That depends on what else is in that soil. You should add 3 times as much other organic matter as you add manure to your soil. Just adding manure will result in the loss of valuable nutrients, through volatilization as well as through losses along with water into the ground water.

Kimmsr,
Is that true with composted manure that contained bedding? This stuff comes from cleaning out the stalls in the barn so there was a large percentage of sawdust in it. What else do you suggest that I add?
Thanks,
Rick

Macheske, Does it still smell like manure? If it does, then you could stand to add more carbon materials like straw, leaves or perhaps even more sawdust. If it still smells like manure then it probably still has enough nitrogen to cause the smell and so covering it over or mixing it with more mulch materials will not only help bind the nitrogen to keep it from leaching away, but help to break down the mulch materials into humus for your soil.

As for too much? Hum, I suppose it depends on what you are growing. Some plants like lean soil but most garden plants will probably be quite happy with a thick layer. I've planted many things directly in a 2' deep mound of mushroom compost (staw/hore manure compost). I'm no expert but I might not go deeper than 6" deep for the heavy feeder crops like tomatoes and cucubrits. I might avoid planting lettuce or leaf crops in the manure without being very sure it was well composted and had 120 days on the field before the lettuce was to be harvested (meaning that the manure should be spread 3-4 months before planting the lettuce.) Similar might be said for root crops as well though most of them take longer till harvest than the leaf crops.

Thanks for the response! This manure is very well composted. It looks like black dirt and has no smell, well, maybe earthy. I plan on tilling this in to the soil to about 12" deep. The soil is very light after tilling. If I step on it, I sink down about 6". The garden is placed where there was an old hay field.

I probably wouldn't till but then again, I don't have a tiller and I'm something of a minimal/no dig gardener.

To me, tilling is minimal since I have a little toy (with a tiller attachment). It takes me about 30 minutes to till the 40' x 80' garden.

{{gwi:24456}}

With a toy like that, I sense you'd be tilling your garden whether it needed it or not? Bet you're tilling all your neighbors' gardens too, just for the fun of it. :)

Lol...Yes, I did till my neighbor's garden too.

I'd have fun just watching you till my garden with that big bad machine!!!! (toy envy) come on over, I'm only one zone away...bet you wouldn't get too good of gas mileage though!!

I'm also in a similiar situation (and posted another thread on exactly the best way to use a bunch of horse manure) what I have access to is also well aged, and in big piles (so probably the middle is hot, but regardless, I'm hoping to get a bunch to use..

Rjinga,
I can tell you that the pile that I've started taking from is definitely not hot anywhere. It looks like really black dirt and smells like dirt. This stuff is about 2 years old. I'm really just wondering if I should stick with 2.5" of it, or go as high as 7.5". My back likes the 2.5" idea (I put 23+ yards in the garden yesterday and am slightly sore). I'm wondering if veggies would like the 7.5" tilled in deeply.

Hey, I'm in zone 7 also!! You DEFINITELY have already put WAY TOO MUCH on your yard, I'll take the rest just to help you out!! :-) seriously though, you have it GOOD!!!! Are you anywhere near Annapolis???

I'm not too far from Annapolis. Check Craigslist.com. There are always people looking to give away manure in this area. All you have to do is pick it up.

Here is a listing from your area....

Free aged horse manure. Great quaility! Will Load We have LOTS please call Melanie at 443-220-6058

We also have horses for lease and horse boarding available at 250 mo. Nice friendly farm private , 12x12 stall and 70' roundpen tons of trails.

Thanks, I never thought to check Craig's list!

macheske, that depends on how much bedding has been mixed with the manure. My experience is that there is not enough bedding mixed with the manure and more is needed. even when we had our horses or ponies and used dry leaves as bedding when the stalls were cleaned out the mix of manure, urine, and leaves still produced a breath taking odor of manure/urine. When I pick up a load of manure at the stable down the road, even though they use sawdust as bedding, if I get the stuff right out of the stalls it still smells strongly of manure/urine, although some of the material that has been around a few days does not until you get deep into the pile. Even back when straw was still used for bedding the stable owners seldom put enough down for a 3 to 1 ratio.

Kimmsr, I can totally understand the 3 to 1 ratio when dealing with fresh manure. I'm trying to find out if very well composted manure that contained bedding (we're talking about a pile that just looks like very nice black dirt and has no smell and is probably at least 2 years old) is safe to add to the garden in large quantities. I doubt it has much nutrient value at this point other than being organic material.

The nitrogen content will be fairly low about one to two. The real benefit is the composted straw or sawdust which makes a wonderful improvement in the soils structure. If I had it I would work in as much as you did yesterday. Al

Thanks for the response Al! That is the way I was thinking about it. The soil test that I got done in the fall indicated 12.1% organic matter. I figure I'm at about 26.5% with the addition.

Love the tractor! Question, I noticed the teeth on the bucket, are those an add on? It also looks like there is bolt holding them on for removal, is that correct? I could install something like that on my bucket!

Thx

Lloyd

From my reading, manure can be high in salt, which may create problems in your soil if you add too much at one time.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/Garden/07235.html

"During composting, ammonia gas is lost from the manure. Therefore, nitrogen levels may be lower in composted manure than in raw manure. On the other hand, the phosphorus and potassium concentrations will be higher in composted manure. Modify fertilizer practices accordingly. Salt levels also will be higher in composted manure than in raw manure. If salt levels are already high in your Garden soil, do not apply manures."

Cheers,
Michelle

Lloyd,
The tooth bar is an add-on to the bucket. It makes a huge difference when using the front end loader to dig with. As long as the edge is welded, and not bolted you should be able to add one. Give the people at Marham Welding a call. I'm sure they will help you out. www.markhamwelding.com

Michelle,
I'll watch the salts. I think that's a really good reason to stop adding for this year and get a soil test again next year before adding more. They test for soluable salts.

Thanks!
Rick

Michelle, improperly composted horse manure, or any manure, will have lower levels of nutrients and a compost pile that has a strong ammonia odor is improperly composting. If you add horse, or any other, manure to your compost pile in the close to just about right mixxture, there will be no strong ammonia, or any other, odor.
A strong ammonia odor from a compost pile does indicate that there is a loss of Nitrogen and indicates there is a problem with the compost mixture. That same strong ammonia, or any other "manure" odor you smell after applying any manure is the same thing, an indication that nutrients are being lost to the atmosphere, nutrients that can be captured in a properly prepared compost pile.
In the 1950's, an uncle of mine that was a farmer (a true farmer with horses, cows, pigs, chickens) and he knew nothing about the disease pathogens that are present in all manures he told me that manure spread on fields was good, if it was tilled in immediately. Anyone, in his estimation, that allowed manure to sit on top of soil more than 24 hours was wasting a valuable resource.

Kimmsr - I don't know why you addressed that to me. I didn't say anything about a compost pile smelling like ammonia. Colorado State mentions the loss of ammonia gas as the pile composts. I have 6 horses and some cows on my farm, they live outdoors, and I don't notice an ammonia odor from manure ANY time with my animals. Hence I would not expect there to be an odor from a properly aerated compost pile.

So I am mystified why that long post you wrote was directed at me.

Cheers,
Michelle