I use horse manure on my allottment but only in the winter and just leave on the soil so the winter breaks it done , then dig it in in the spring but could be difficult if you have lots of plants
you could just us Bone meal as a general fertiliser
I supply a friend with horse manure and he leaves it in the bag with a bit of water for 3 to 6 Months for it to rot down the uses it on the garden
I have found this a great site for practical advise , rather than just reading books
I feel I'm the "poo expert"having posted about horse poo, fox poo etc several times on this forum.
I use tons of horse manure on my garden. Literally tons! But then it's free and we have tons readily available. My partner trains horses. I also have a big garden.
It was initially dug in to beds when they were first made and dug over. Now the garden is established it's part of the Autumn routine after all the perennials have been cut back and the dead foliage removed. Then a load of "well rotted" is just slung all round the plants and lightly forked in to the top soil where there's space to see and do that and left over the top as a protective mulch where there's not.
When it comes to "fresh" horse poo then I do also put that around the likes of Rhododendrons and azaleas and also round the roses and other shrubs. Just on the surface. Not dug in. You do have to make sure you're not putting "fresh" on tender plants and particularly that it's not making contact with the plant because if and when it generates heat then it is likely to burn the plant.
The only reason I don't put "fresh" on my borders now is that there's no space to do so. If however you have space between plants in your borders you can spread it around and just let the rain do it's job and leach the nutrients out and wash them down into the soil for you. As I said earlier though, don't dig fresh in because you don't want it to come into direct contact with the plant and that includes the root system. Leaving it just spread in small quantities on the surface with no contact won't do any harm with all the rain etc that we have.
It only takes about 3 months to compost down and as Hostafan said when it looks like soil and lost the poo smell it's ready. Rather than keeping it in plastic bags though, you'd be better keeping it in a pile in a corner of the garden. The plastic bags will keep it "fresh" and wet so it won't start to rot down properly.
My garden doesn't do bad with horse manure. This is where I now only put the fresh stuff: You said you only have 3 bags of it. That's not much by my reckoning and will be no more than I put on any given week in this particular spot.
and where all the well rotted was first dug in and spread around every year: There will be about half a ton of well rotted spread around each of these borders every year.
Northern lass , very interesting , do you have any thoughts about putting a bit of horse manure in compost bins with the various green bits from the allotment
the allottment assovation gets it delivered free and you just help yourself
Agreed it's a good idea and it helps the get the compost started. Another plan if you have a water butt for garden watering is to put some in that container. You then have a nice nutrient rich water in fertisliser.
I actually don't bother at all with compost in the garden but that's only because we have so much from the farm muck heaps.
I know this topic was a while ago, but I was wondering if I can put fresh horse manure with straw in, on to a new allotment in Sept and then cover it with black plastic sheeting.
My allotment has a gate on to a horse field. The lady with the horses has said that I can take as much as I like.
Would it rot down over winter so that I could plant in that area next year?
Or should I pile it all up in one spot and then spread it next year?
Hello , I put fresh horse manure on my beds and leave it over winter then dig in , in spring
On plot holder does the same but mixes straw and he swears by it , I did try it on one bed but the straw didn't really rot down , so I will not do that again
Personally I would not cover it with black plastic as I feel you need the elements to do some work
It will interesting to see what others have to say
Posts
I use horse manure on my allottment but only in the winter and just leave on the soil so the winter breaks it done , then dig it in in the spring but could be difficult if you have lots of plants
you could just us Bone meal as a general fertiliser
I supply a friend with horse manure and he leaves it in the bag with a bit of water for 3 to 6 Months for it to rot down the uses it on the garden
I have found this a great site for practical advise , rather than just reading books
enjoy your gardening
If it's nice and crumbly and doesn't smell too much of horse poo, it's probably fine.
In essence , if it looks like horse poo, leave it a bit longer.
Mm mm! Essence of horse poo, nothing better
flippin' 'eck Lyn, you're up late, or very early.
We country folk are easily pleased eh?
I feel I'm the "poo expert"having posted about horse poo, fox poo etc several times on this forum.
I use tons of horse manure on my garden. Literally tons! But then it's free and we have tons readily available. My partner trains horses.
I also have a big garden.
It was initially dug in to beds when they were first made and dug over. Now the garden is established it's part of the Autumn routine after all the perennials have been cut back and the dead foliage removed. Then a load of "well rotted" is just slung all round the plants and lightly forked in to the top soil where there's space to see and do that and left over the top as a protective mulch where there's not.
When it comes to "fresh" horse poo then I do also put that around the likes of Rhododendrons and azaleas and also round the roses and other shrubs. Just on the surface. Not dug in. You do have to make sure you're not putting "fresh" on tender plants and particularly that it's not making contact with the plant because if and when it generates heat then it is likely to burn the plant.
The only reason I don't put "fresh" on my borders now is that there's no space to do so. If however you have space between plants in your borders you can spread it around and just let the rain do it's job and leach the nutrients out and wash them down into the soil for you. As I said earlier though, don't dig fresh in because you don't want it to come into direct contact with the plant and that includes the root system. Leaving it just spread in small quantities on the surface with no contact won't do any harm with all the rain etc that we have.
It only takes about 3 months to compost down and as Hostafan said when it looks like soil and lost the poo smell it's ready. Rather than keeping it in plastic bags though, you'd be better keeping it in a pile in a corner of the garden. The plastic bags will keep it "fresh" and wet so it won't start to rot down properly.
My garden doesn't do bad with horse manure. This is where I now only put the fresh stuff: You said you only have 3 bags of it. That's not much by my reckoning and will be no more than I put on any given week in this particular spot.
and where all the well rotted was first dug in and spread around every year: There will be about half a ton of well rotted spread around each of these borders every year.
Northern lass , very interesting , do you have any thoughts about putting a bit of horse manure in compost bins with the various green bits from the allotment
the allottment assovation gets it delivered free and you just help yourself
Def a good idea to add fresh manure to the compost heap. Get busy with that wheelbarrow!
Agreed it's a good idea and it helps the get the compost started. Another plan if you have a water butt for garden watering is to put some in that container. You then have a nice nutrient rich water in fertisliser.
I actually don't bother at all with compost in the garden but that's only because we have so much from the farm muck heaps.
I know this topic was a while ago, but I was wondering if I can put fresh horse manure with straw in, on to a new allotment in Sept and then cover it with black plastic sheeting.
My allotment has a gate on to a horse field. The lady with the horses has said that I can take as much as I like.
Would it rot down over winter so that I could plant in that area next year?
Or should I pile it all up in one spot and then spread it next year?
Hello , I put fresh horse manure on my beds and leave it over winter then dig in , in spring
On plot holder does the same but mixes straw and he swears by it , I did try it on one bed but the straw didn't really rot down , so I will not do that again
Personally I would not cover it with black plastic as I feel you need the elements to do some work
It will interesting to see what others have to say
There is an allotment thread on hear