RE: Horse manure?

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firefighterjake

Minister of Fire
Jul 22, 2008
19,588
Unity/Bangor, Maine
I need to get some manure on my garden this year . . . in the past I've always just gone to a local farm and picked up some cow manure . . . but I was wondering if I could also use horse manure in the garden . . . any disadvantages or advantages to using the horse manure vs. cow manure?
 
We got composted horse manure from the track in Saratoga in years gone by and it seemed to work well.
 
It all depends on what's in it and how fresh it is. Gardeners usually prefer horse manure because its more like fine grass clippings and not as gross as many other manures. The only downside to horse manure is if it has too much wood shavings in it, they will decompose slower than straw or straight horse manure. Also if it hasn't been hot composted beware of weed seeds from the hay.
 
cow manure - weed seeds and hay, maybe straw
horse manure - weed seeds and often pine shavings

both need to be composted or dug in fresh in the Fall to compost over the Winter.


I got some fresh cow manure one year and let it sit in a pile for a year to heat up and still ended up with a bazillion weeds I never had before.



I'd much rather have chicken manure.

I've been using blood meal and oak leaves for mulch and added to lawn clippings compost .
 
Something I just remembered was that the stuff I got from the track also had some remnants from plastic bags in there, maybe because it was from a racetrack operation.
 
+1 on the weed seeds unless hot composted. You might have luck with anything that has been sitting since last year. The reason the seeds can be excessive is inadequate processing as it works it's way down the digestive track, starting with poor teeth care.


Alot of shavings in the manure means a lazy stall cleaner, IMHO ...sift, sift, sift. Plastic usually means that the shavings bags were made of plastic, and were ripped and pieces left in the stall, then cleaned up when the stall was cleaned.
 
Hmmm . . . so I shouldn't work the manure into the garden this Spring . . . in the past I always just tilled the manure into the soil in the Spring and it seemed OK . . . more weeds perhaps . . . but I get weeds regardless of what I do.
 
If you don't mind the weeds, than it'd be ok to use stuff that had been sitting over the winter. Fresh is going to be very "hot", and the plants don't like that.
 
Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:
If you don't mind the weeds, than it'd be ok to use stuff that had been sitting over the winter. Fresh is going to be very "hot", and the plants don't like that.

Come to think of it . . . stuff I have used in the past was sitting outside for a bit . . . not sure how long though.
 
Chicken manure is great, but it also needs to "season" a while, or it will burn the plants.
 
There are few manures that should be applied directly without composting, or aging to allow water to leach out a bit of the nitrogen. Rabbit, llama, and I think sheep are safe. Rabbit comes in great spreadable form, but just getting the rabbit food is even better, and you can apply with a seed spreader.
 
We use our chicken manure; but usually do not add it to the gardens we are using after late Jan early Feb cause they will burn up plants quickly. You can compost it over time and will work the same way.
You can also look for mushroom dirt, it is a mix of horse manure and compost. We have used it successfully a few years ago before we got our chickens.
 
Rule of thumb has always been that you can use cow manure fresh but you will get lots of weeds.

Horse manure should always be composted for a year. Also expect lots of grubs in horse manure.

Chicken manure is hot stuff so spread it thin. If you can leave it for a year it is best but we've used it right out of the coop with no problems.

Rather than spreading it and then tilling, do your planting and then when the crop comes up, just spread the manure between the rows. The rains will wash the good stuff into the ground for the plants to feed on and spreading on top will also help hold moisture.
 
I think BeGreen posted here that a lot of herbicides are put on hay crops, and the residual herbicide may impede your garden plant growth.
 
I compost HM then add to the garden. I put 100% compost in the soil boxes & have good luck.
Composting breaks it down good & gets hot enough to cook the seeds.
Sometimes I mix garden compost with HM compost but , either way stuff grows well.
Last years cooked piles thawed enough to get the top 6" off & screened & put in storage bin yesterday. (Garden gold)
30 yards composts down to about 16 to 18 yards of done, screened compost.
Get more weeds if not hot composted but still helps.
 

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~*~Kathleen~*~ said:
I think BeGreen posted here that a lot of herbicides are put on hay crops, and the residual herbicide may impede your garden plant growth.

Around here I've never heard of any farmers putting herbicides on hay fields to be honest . . . and since I would be getting this manure from my Amish neighbor I suspect he doesn't use a whole lot of herbicides.
 
If you're afraid of herbicide residue on the hay that goes into the manure that goes on your garden that grows the veggies that you eat, then it is truly time to lock the doors and move into that bunker in the basement.

Lawn clippings may be a different matter, because homeowners don't care how much money they spend/waste per acre on chemicals.

Since you've already dealt with the weeds from the cow manure, the horse manure won't be any different. "stale seed bed" and weed burners are two interesting techniques for dealing with weed seeds if you have to, they both aim to kill off the weeds without disturbing the soil and causing more seeds to germinate. Organic farmers have some ways to reduce weed problems that are more sophisticated than brute force.

Compost vs fresh and how long you have to wait depends on what you're trying to do. Fresh manure has more nutrients (N mostly), so you don't need as much to provide the same fertility, but you can't add several inches of fresh manure and plant right away. You can plant some things directly into straight fresh compost.
 
benjamin said:
If you're afraid of herbicide residue on the hay that goes into the manure that goes on your garden that grows the veggies that you eat, then it is truly time to lock the doors and move into that bunker in the basement.

