Forum home› Fruit & veg
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Nutritional content of field-collected horse droppings?

NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
in Fruit & veg
I have been given a large quantity of year-old stuff. The horses are out to pasture all year so are only grass fed. I am wondering how it compares to stable manure, given there is no urine or straw/shavings content?

I am spreading it on the raised veg beds (which all need topping up) but would it be ok to spread on the beds that are destined for crops that don’t like it too rich, like broad beans and onions? I had problems one year with onions when I topped up with bought in compost, they got too thick-necked and bulb size suffered, so I am a bit wary about adding this.

Would it be sufficiently nutrient-low to be ok? Thoughts please!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.

Posts

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I'd save it for roses or a dahlia bed or rhubarb.   Last year I manured a bed, planted dahlias and had the best year yet, so much so they need a new home to expand so they've been lifted and their bed now has broad beans sown in early December.   In the next few weeks the neighbour is promising to barrow over some of his well-rotted horse poo and a new dahlia bed will be created.  Fair exchange for fresh eggs.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I put field poo-pickings into the compost heap. It helps the compost to heat up and hook, as well as adding nutrients. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I would imagine the urea content (nitrogen) is a pretty big part of the nutrient level of barn compost.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Thanks @Obelixx and @Dovefromabove, I have tonnes of the stuff, so a huge pile is waiting to be mixed with the compost heaps, the ornamental beds/roses etc., have already had bagged manure before this pile of riches arrived, so that still leaves me with plenty left. I have gone from poo poverty to manure mountain overnight 😆 

    @Fire that sounds logical and what I was hoping, that pee-less poo won’t be as nitrogen-rich.

    I had an idea overnight - double dig and spread it lower down in trenches and pile the poorer soil back on top, so the beds get the topping up they need, but the young bean and onion roots don’t reach the poo seam below. Will have to wait until it thaws to do that, a chilly -5.5c here at the moment!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I always think double digging does more harm than good having read a bit about the no dig method and the increasing poverty and paucity of soil in fields which are constantly ploughed.   Digging disturbs all sorts of beneficial micro organisms and brings yet more weed seeds to the surface to germinate and grow. 

    I'd be inclined to stack it and store it till it can be spread on any bed that needs it.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I agree re double digging @Obelixx, never done it ‘till I moved here and found I needed to to break up the thin, stony clay and get at deep-rooted bindweed. Well it was the equivalent of single digging really, as there is virtually no soil depth on my rocky terraces. Using these droppings would save me having to buy a dozen bags of something not too nutrient rich, maybe coir compost or similar, as the level has really dropped this year. I will see how I feel when the ground thaws!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Sign In or Register to comment.