Just wondering

[roho627]

Ok, never professed on being a gardener but this AM as I was shoveling horse manure, I thought, "It's got to be a use for this stuff!" So I've been thinking about trying to set up a square foot type garden and was wondering what to order from dirt man if I didn't use the hay mulch that was discussed in one of the other threads about potatoes! So is there a way to use the horse manure compost! I've been packing that stuff into the barn to a tune of 75/100 dollars a month in 50 lb bags and wheelbarrowing out in piles for several years! 2/3 times a year I'll burn it! The compost sure looks good! Ok Ok, would this stuff be to hot for garden! any suggestions!

[egon]

Go for it [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon

[Pat]

I wasn't sure from your comments if yu wanted to use it raw or composted. If you compost it well the results is humus and it will be OK in a big way. The fresh variety is best used in moderation.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[roho627]

Sorry about not making myself clear, I'm good at that! Anyway, I pile it up outside and let it set & rot! It has a small amount of hay mixed, when I shovel into it, it looks great! Several years ago, a couple of ole men would come by and get piles(of horse manure) for worm beds?? They quite coming thou!

[gsganzer]

I just tilled 2" of aged horse manure into my vegetable garden. The stuff is priceless, you'll get strawberries as big as soccer balls. Well not quite.... but you get the idea.

The key is that it has to be aged to leach the salts from the urine and composted to kill the weed seeds.

[Pat]

roho, Don't hear me, I can shout you very much! I wish I had a big pile of that stuff but have no convenient way to get it as herd densities arouind here turn manure collection into an easter egg hunt rather than a front end loader exercise.

For what it is worth... Sometimes one big pile will work faster and better than two or more smaller ones. The internal temp will rise more in a big pile (insulated by the thickness). This kills more weed seeds making better compost. Actually there are desired internal temps that cautious composters shoot for using thermometers.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[mfaley]

I have a question on this......does it have to be only manure or is it ok to have wood shavings mixed in?

I a pile of mixed shavings and manure that is getting really big since I quit spreading it late last fall. I tried to give some to a neighbor who is a gardener but he said that regardless of how long its been sitting there the wood shavings make it too hot and, if he mixed it, the decaying wood pulls all the nitrogen out of the soil.

I would sure like to sell some of this off when I get this much piled up.

Thanks,
Mark

[Bird]

Mark, many times I've read about wood chips in a garden pulling nitrogen from the soil; so many times, in fact, that I guess it's true. But if it's true, my soil sure must have had lots of nitrogen because I tilled in many loads of uncomposted wood chips in my garden. They'd disappear within a year and no on in the area had a better garden than I did. Of course, I did have some cow manure and some rabbit manure and some of the "mushroom soil" from a mushroom farm that I also tilled in.

[mfaley]

Thanks Bird. I guess that’s that……

My gardening neighbor was kind enough, however, to tell me that if I picked all the manure out of the shavings and composted that for him, he would take that part off my hands. Not surprisingly I turned him down.

By the way…..I am going to try to grow some Heirloom tomatoes this year because I like fresh fruits and vegetables and I was given about a dozen different types of seeds to try. How do you recommend I start them? Can I just put them into the garden or do I need to start them in separate little pots?

I am not a good gardener and don’t have much free time to tend a garden but I don’t want to waste a bunch of seeds either.

Thanks,
Mark

[Pat]

A Google search on "compost wood shavings" yields several interesting hits. Among them are:

http://www.msue.msu.edu/misanet/Composting/profile4.htm
The above was a good one.

http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/p...ry/012565.html

http://www.hdra.org.uk/organicgardening/compost_3.htm

http://www.gerrybuilt.com/compost.html

and on and on and on...

Composting, while not difficult requires some study/experience to get optimal results. Lots of good resources on the web. You ned to learn about your "browns" and "greens" temperature control, and more.

To a degree your neighbor was right, wood chips/sawdust will ""use up" available soil nitrogen but if it is composted first that is not the case. Wood chips take longer than many other feedstocks to properly compost.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]