Well rotted horse manure.

The stables local to me has plenty of well rotted horse manure. Is now a good time to add it to my various raised beds and large tubs? I know not to put it where carrots will be seeded, but are there any there any other fruit/veggies that dont like manure?

Thank you.

 

The old wives tale (and I judge it as thus) is that manure will make carrots and parsnips fork, well I say poppycock and I have in the past grown both in beds with manure added, one or two forked but I always get that anyway.

Adding manure your feeding the soil so go ahead and add it everywhere as long as it is rotted. Fork it into the top couple of inches of soil or turn it in a whole spit deep but both methods will work as Mr Wormie will distribute it for you.

It will also be good for mulching soft fruits or other established plants too.

The danger is if it is fresh it can burn the roots of your plants.

Steve...

 

Consider yourself very lucky GYO to have access to this valuable commodity.

I have never been able to acquire well rotted ,although I have connections to stables it is mostly straw or shavings or newspaper and it's taken away before it is able to cool down, and not being rotted it is full of grass and weed seed.

 

I also have access to waste from a stable.
But have never really bothered. The ratio of poo to straw seems very low.

 

\wish I could get hold of some in quantity, a few bags are mostly not bothering with.

I'd even compost it myself given the chance of fresh stuff, but although the countryside around here is mostly filled with horses, (as apart from cows or sheep), its still not easy to get hold of.

 

blokes on the plot next to me and opposite went halfers on 2 nearly 3 tonne of well rotted cow poo, £35 all in with delivery.. is it worth it? I'm not sure if I would get to use it all?

 

Definitely well worth it!

Wish I could get this deal

 

Hmm. If I could get just a tonne I think that would be enough for me but not sure if they do small loads and drop off. I'll have to scope it out, thanks sirius.

 

Google "manure for allotment (xxyourarea/townxx)

Lots ranging from free and free delivery
Bagged and delivered
to 3 ton loads delivered to site

 

I get cow manure now, got fed up with the weed seeds in Horse Muck and also trying to find stables that bedded on straw as opposed to shavings.

We get this delivered, no idea of how many tons in a load but when tipped its 12ftW x 12ftL x 8ft tall, and costs £25.

I must get some photos next time (couple of weeks).

Steve...

 

PLEASE Pay a visit here and you can take as much as you like. Horses do about 10 "helpings" a day so somewhat upto my eyeballs here despite only, nowadays, having 1 "layer"! Armandii is right in that weed seeds do survive in it but the pros of using it outweigh the cons. If you can get hold of manure use much much more than you think is enough! If you put say a foot square deep of manure on a bed and don't dig it in (I seldom do) it will break down eventually to about 1/2 to 1 inch of a substance similar to peat. Unlike inorganic fertilizers it's pretty well impossible to over manure beds. Most of my flower/veg beds have had about a 9 inch covering every year for the last 14 years.I need to get rid of it somehow. It is much more a soil improver than a fertilizer and the benefits of it will last while inorganic fertilizer will disappear in weeks.
I am no expert on cow manure so won't comment in it's good/bad properties but have had the dubious pleasure of being "involved" with horse manure for over 30 years so had plenty of experience of it

 

Horse and cow manure are both very very good and I would use whichever is easiest for you to get hold of. I've had a regular supply of cow manure for years so that is what I use. I use it how it comes, sometimes it's been pretty fresh. Rotted is better as fresh can burn roots but it will contain more nitrogen. Just don't put it in direct contact with roots. Purists will say that horse manure is 'warmer'; not really sure what this means other than it is quicker to warm up in spring so plants will start growing sooner. Don't really know if this is true; it seems a bit academic to me.