horse manure question
 

I found a horse stables with all the manure I can haul away. I am so lucky!!! My question: How long should I let the manure age before I can use it in the garden? I don't want to burn the plants, and horse manure is new to me. I have used alpaca manure before, but it was always well aged. Thanks for the help!:D

I use straight horse manure in my raised beds all the time. As a side dressing, I haven't found that it burns the plants when used sparingly. Is this mixed with bedding or straight? The problem, when mixed with bedding that I've found is that the bedding is usually wood shavings. That needs to compost for awhile or it will rob plants of nitrogen, usually about 6 months or so. But, as a mulch it's fine because it decomposes gradually and can than be tilled in at the end of the season for next year.
Horse manure alone, doesn't seem that hot, in my experience. I would give it a good 3 months if mixing into the soil, though.

This is mostly straight manure. I want to use it this spring as a side dressing for the tomatoes and my emerging corn plants. Then I can till in a bunch this fall. I'm so excited over this manure! How nerdy is that?

Oh, I would also recommend a test planting. There have been a few cases of a long acting weed poison that has killed people's gardens. I can't remember the name. Just mix a little manure in a cup or pot, put a bean or tomato seed in there or an extra tomato seedling. Make sure it grows okay for a few weeks. Better to be on the safe side then to end up replacing all your soil!
I know my hay provider doesn't use the stuff and all my manure comes from my own horses.

Thanks! I didn't think of that..... It is kind of sad that a natural product such as manure could be the source of bad chemicals. I practice organic gardening techniques whenever possible, hence the use of manure over Miracle Grow in the first place.

I will be sure and do a test planting. I have extra tomato plants.

I love horse manure. I also have plenty of chicken manure mixed with alfalfa but I'm careful to either let that age or only sidedress hungry plants with it. Plants that love lots of nitrogen can tolerate small amounts of chicken manure sidedress ing. Usually, I make my chicken coop cleanings into a quick compost and then use for tea.

Aminopyralid is the main "watch out for this stuff" issue:
[url]http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/aminopyralid/[/url]

There have been some past threads here on it (where people needed
to have their gardens dug out and the soil replaced). If you use the
search feature at the top of each page here, you will find them.

[QUOTE=dice;270654]Aminopyralid is the main "watch out for this stuff" issue:
[URL]http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/aminopyralid/[/URL]

There have been some past threads here on it (where people needed
to have their gardens dug out and the soil replaced). If you use the
search feature at the top of each page here, you will find them.[/QUOTE]


This is why I don't use horse manure any more. Tried it for three years from three different sources. Every single one caused herbicide damage to my tomatoes. Even this year, I bought bulk "manure compost" from a garden center and even it caused herbicide damage.

That stuff #$*%!es me off.

Must be more common in certain parts of the country. I. Know my hay supplier doesn't use it so I have no worries.
A test planting in a pot is always a good idea before investing too much effort into it.

I have been using it for a few years now, albeit composted for 3 years, but I have never had an issue....I will look into this herby though and make sure he is not using it before I get anymore....He puts his manure in from the front and I go in behind the pile and get my load from there....each pile has a marker in front of it with the start date and end date....this horse trainer is very precise with everything he does...nothing gets done anywhere on that farm without a tag or a log book of some kind..lol.....Horse manure is the best stuff I have ever used to add to my soil....unreal what my veggies do once I plant with this stuff ammended in my soil....I will never quit using till I have a problem....I even planted a Black Krim tomato in 100% pure horse manure and that thing grew like a weed.....I couldnt keep up with it.....biggest plant of the year last year.