Hi, I use rather fresh manures every year in my garlic and cover crop sections. I plow it in 8-9" deep the till it really well..really grind and mix it. it's the Nitro in the manure that may be too strong for small delicate plants but I think a couple months of it being worked in will be alright

The weed seeds may be a problem, be prepared for that. My opinion isn't a popular one..i'm sure i'll be vetoed by somebody.

Would it be all right to let the manure on top of the soil, to age for a month or so before planting?

I fear that a couple of months might be a bit on the short side for aging, but I don't know that for certain. I know that people have luck with putting it on top of the garden in the Fall, and letting it sit all Winter.

I've been struggling with the same thing, since my (still snow-covered!) garden definitely needs amending, and planting season is fast approaching.

The other option I've been considering is side-dressing after the plants are in the ground (so that the manure doesn't directly touch the roots), or getting it composting, and adding it as soon as I can.

Good luck finding someone who can tell you definitively that they've tried this, and whether or not it worked.

If there are multiple listings for different materials, I would go visit them all and get the best stuff from the best place. The stables where my daughter rides piles and spreads their dung behind an old shed. I was there when they started the project so I know where the most aged stuff is. It does not take long for a lot of dung to pile up, so they probably all have it aged to different degrees. The way you can tell it is aged is by the heat given off and the smell. When dung is finished composting it is room temperature and it smells incredibly good.

The way I collect it is to take one 5-gallon bucket, one shovel, and a bunch of 9- or 13-gallon trash bags (whichever I have). Depending on the quality of the bag I will put one or more into the bucket and fill it 1/3 full. Then I take the bag(s) out of the bucket, tie them off, and toss them into a wheelbarrow. Reload a couple bags into the bucket and repeat. You can collect a lot of dung like that. It goes faster if you have someone shoveling and someone handling bags.

Now, to start the controversy, I would not till the dung or compost in. I would leave it on top of the soil. Why? Because Mother Nature does not till dung in. At best she brings dung beetles to the party and yes they bury dung; but those critters pretreat the dung as they bury it. They lay eggs in it and they "spit" all over it laying a coating of bacteria and enzymes on it.

The current issue of Organic Gardening magazine will tell you that manure should not be applied to a garden until it has been aged 12 months, or composted. I would be less concerned that manure applied to my soil might "burn" my plants than I would be about the potential disease pathogens that could be present and that I could be exposing my family to. Compost that manure before applying it to the garden.

I'm discounting the raw manure/pathogens issue more and more. Still there is that stink to deal with. That would be enough to keep me from using anything that smelled bad. The neighbors already thing I'm weird because I mow my own lawn, don't have a sprinkler system, and throw fertilizer by hand. I don't need to stink up the place, too.

I believe the purpose of side dressing rows and watering it is to leach out the N that's in the manure. I use large amounts of horse poo in my sections. The real fresh stuff is pretty strong, smells like ammonia. I think leaving the poo out in a pile hurts it's potency. It gets rained on,leaching. Sun beats down on it evaporating the Nitro. I want that stuff breaking down in my soil..adding texture and nutrients.

The issue I have found with using horse manure is when I incorporate too much the soil texture gets a bit too course and needs watering more often. It takes a couple years to fully break down that much fiber.

bloosquall, the ammonia you smell is nitrogen drifting away. One reason to add leaves to horse dung is to absorb that ammonia and keep it in the compost pile.

There are really good reasons why the national organic standards people strongy advise against putting "fresh" manure on a garden plot, especially one that is to grow vegetables for human consumption. One can argue all day about whether this practice is really a problem or not but the simple fact, as is reported in the news weekly, people get ill from foods contaminated with manure and unnecessarily exposing your family members to that potential, especially when there is a simple alternative, should not be a factor in this question.
The common odor from manure is nutrients gasing off to the atmosphere from unstabilized manure sources. Nutrients also can be washed out of manure piles by rains, and those cause pollution. Since composting manure is easy and will solve all 3 potential problems there is no good reason to not compost all manure before applying it to the garden.

Due east,

There you have it, you got opinions from both sides of the garden plot. I guess you have to decide which view you think is best for you and go with it.

I haul in horse manure by the 12 yard dump truck load, it gets piled up and there is sits for a while. some gets used quickly and some stays there in a pile for 6-8 months. I could cover it to save on some N loss but I figure what gets rained on will leach down to the middle of the pile or into the ground to give my trees a boost.

I have a grower friend that uses cow manure as a side dressing and waters the heck out of it, the "stuff" is getting washed into the root zone of his garlic where it converts into what the plant can use I guess. It works well for him

I like Dchall's idea of spreading it out on top the ground, I'm going to do that this weekend on a bare section that will be planted into peas in a couple months. All that good stuff can wash down into the soil.

Keep in mind that there is research out there that shows the piling manure and allowing it to sit will allow the soluble nutrients to flow out with water, but those do not simply go into the soil. What flows out of manure contributes to the pollution of the world. Manures should always be composted so those soluble nutrients are also held in by the vegetative waste that would be added to make the compost pile.
What was considered acceptable even 50 years ago may no longer be because science, knowledge, tells us differently. Of course, simply because something is "new and improved" does not necessarily mean it is good and wonderful either. What do we know about the nutrients in manures? They can, when improperly handled, be a source of pollution, so as organic gardeners that should be mindful of the environment we need to rethink how we handle that resource and not continue in the old ways simply because it was always done this way before. We know that manures potentially have disease pathogens that can be killed by proper composting, but that can be dumped in out soil if that manure is applied to the soil without composting so simply because our grandfathers dumped manure on the soil is not a very good reason to continue doing that. Use manure but compost it before you put it on your garden soil.

Thank you all for your responses! the manure i collect is on the pasture, from my old horse and donkey. I just pile it up and put it on the sandy ground of my garden,trying to improve the soil organically . Should I mix it first. With what?
sorry for questions which are so stupid for you all.I am just
learning -slowly-. I thought to let the manure age outside would read it off too much phosphorus. My soil lacks potash. I can not find green sand around here.Any idea what to do?
Thanks..
Micri

Kimmsr,

I believe you are a great advisor to this board, you have vast more knowledge about this stuff than I do. I respect and thank you for your time.

I operate on a much larger scale than the back yard gardener. I do not have the knowledge or time to properly compost tons of horse poo. Maybe in the future I can have several piles of poo at different degrees of decomposition. Also, you may be happy to know I'm reading the USDA site about the "soil food web" stuff.