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Soil, Compost & Mulch

Where do I find Horse or cow manure ?

16 years ago

I have just ordered few hybrid tea rose bushes from Heirloom roses. Their planting instructions advices me to use about 6 inches of horse or cow manure in the bottom of the hole before planting. Now where can I find this horse or cow manure ?

Do they sell in any stores like Lowes or Home depot ? I live in central NJ near Edison. Thanks for your help.

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Comments (10)

Kimmsr
16 years ago
Roses prefer growing in a soil well amended with organic matter, not with just 6 inches of cow manure in the botom of the planting hole. The same place that sold the roses should have a fairly large selection of bagged compost, as well as manure, that you can use to amned the whole planting bed not just the hole you are going to put each rose in.
ycmahesh
Original Author
16 years ago
I bought the plants from this website http://www.heirloomroses.com/

Couldn't find any selection of maure/compost on the site.
I saw some of the amazon market place selling cow manure but their shipping charges are too much.($40 for a 50 lb bag) !!
I wish there was any store around my area where I can go and pick it up.
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Last year was my first year gardening in raised beds. I filled the beds with a mixture of native soil (clay), compost (till it ran out), and horse stall sweepings from a friend's barns. There was quite alot of wood shavings in it. I did not have alot of trouble with weeds, though I think this had been piled up for "awhile". However, I believe the wood shavings tied up the nitrogen in the soil for that first season. I finally resorted to Miracle Grow to get a crop. By this year, it was all nicely broken down and I had a perfectly wonderful garden. Through a soil test, I learned that my soil is low in nitrogen to begin with, so maybe the shavings were less of a factor than I originally believed. At any rate, I would use it again for the way it conditioned my horribly sticky, tight clay soil. By spring it was positively loamy, with a minimal number of clods in it. I think what I learned is that when you're using manures, time is your best friend.
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Horse manure is truly a gardens ambrosia. This wonderful product is such a fantastic addition to the organic garden that I just dont know where to begin. Unlike other manures that need to be rotted off before use horse maure may be used fresh with no ill effects. For years I have actually used a mix of fresh and composted horse manure as my actual soil for plants that require a large nitrogen soil, planting directly into it instead of using it as a soil booster. Leaf veggies such as lettice, spinach, and cabbage produce amazing results in the order of 2-3 X the production of those grown even in good soil. Interestingly the best results I have had though is to make a small hill of fresh horse manure on top of hardpan, about the size and height of a pie pan, into which I plant 3 pumpkin seeds and 5 corn seeds. I generally get 3-4 ears of corn per stalk and 4-10 pumpkins per vine using this meathod. I generally make a row of these spaced 2 feet apart and give lots of room for the pumpkin vines to sprawl between rows, 5-8 feet is good between rows as these will sprawl. Last note; If you use fresh uncomposted horse manure a 1-2 inch mulch of sawdust is recomended to retard weed growth. At the end of the year turn this into the ground and it will rot off over the winter due to the high nitrogen of the manure. Next spring you will have beautiful black loam to plant into.
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New to this forum. Enjoying all the new stuff I'm learning. Feeding Bambis alfalfa will get verrry expensive. I have both cows and horses and can't tell any difference in how hot it is or which one has more weeds, although my grandfather always swore horse manure was too hot. You can use green manure, but don't pile it up thick on anything or it will burn (it starts cooking). You can mix green in with your native soil, and it will be fine. I planted larkspur and delphenium directly into green manure and they were gorgeous and healthy. I used to plant my annuals with a scoop of composted manure and got many, many weeds immediately around the plant. I blamed the manure and started planting them with a spoonful of Osmacote. I still have lots of weeds. I realize now it was the combination of turning over the weed seeds to sunlight when I planted along with the added nutrients. It doesn't matter whether it's manure or a commercial fetilizer. I'm going back to the manure as it's free. My conclusion: Weed seeds are everywhere and when you turn them over to the sunlight and give them a boost with manure or commercial fertilizers, they go nuts.
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The N content will vary depending on what the animal has been eating. For instance a cow from a poor pasture will not have much wasted N in the manure. But manure taken from a cow lot may have a lot more. This manure will not only have more wasted N but also have a lot of urine mixed in. It would hold true for horses also. Having said this, if both are composted with browns then the N will be mostly be used up in the composting process. It is always suggested that all manures be well composted before use. On another note it was said in another post the seed will be killed off in the rumin system. I add different seeds to cattle supplement to spread it over a pasture. In nature this is how a lot of seed is spread.
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msmarion
16 years ago
The big box stores carry Black Cow and mushroom compost.
sawdust_maker
16 years ago
$40 shipping for a 50 lb bag of (you know what)? It makes sense, in a distorted way. I can imagine what the UPS person will say when they carry it in?

You gotta be impressed with anyone who can try to sell that.

On the (slightly) more serious side, I'll bet that there are horse farms around who will be happy to charge you slightly less than that for some spare manure. Or talk to someone at a local nursery.

John
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
16 years ago
I am continually amazed at what folks will order online or through the mail and the shipping charges they will pay. My nursery carries an excellent line of organic fertilizers and we have customers through our online store from all over the country that will pay 2-3 times the cost of the fertilizer just to have it shipped to them!

Any local nursery or garden center as well as all the home improvement stores and discounters (Lowe's, HD, Walmart) will have bagged compost or manures available for sale and any will be suitable for amending the soil for rose plantings. Rather than layering a thickness in the bottom of the planting hole, incorporate it well over a larger area to the depth of the rootball. This will encourage the roots to expand freely and reduce soil interface issues, which can be a big concern in heavy or clay soils. Better yet, amend the entire planting area rather than individual holes - that is the preferred approach.
bpgreen
16 years ago
"here do I find Horse or cow manure ?"

Under the south side of a north facing horse or cow.

As others have said, you can buy it bagged (usually composted) at the big box stores or you can try to find somebody with horses or cows. I used to work with somebody who had a couple of horses and paid somebody to haul off the manure. Most horse owners are glad to give it away for free since it saves them money.
diane_nj 6b/7a
16 years ago
I wouldn't do it, and unless it voids their guarantee, it isn't necessary. What you should do is to pot up those plants until the roots grow out of the bottom. They will be small, own-root, roses, and will benefit from having some time to grow more roots before being planted out into the garden.

Much better to prepare an entire bed by adding compost and composted manure rather than to just prepare one hole.
ralphdean
16 years ago
Our Home Depot has it for 99 cents a cubic foot bag.
primo_pomodoro
16 years ago
Look on Craigslist.org. You should find a few ads for all the horse/cow manure you can haul off.

Go to http://cnj.craigslist.org (Central NJ edition of Craigslist) and do a search for manure. You can even place your own free ad looking for manure.

ciao,
P_P
growingup
16 years ago
I second craigslist. I just scored some goat manure off of freecycle (so it was obviously free) along with some much needed mulch.

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