Lawn clippings may be a different matter, because homeowners don't care how much money they spend/waste per acre on chemicals.

Since you've already dealt with the weeds from the cow manure, the horse manure won't be any different. "stale seed bed" and weed burners are two interesting techniques for dealing with weed seeds if you have to, they both aim to kill off the weeds without disturbing the soil and causing more seeds to germinate. Organic farmers have some ways to reduce weed problems that are more sophisticated than brute force.

Compost vs fresh and how long you have to wait depends on what you're trying to do. Fresh manure has more nutrients (N mostly), so you don't need as much to provide the same fertility, but you can't add several inches of fresh manure and plant right away. You can plant some things directly into straight fresh compost.

Never said I was worried about the herbicides . . . but honestly I don't know of any farmers around here that use herbicides on hay fields . . . maybe on the corn sileage crops . . . me . . . not worried . . . and I'm certainly not a hippie . . . but if I have a choice of eating something that has been treated with or without chemicals I'll usually go with the chem-free food . . . providing it is comparable in quality and price.

Lawn clippings . . . again . . . no worries. Around here folks are not all that fanatical about their lawns for the most part. I know few folks who put anything on their lawns . . . heck, if we have a particularly dry summer many folks look at it as a good thing since it means less grass to mow. Only "fertilizer" my lawn gets -- and to my knowledge all of my neighbor's lawns -- is whatever grass clippings remain after mowing . . .
 
I'd really prefer not to have Crossbow, 2-4-D , Graze-On or any array of heavy metals from using sewer sludge for plant nutrients in my veggie garden.
 
firefighterjake said:
benjamin said:
If you're afraid of herbicide residue on the hay that goes into the manure that goes on your garden that grows the veggies that you eat, then it is truly time to lock the doors and move into that bunker in the basement.

Lawn clippings may be a different matter, because homeowners don't care how much money they spend/waste per acre on chemicals.

Since you've already dealt with the weeds from the cow manure, the horse manure won't be any different. "stale seed bed" and weed burners are two interesting techniques for dealing with weed seeds if you have to, they both aim to kill off the weeds without disturbing the soil and causing more seeds to germinate. Organic farmers have some ways to reduce weed problems that are more sophisticated than brute force.

Compost vs fresh and how long you have to wait depends on what you're trying to do. Fresh manure has more nutrients (N mostly), so you don't need as much to provide the same fertility, but you can't add several inches of fresh manure and plant right away. You can plant some things directly into straight fresh compost.

Never said I was worried about the herbicides . . . but honestly I don't know of any farmers around here that use herbicides on hay fields . . . maybe on the corn sileage crops . . . me . . . not worried . . . and I'm certainly not a hippie . . . but if I have a choice of eating something that has been treated with or without chemicals I'll usually go with the chem-free food . . . providing it is comparable in quality and price.

Lawn clippings . . . again . . . no worries. Around here folks are not all that fanatical about their lawns for the most part. I know few folks who put anything on their lawns . . . heck, if we have a particularly dry summer many folks look at it as a good thing since it means less grass to mow. Only "fertilizer" my lawn gets -- and to my knowledge all of my neighbor's lawns -- is whatever grass clippings remain after mowing . . .


Jake, if the hay is alfalfa then it may well have been sprayed. If not sprayed, the bugs can eat all the leaves rather quickly.
 
firefighterjake said:
~*~Kathleen~*~ said:
I think BeGreen posted here that a lot of herbicides are put on hay crops, and the residual herbicide may impede your garden plant growth.

Around here I've never heard of any farmers putting herbicides on hay fields to be honest . . . and since I would be getting this manure from my Amish neighbor I suspect he doesn't use a whole lot of herbicides.

You may be ok, particularly if you know the source of the hay that the animals ate and can confirm it is herbicide free.

Out here a lot of the "quality" hay comes from big eastern WA farms. They are allowed to use clopyralid as an herbicide to control Canadian thistle even though the stuff is persistent in the environment for several years. The Dow Agro herbicide clopyralid is commonly sold under the brand names Transline, Stinger, and Confront. It was banned in Western WA as a lawn herbicide in 1999 because of disastrous results to the compost industry and farmers. However, not to be thwarted, a few years ago the damn chemical companies came up with a new formulation that was not regulated (aminopyralid). Sold it to Western WA farmers as the way to have perfect hay. Last year they had major crop losses from spreading manure composts on their fields. This sh!t has to stop. You do not want long chain organo-chlorides in your garden or body.

http://crosscut.com/2011/01/05/agri...ead-Dow-to-seek-federal-change-on-herbicide-/
 
+1 Begreen.
It is sad how the little unknown & un-news media worthy things, are effecting our food chain. With no doable solutions..

Don't know the origin of the hay/food the horses I got the manure from that I processed into compost. My plants seem to like it.
I'm a fan of compost. Enjoy the process. Use several yards every year. No plan to stop using it.
 
I would too and am bummed that the chemicals are showing up in their composted poop. Once it's there its effects can last for years.
 
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