Manure as mulch - how steaming?

[Lottie3]

Can anyone help? Can I use horse manure as mulch for bare beds - don't know how old it is but thought I might be able to use it if I'm not digging it in.

Thanks you.

Lottie 3

[Lottie3]

[sandersj89]

Do you know what bedding material was used for the horses, if it is wood shavings these can take upto 3 years to breakdown and if not rotted they can lock in nitogen.

Jerry

[sandersj89]

Jerry   I have never seen manure with wood shavings in it.  Do you think it's a regional thing but all the stuff I have is on straw so I assume everyone else's is  ;D

Not sure about the regional aspect but many stables use wood shavings as straw is more expensive and some horses dont like it as it can give them an alergic reaction.

Jerry

[sammyd]

we got some manure about a month ago... it seemed to have more straw and shavings than poo.....


still in a pile until i find out what to do with it

[Icyberjunkie]

Lottie3,  you can generally tell how old it is by its appearance.  THe more it looks like compost the older, the more it looks like balls of horse poo the younger it is!   If it smells of urine its very fresh and best kept away from your plants.

With regards the mulching,  I use it all over my flower beds in the garden and under the apple trees and raspberries as a mulch on the lottie so you should be fine.

Iain

[Lottie3]

Thank you all

I love those little worms - I think garden centres should sell worms instead of spades.

I got the manure from an animal sanctuary which has mostly horses and goats ... oh and a pot belly pig. They have a mound about quarter football pitch in size and walk the fresh stuff round to the back I discovered today when I went to get more. The stuff I have is wet but seems like soggy earth - it's with straw. I took the plunge today and laid it as a mulch over a couple of my beds.

Here's hoping my clay will turn into miracle soil.

Lottie

[growmore]

This is getting spread on one of my plots tomorrow to over winter.Fresh delivered today.
Jim

[Lottie3]

I get the picture literally  ;) - think I need a few more trips to load my little car up managed a bed and a half  ith 15 bags just another 10 beds to go phew.

[the_snail]

I had 3 ton of it for my birthday when I reached 21 :D

That was 7 years ago but hey I love a pile of horse or cow poo.

The_Snail