what us the best manure to use horse or poultry i have just brought a tub of poutlry manure but sure what is best.
I'm thinking that they're both invaluable as fertilisers, but horse manure will also improve the structure of the soil?
Don't think I'll be able to get horse stuff this year (unless I do a moonlight raid at Shirl & Bunjy's place ::)) so it'll be chicken pellets for me all the way :-\
Yer can keep yer thievin ands orf me muck
Quote from: dawn34 on March 25, 2007, 14:12:22
i have just brought a tub of poutlry manure but sure what is best.
Do you mean chicken pellets? If so, fork them in when you're planting, or just to add a boost to growing crops. If you can get your hands on (sorry - re-phrase that!) horse manure, go for it! Dig it in or spread it as a mulch. It's a long-term conditioner for the soil. We're lucky on our allotments - there's a stables on-site and we have a stack the size of a large bungalow to barrow away every year!
sounds just like the load I had
Quote from: shirlton on March 25, 2007, 18:16:03
sounds just like the load I had
>:( >:( >:(
;) ;D
Now there's a money making idea, hire out a few plots as stables and charge for the muck....
:-X
I can get a ton hot and steaming for £15.
Two questions. do I need to leave it to rot down? Is a ton to much ( the bloke next to me got some this morning and looked one hell of a big pile!
Gary
Gary, there's no such thing as too much muck -- and certainly not horse muck!
But you will need to let it rot before using it or it'll be too hot and steamy for your plants. You'll want to find a bit of tarp or something to cover it with... both to keep the rain off and to stop people from just helping themselves to a bit ...
The exception to the 'let it rot' rule is if you want to make a hotbed and use some of that heat, the way those clever Victorian kitchen gardeners did...
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/todo_now/faqs.php?id=162
and
http://www.greenchronicle.com/gardening/hotbed.htm
Had a lovely day today shovelling 28 bags of well composted horse manure home for the veg patch. What the neighbours must think when we lifted it all out of the car (several journeys) I don't know!
We've also turned one of the compost heaps into a 'hotbed' for courgettes this year so it was interesting to see the above links. We've taken a slatted compost heap that was half full of rotting vegetation and covered it up with a load of pretty well rotted turf that we took up last year. It looks the job, more by luck than judgement, it will be exciting to see how it pans out. It's coverred by weed suppressing membrane for now until it's time to sow.
Ooh I'm excited!
Sand
How long does it take to "rot down" before I can use it?
How long to compost horse muck? Depends on a lot of variables, but anything from three months to a year.
How to speed things up:
Make a big heap (three feet deep if you can) to get it good and hot.
Mix the muck with straw (old straw is perfect) -- the straw soaks up nutrients from the manure which otherwise can leach away.
Keep the heap covered.
Keep it damp (you should be able to squeeze water out of a handful but it shouldn't be dripping).
Turn the heap every few weeks to allow air through. If you can't do this, I know large-scale composty people who push pvc pipes into their heaps to let air through.
Will manure from the middle of a big pile at a stable be rotted enough to use straight away? My mate runs a livery stable, next time they have their heap cleared she's going to keep me a few bags from the middle, was expecting to be able to use it straight away. Wishful thinking?
Yep, pye, you'll very probably be in luck!
Basically, if the stuff in the middle of the heap looks crumbly and soil-like, and doesn't smell like horse poo, it's ready to go.
*is very, very jealous of pye* ;)
I need to find some nearby stables!
The stuff that the guy next to me got was still steaming and it was warm today at the plot.
Mine was quite mixed when I got it in the autumn so I mixed it as I penned it up. The stuff that was a bit older I spread on the parts of the plot that I wasnt gonna grow roots in and its kept the weeds down a treat and made it easier to dig.
we managed to get 8 year old stuff this year, just like lovely, crumbly soil..trouble is, it had all sorts of bricks, plastic bags, drink cans, even horse tack and brushes..apparently, the farmer refused to take it as it kept cloging up his mahine..lucky us !! ;D
our lotty commitee has strarted getting in well rotted stuff and will charge us 50p a barrel which seems fair as it costs them . i hope some don,t take advantage of it being a informal arrangment and not pay up as if it dosn,t work out they will not do it anymore
marg