Horse Manure in Compost

15 years ago

I'm new to real composting as opposed to the haphazard use of aged manure. I'm seeing a lot of debate on other forums so I thought I'd try here.

I'm using it exclusively in flower beds. I have a house with horrible sandy soil low on nutrients and organic matter and must add and add before I can plant. I've added a lot of compost (non-manure) to my rose bed and it still looks dry and sandy. Sigh.

I now have access to fairly fresh horse manure (it is aged in that it is dry and powdery and not wet) and want to know how best to use it. I thought I would put some into a compost pile and use some on lasagna beds for flowers.

Also where is the best place to locate a compost pile, in the shade on the ground, or on cement where it gets a about half a day of sun?

Thanks,

Jane

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Comments (2)

leira
15 years ago
Given that you're not using it for edibles, I personally wouldn't hesitate at all about using it directly when it comes to concerns about pathogens. However, you should ponder just how "aged" it is from a perspective of not wanting to burn the plant roots. I don't have a good answer for you about just how long that needs to be, but if it's long enough for it to be dry and powdery, I would venture to guess that you'll be OK...but I don't know that for certain.

You need organic matter, in quantity. You have access to some. By all means, find a way to use it!

Definitely put some into your compost. As for the location of your pile, it sounds like a toss-up to me. Things will rot either way (they always do), but both the heat from the sun and the direct contact with the soil would prove useful...I just don't know which would be more useful. I'm sure either would work acceptably.
Kimmsr
15 years ago
The compost pile can go in the shade, a sunny spot even for half the day could cause your compost to loose more moisture than would be good for it. Sun is not needed for the heat that a good, well constructed compost pile would generate.
Simply because of the potential of disease pathogens in any animal manure you would be better off composting it before putting any in any garden, flower or vegetable, since as you work in that flower garden you would still be exposed, possibly, to those disease pathogens.
It does take a lot of organic matter to begin to change sand into good soil and adding straight manure puts a lot of, maybe unnecessary, Nitrogen that will cause the soil bacteria to digest the organic matter faster than it maybe should be.
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Yes, some stables use lime in their stalls to counter act odors/ammonia caused by urine not being properly removed from stalls. Lime is most often used in stalls with dirt floors where the urine soaks into the floor and can't be removed with the soiled bedding. Over the last couple of decades most stables that I know of have either been built with rubber mats on the stall floors and/or have had them retro--fitted into existing stalls. With rubber matting and absorbent bedding (and good basic stable management practices) the need for lime has dropped and while some people still use it what once was a pretty standard practice has become much more unusual. Hope this helps. I can get a bit lost on the details of the science involved in composting, but I know my horse poop! ;-)
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Horse manure tends to be weedy just by definition :-) Horses consume a lot of weedy plants and their digestive system doesn't process them as thoroughly as say cows with their multiple stomachs do. Hence, horse poop tends to generate a lot of weeds. About the only way to control them is to get the pile to heat up to seed killing temperatures. Very likely you will need to add other organic matter to make this happen. Horse manure often contains a lot of bedding and this slows the process and limits the heat the manure should generate, Adding some "greens" - nitrogen sources like grass clippings, plant trimmings or chicken manure, blood meal or alfalfa meal will help. And aerate the pile by turning periodically if you can......your tractor should be helpful for this :-) If you can raise the temperature of your pile up to at least 140F (160F is even better) and hold it there for 3-4 days, the bulk of the weed seeds should be killed off.
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A lot of people think so, I like Ruth Stout no till garden with hay & straw, but the new fad is wood chips, which is okay if you can get them free. We use dry but not rotten saw dust years ago & everyone said it will kill your garden. Never had a problem. I must tell you I am 54 yr. & was raised in the row field type garden. I remember when everyone who was organic raved about the double dig garden fad. Now it is no till, have no ideal about the next fad. But no till works with my asparagus & sunchokes, so it should work for you beans too. I use cardboard in my first blue berry orchard, it worked every well. I still till under compost for my annual garden.
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Horse Manure in Compost

Comments (2)

leira

Kimmsr

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