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Can I Give My Roses Horse Manure?

16 years ago

My aunt has horses and I was wondering if I should ask her for some manure. I'm not very educated in handling it though, can't some manure be too "hot" to spread around? I know she keeps them in a giant pile with other stuff. Would a better method be to make like a manure tea? How would one go about doing that? Cheesecloth?

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Comments (12)

jerome
16 years ago
Hi Oath5. Sounds like you have an ideal situation there...family with horses. I have had nice results with horse manure. I am in a semi-rural area, and there's a horse ranch "down the road a piece...." As you said, they keep it in a giant pile, so it's aged by then and not "hot". I just put it down around the plants (not touching the canes) and in one of the beds I used it as a mulch.

Don't do the tea thing...no time. I probably would if I had the time I had last year.

Hope this helps. May your roses be beautiful.

Jerome
jerijen
16 years ago
We've just picked it up from the stable, and mulched around the plants with it. FRESH.
Of course, these are alfalfa-fed horses, so what you are getting, in part, is the benefit of the alfalfa.

I would not do this with pastured horses who were eating weeds. Otherwise, it's the BEST. It's what Dean Hole recommended, first and foremost, in the 1800's, and that hasn't changed.

Jeri
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I've never used horse manure. I used tons of cow manure. A friend of mine uses horse manure for her roses. Every spring she gets fresh horse manure and applies it in a thick layer around the roses. At some distance, of course. If the manure touches the canes, it will burn. Any manure. I've never heard of manure burning roots, just by being applied on the ground around the plant. Of course, maybe it is possible, I just never heard of such thing or experienced. A compost pile.... You can use the compost in any way you want - for mulch (when is not finished), for tea or straight in the hole. I have plants planted in pure compost and... I have to say that the way they grow is just incredible. Compost will never burn. There's no such thing as "too much compost". It is normal to have many many kinds of bugs and worms and other creatures in a compost pile. They are important actually. You want them there. It is a whole science in making a compost pile. You will have to learn how to do it right if you want rich compost and a pile that doesn't stink the whole yard. You can have a big compost pile or a small one (a 4 x 4 x 4 I would say is a good - small - size). You know what I would do? I would find a place in my yard that is a little out of the way, I would build a bin with some chicken wire, I would get the manure, I would go in the park or forest or something like that and I would get lots of dry leaves and I would mix them together and would just let them sit there until spring. Or... you can make compost tea. I assume you know how to do that one, right? Boy, did I talk a lot :) If there's something else you need to know... go ahead and ask. Valentina
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mdseagull
16 years ago
I'm a riding instructor so I'm fortunate to always have a supply of manure on hand LOL. I push some to the sides of the pile and let it age well. Makes fantastic fertilizer.
joannacala
16 years ago
How often can it be applied as mulch and does it matter when in the growing season?

Thanks
Joanna
roseman
16 years ago
Absolutely! In fact, horse manure is much better then cow manure, because horses are much more descriminating in what they will eat out in the pastures. You will find, with horse, that you have much less offensive weeds.
pacnwgrdngirl
16 years ago
My neighbors have horses. How long is it 'hot' ? How long do you let it hang out before you mulch with it? They are pasture horses that graze.
jerijen
16 years ago
If the horses are pastured, I would be much more cautious.
I would compost the stuff and make sure it got HOT, or you will be treated to every weed the horses ingest.

Jeri

FWIW -- Re. Steer Manure:
WE avoid commercial steer manure.

Commercial Steer Manure comes from commercial feed lots.
Cattle in commercial feed lots are fed a high-salt diet, laced with antibiotics and hormones.
They're excreting a very very DURABLE mutated e. coli bacterium, which I'd rather not add to my garden.
(That's one of the reasons we're having so much trouble with e.coli contamination of food.)

If you have time for some summer reading, I highly recommend "THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA," by Michael Pollen.

Jeri
windeaux
16 years ago
The great thing about the horse manure I routinely haul to my garden is that it's not just horse manure. If the source really cares about its animals, stable sweepings generally include a high percentage of other organic (vegetable) matter -- straw, etc. Horse manure contains few viable weed seeds. I assume that most of the weeds I may get probably find their way to my pile after the horse is long gone. I don't give any thought whatsoever to the 'hot' vs aged issue. Cow/steer manure? Well, that's a whole other issue.

I am humbled by your willingness to deal with this wondrous stuff with cheesecloth & whatever . . . Anyone with such a predilection either has, or is going to have a truly phenomenal garden! Good for you!!!
berndoodle
16 years ago
The difference between horse manure and cow manure has less to do with what they eat and more to do with the speed of their digestive systems. Let's just say that horse manure is less processed by spending far less time in the gut.

If you're talking about stable bedding, make sure it is composted. If it straight out of the back end of a horse, put it around established roses and don't be surprised if your dog samples it extensively for both hors d'oeuvres and parfum.
garden_party
16 years ago
I use horse manure that has set a couple of months, and I apply it in early spring and then once more later in the season. It works wonderfully.
cometgirl_2006
16 years ago
Hi All:

I swear by horse manure! I put it around my roses and zinnias! I have used it at any stage, fresh or dry, and get great results! I don' own horses anymore so I have to get it from a friend.

Best Regards,
Cometgirl
cometgirl_2006
16 years ago
Hi all:

Thought you might enjoy a picture of the best manure-makers in the world! Here goes!

{{gwi:278305}}

This was Cinders and baby Comet! Enjoy!

Cometgirl

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