here's a question for pnbrown and alphonse (or others) as you two seem to know a lot about horse manure that has wood shavings as bedding. we got 100 tons of "free composted horse manure" from a rich people's horse boarding facility. i took it without thinking about the bedding and now am wondering about the nitrogen suck that the bedding may cause if we spread it on our fields. our fields definitely need NPK according to soil samples and past low yields (we grow non-certified organic veggies). i got the manure tested at the UW lab and here are the basic results: C:N = 47:1 N = 13.09 lb/ton P = 8.72 lb/ton K = 15.99 lb/ton sulfur = 1.90 lb/ton what do you think about using this for fertilizer this season? i understand how the nitrogen is tied up in the decomposition, but am confused about determining if this will occur and to what extent. do i look at the C:N ratio? it's 1 year old and is extremely hot starting at about 6" into the pile. there are very few visible manure pieces and it almost looks/feels like mulch for landscaping. long message, but we're in a bit of a bind about this. thanks!

Home Depot has those orange buckets with lids for $3.00. I always carry them with me; the lids fit tight, so as not to spill over. A bucket is like getting a bag bought from the store only free. I use five buckets to make the trip worth it. To use the manure I fill the bucket with water and let it soak for a while, and then use the liquid as a fertilizer around some of my more hardy plants. I am hoping that by soaking the manure I will be killing the bugs that I get here, like scorpions, centipedes and roaches large as mice, and of course speed decomposition. The lid will help keep any smells from bumming your neighbors and help drown anything that might crawl out. I then use the stuff without composting it, by digging a hole or trench near where I plant. By the time the plant is big enough the manure has mellowed. Keep in mind that I am in zone 11, manure break down fast here. Oh and just go to the front office and ask and they will give you the run down on the place like: do not drive too fast, the horse riders have the right away, if you open a gate close it, do not leave gates open, do not feed the horses, though they love them over sized carrots from the garden and if you bring your dog to the stables do not let him chase the chickens. There are probably more rules; those are just the ones that I know, now. Mostly though horse people are good folks and do not mind you being there. John

In other words, does each not occupy the same space when each is stuffed into a cubic foot container ? No. But your wording is a little tricky when you use the word "stuffed." If you poured it in and tamped lightly, still No. 1 cu ft = 7.48 gallons. 1 cu ft = 6.43 DRY gallons. For a simple experiment, take a 5 gallon bucket and a 1 gallon bucket. Use the 1 gallon bucket and fill up the 5 gallon bucket with peat moss, promix, whatever, until full. You should have used 5 gallons. Then wet it down every couple hours, just to make sure it's wet but not enough to "add" any height. If you do this enough, the air will escape and the peat moss will settle. You can even drill a tiny hole for the water to drain out if you'd like but no peat moss. Now, your 5 gallon bucket, settled about 2 inches from the top--does it have 5 gallons of peat moss in it? If you answer yes on a technicality that you did indeed put 5 gallons of peat moss in it, then the 5 gallon bucket...is it 5 gallons or more than 5 gallons if it's no longer full? You're the math wiz, not me, so how much more wet peat moss will the 5 gallon bucket hold? ;-) If we used a 6.43 gallon bucket, it should need 1.05 MORE gallons of peat to top it off! 7.48 - 6.43 = 1.05.

10 gallon indoor plastic bin experience with HM - I get HM from a small stable near my home and use it in my indoor bins. I collect two 5-gallon buckets worth of HM at a time. When I get the buckets home I cover them with garden fabric and secure with bungi cords to keep flies out but let rainwater in. I then let the buckets stand outside getting soaked with rain for a couple months. When I'm ready to start using that HM I put a good amount in a gallon freezer bag along with some frozen vegitables. As the veggies thaw that adds water to the HM. The next day I mix the HM and now thawed veggies and add cut up pumpkin to the bag that had been frozen and thawed. I also add spent coffee grounds that have soaked in water overnight to the bag. All of this adds more moisture to the mix as well as some diversity to the feed stock. This concoction processes one more day before being added to my bin. If it's a little too wet I'll add some shredded paper to the bag to soak it up. So far I haven't had trouble with dry HM or with my bin heating up or with worm death from deworming chemicals. Don't know if this is a viable process or if I'm just lucky so far, but it's working for me.