Hi All - what would the best way (and cheapest solution) be of introducing ammonium nitrates to the soil that is mixed with dug in horse manure with shavings to replace the AN used to break it down?
Are you trying to apply a nitrate fertilizer to replace the nitrates that will be used up when the shaving breakdown?
If so then you have the choice of Potassium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulphate, urea, Dried blood or Hoof and Horn.
Organic based nitrogen feed like chicken manure pellets are ideal..they readily release the nitrogen but without being too quick or slow to finish. You could use growmore..or..you could wee into watering can and give it 'splash' of that over the area every now and then.. ;D
Unless you know anybody that keeps chickens/pigeons and is willing to part with their 'mess', next cheapest would be chicken manure pellets.
In our lottie shop 20kg sack of pellets is around £9.00...if you don't have lottie shop..shop around..there is always lot of deals out there with ck.pellets.
I am not sure if I have understood the question, but the nitrogen is not 'used' to break it down, rather it is 'combined' in the process.
Adding shavings will reduce the amount of nitrogen that is immediately available but replace it with nitrogen that is available over a longer time period.
Microbes use carbon, nitrogen and other nutrients from materials added to the pile to support their own growth. Nitrogen is the main nutrient found in manure; carbon is the main element found in bedding material. The challenge is to ensure the proper proportions of carbon and nitrogen needed for successful composting.
The carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N) of a material is an estimate of the relative amounts of these two elements. A ratio of about 30:1 is ideal for composting. Table 2 shows the approximate ratios for some materials commonly added to compost piles.
A mixture of one part manure with two parts bedding (by volume) usually gives a reasonable mix for rapid composting. However, the amount and type of bedding can alter the C:N ratio and influence the management needed for successful composting (refer to "Bedding Tips.").
Taken from http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex7956
As goodlife says, the cheapest source of nutrients (not just N) is liquid gold.
Thanks for the replies - I have added some chicken pellets and growmore so it should all work out well..