Here's my input to this interesting subject. On my mother's garden, we used only composted horse manure. By composted I mean the horse manure that had been on the bottom of the manure pile for at least a couple of years. The horses were boarded by us for their owners, we rented out the stable space and did all the upkeep. We used oat straw for bedding, the resulting manure, after several years was dark brown and powerful. The horses were "out to pasture" all summer and winter, except early spring after the frost was out of the ground. They could do a lot of damage to the turf if not kept off the pasture when it was soggy. We suplimented the pasture with hay that was bought where ever we could get it, it often was NOT the best quality. When hauled to the garden, then tilled deeply into the black loam we had, it would sometimes be too much fertilizer.I planted jalapeño peppers in that soil, huge plants with minimal yield. But growing onions in that resulted in some huge ones! I never noticed any excess weeds, more than normal. I think the secret to my success was getting the manure from the bottom of the pile resulted in the weed seeds being killed by the heat of decomposition. Frequently steam could be noticed coming out of the pile in colder weather! Sadly, that was 20 years ago, the folks are gone, so is the land. I'm stuck using a community garden now.

Hello all. I'm from Sweden and have read this thread with great interest! Just wanted to share my experience with horse manure. Right now I'm working on building a hugelkultur (A hugelkultur is a 3-5 feet high bed to grow vegetables in, which starts at the bottom with half rotten logs of trees, then branches and sticks and then finer material. This bed is good at keeping moist and giving nutrients to whatever you plant for years.) This fall I am topping this new bed with fresh horse manure (just a thin layer) and finally hay. In spring next year, the manure should have composted enough to be able to plant in. I will make holes in the then half composted hay and add just a little planting soil to put the plant in. A previous experiment I had great results from, was when making a new raspberry "field". On a piece of pasture with wild grasses and stuff, I put a layer of newspaper on about 15' x 8' of the pasture. And then on top of that, a lasagna with horse manure and seaweed. 3 layers of each, about 4-5 inches each layer. That made a pile that was about 2-2,5 feet high. Then I covered it with about 4 inches of planting soil. This was all done in the fall. The composting process started immediately and after a day or two, the temperature in the pile was around 125 F. When composting, the pile shrank as a soufflé and next spring it was less than 10 inches high. The raspberry plants were planted in two rows and grow formidably. This must have been 7-8 years ago and I have not put anything else on this bed since then. So, since it is fall now, if you want a planting bed next spring and you have a piece of land that you want to use for a planting bed and want to spend as little time as possible to prepare it; make a lasagna with horse manure and some vegetative scrap (like seaweed, kelp, tree leafs, hay or what have you) at least 2 feet high. Top it with some kind of soil. Next spring you should be ready to plant in it. No tilling and other preparations. If your ingredients are dry, give each layer a spray of water before adding the next. Addendum. I have not made any measurements of pH or nutrients before and after, so I can't really say if this composting time of about 8 months was optimal. Anyway, it worked for me and it was a very simple way to prepare a planting bed.

Many garden centers sell inexpensive pH test kits. They're fun, and simplify all that pH stuff. Your manure and organic matter (and the life forms they support) will nudge it toward neutral over time, and it can be interesting to watch. Fall is the best time for serious liming. Permanent pathways provide habitat for earthworms, ground beetles, etc, and give you some access regardless of the weather. For temporary access to some areas, you also can lay boards on the ground and stand on the boards. If you planned to use your wheat as a cover crop, you'll need to take it down 2-3 weeks before you need the space, or you can pull it up and let it dry into mulch, or compost it. In mild winter climates, actively growing wheat does not go down without a little bit of a fight. Back to the permanent pathways. You can sow them with legumes and well-behaved grasses, and mow them to make mulch for the beds or rows next to them. It's a cool system. Picture it -- next year, a ribbon of crimson clover laced with blue bachelor buttons leads you to your beautiful [fill in blank] and you feel so happy! Here is a link that might be useful: my website

i've been using horse manure with straw/wood shavings/sawdust bedding in my compost piles for a few years now, and i've asked this same question about when it is considered properly composted and safe for use on food crops. i can't find a definitive answer on that quite yet, but in case anyone is interested, here are a few links to sites with some interesting information on best practices. Some of these publications are kinda scientific, but there's still some good information there for us lay people so don't be intimidated. EPA List of Publications on Compost: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/rrr/composting/pubs/index.htm Rutgers - New Jersey Ag Exp Station on Composting Horse Manure: http://www.esc.rutgers.edu/publications/stablemgt/E307.htm Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education has a free downloadable PDF on Building Soil which includes a chapter on composting manure: http://www.sare.org/coreinfo/soil.htm National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service has a publication on manure for organic crop production here: http://attra.ncat.org/soils.html One of these days, i'm going to try to ask a soil scientist at my local agricultural experiment station about the latest recommendations for composting manure. Unfortunately, i get the feeling that there's a lot we just don't know for sure yet, and i think it wise to use composted manure cautiously. Certainly, i would agree that you shouldn't apply it if the pile is still generating any heat. Good luck.