Horse Manure Questions

[frogwash]

I was walking Petey when someone else walked by with their pooch and Petey started wailing and bouncing about, so I picked him up hoping he'd calm down a little. Nope, he still going a little nutty. It probably my fault as much as his for getting him to close to my face.

I believe almost everyone should get a second chance. Petey has used his first.

Petey & Gracie:

[frogwash]

Originally Posted by greyghost

Frogwash, not trying to imply anyone is cheap. When I clean a stall, all
manure and only the wet soiled bedding comes out. I found when my daughters were teenagers and did the cleaning, they weren't particularily
careful when removing bedding-a lot more than the soiled bedding was
removed. One daughter has her own barn now and she still is wasteful
with bedding while I take a couple of minutes longer and conserve-saves
me a few $$. I still spend almost as much on bedding as I do feed and
horses aren't stalled for long periods. (It was just a joke)

They might be doing ok on cleaning the stall, it was all wet when I first got it. The pic was how it looked after it was in my truck for a few days (my days off vary). It all seemed wet too when I shoveled it out yesterday.

[tjg911]

wet is better than getting dry, all that wet is urine and high in N. you may have good results, i never cared for horse manure due to the weed seeds and after last fall i'm done with it even it was free. i'll buy cow manure from now on.

[dice]

I have had good results when adding horse manure to
beds where tomatoes were grown. One bed I prepared in
the same way that you are contemplating doing: I let it sit
over a winter about a foot thick with rain washing through
it, then turned it under in spring. In another one I built a
raised bed that was half or more horse manure and let it sit
for 5 months or so before planting in it. The horse manure
had some bedding in it, but not as much as you are showing
there in your photos.

I did not have weed or aminopyralid problems, but that was only
because of the choices in feed that the person that I got the
manure from had made.

A brief discussion of aminopyralid herbicide damage:
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/aminopyralid/

The thread with stormymater's aminopyralid horror story:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...t=aminopyralid

The big problem with aminopyralid is that:
1) It works. From the hay farmer's point of view, it increases
yields by reducing broadleaf weed competition.
2) When used as recommended, it is non-toxic for humans,
pets, stock, fish, birds, etc, so safer than many other herbicides.

Those two attributes make it very attractive to the hay farmer.

3) It kills tomato plants at very low concentrations in soil.
4) It passes right through horses and other stock undigested.
5) It persists in the soil for years before it breaks down
chemically.

With aminopyralid on the market, one should test manure
before using it.

One can put some in a pot with container mix, plant some
seeds, see if the plants show the symptoms. Buckwheat is a
fast growing test for this, but if you have a few months, you
can use a tomato plant in a window indoors. No aminopyralid,
it will simply stretch out from the low light. With aminopyralid,
it will curl up like the plants in the pictures at the first URL
above.

Then the question is where to store it while you wait for your
test plants to grow enough to be sure. If you spread it out on
the lawn, maybe 10 feet from the garden edge, you could just
let it sit out there, and no harm done either way. (If it does have
aminopyralid contamination, the lawn won't care.)

I do not know how you convince your dogs to stay out of it while
you wait.

[RinTinTin]

I have used horse sh..eesh in the past without any problems. The horses were never stabled, so there was no 'bedding' involved. They ate local (within 2-3 miles) hay, and we never had a weed problem. Since you have already incorporated "it", you get what you got. Weeds are never a problem unless you let them become a problem. (A weed is nothing more or less than a plant than mankind has yet to find a use for!). Weeds, if kept under control, are a great source of organic material for your soil. Your tomatoes will love your contribution to their goal of reproducing themselves.

Forget the negative comments, and just enjoy your bountiful harvest next season.

[frogwash]

Thank you all very much for the info!

[rugerman1]

The ULTIMATE composting thread----> http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sho...d.php?t=342651

[wordwiz]

I have always heard about horse manure and the problem with weeds - thankfully, I never experienced it. I built a raised bed this spring and the top third was aged horse manure. I didn't collect enough weeds during the year from 168 sq. ft. to line the bottom of a 5-gallon bucket.

I would try to get it in the soil this winter and then be sure to get your soil analyzed in the spring, for the normal nuits and pH, as well as CEC.

Mike