the rest for a while (it SEEMS well rotted to me but what do I know? How do you tell? pH testing or what?)

I'd be grateful for folks' advice on whether or not I'm being stupidly cautious or stupidly reckless!

[froglets]

Heap it up on your rhubarb ThomsonAS.  Parsnips and carrots have a tendency to split and become multi legged when grow in rich soil, which is why you don't normally manure the beds for them, you will still get a crop it just won't be best in show.  It also depends on your type of soil.  We use horse manure at the lottie to break up the heavy clay and at home to bulk up the sandy soil.

If anything, I find I end up with too much nitrogen in the sandy soil flower beds & supplement with BF&B. 

[Old bird]

Hi ThomsonAS

[Old bird]

Lets try again!  Hit the wrong button!

To tell if horse manure is well rotted!  You can generally tell if it still has obvious straw content.  Also does it still have worms in.  Well rotted manure is just a glorious nearly black soil which has no visible worms (they work their way upwards and can only be found on manure that is still "raw")  Also well rotted manure has no distinctive smell.

On another thread - the hate Tesco thread! - the reason why we don't all get into discussion about Northern Rock - most of us don't understand what is going on and hate the thought that we the tax payers are paying for something that we don't understand and really, to a point, don't care about!

What a wonderful birthday present your significant other gave you!

Old Bird

 ;D

[kenkew]

It's been said not to get too worried about adding horse muck....I agree with that. If you got it, (lucky you) USE it!
 Someone mentioned onions...get hold of chicken s*it...leave it to cool off in a heap for a year then put lots on...lots! Turn it in lightly....you'll have good onions!

[hoonteo]

Good point about the wood chips. I used a wood chip mulch for my garden then noticed that a lot of the plants, the climbers especially, ended up with a good bit of chlorosis. I've had to feed them no end.

[GrannieAnnie]

I got 6 bags of it recently but had to clean my friend's stalls to get it! That was a first for me not being the horsey type. It is mixed with some wood shavings aromatic with urine. Really heated up the compost pile nicely. Yum!

[Eristic]

Everything LOOKS nicer after topdressing if nothing else.


Preparation for Jerusalem artichokes.

The light gave out before I was finished but that manure gets dug in and the same amount again is put on top after planting.

[kenkew]

Horse manure, 3 months on.