Horse Manure and Wood Mulch

arivaraci · December 28, 2012

Pretty new at all this 3rd year gardener, 1st year soil builder. Spring '13's garden expanded to just over 3000 sq ft from 500sq ft.

I have a neighbor who works for a tree service and has offered unlimited woodchip mulch - generally finely shredded and with green (somewhat seasonal) - dropped off on property. And a farm close by that has offered free horse manure/straw whenever and however much I can pick up. I am getting my first batch of the manure today. I have 2 huge piles of wood mulch already from trees we had taken down. I also have a compost pile - leaves, grass, and kitchen scraps.

What would you do with these resources? Are these ideal amendments? Can I begin incorporating the manure today as I continue to dig the rows in the virgin part of the garden space? (Oh, and I have serious amounts of leaves that I was adding to the soil as I dig the rows for the first time.

dice · December 28, 2012

Wood chips: no black walnut (contains juglone).

Manure: no aminopyralid (broad leaf herbicide that
passes from hay through animals into their manure).

See these threads:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=14502
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...nure+herbicide

Otherwise, horse manure makes great fertilizer and compost,
and wood chips are a great mulch.

Doug9345 · December 28, 2012

THis link talks about the carry over into manure. Apparently they can persist anywhere from 30 days to several years. They also tell how to do a bioassay. Basically Beans, Peas and Tomatoes are very sensitive to herbicides. You plant a few in smaples take from the manure along with some in a pot of commercial potting mix. If the ones with the manure grow alright then you are good to go.

WIth manure and leaves you should be good.

delltraveller · December 28, 2012

Just echoing dice and Doug about the herbicide contamination in animal manure. You can unwittingly ruin your beds for years to come for things like tomatoes by adding contaminated manure. The farmer may not be aware of the problem or it could be intermittent, depending upon purchases of hay or rented pasture. I had to turn down an offer of manure, which I would have loved to accept, because of a -pyralid herbicide used on the pastures. Because of information provided on threads here, I knew what questions to ask. And I was able to educate the stable owner, who had no idea there were herbicides that didn't break down in digestion or composting, or how long the pasture land was going to be effected.

Beans make a nice quick test subject for the potting mix/manure test. Don't forget to use one control subject in just the potting mix, just in case you get a bad packet of seed.

habitat_gardener · December 28, 2012

Wood-chip mulch (lots of leaves and branches) is always available at the community garden. When I had more time, I'd pile it onto the paths surrounding my plot as deep as possible (with cardboard or newspaper underneath to suppress weeds), anywhere from 4 to 12 inches. A year or two later, I'd sift the path mulch and use the compost in the garden -- a great way to get more compost with minimal work. I used the sifted-out coarse material for paths inside my plot, since I have never-walked-on garden beds and I like to keep the inside paths from getting muddy in the rainy season.

One possible downside of using lots of woody mulch is that it's a great substrate for fungi. In the middle of the rainy season, I see some of the most interesting fungi and slime molds in my garden! Look up "dog vomit fungus" for a preview of a common slime mold you might see (the images online don't do it justice -- much more stunning in real life). But it's a curiosity, not a problem -- they don't interfere with the plants. If the above-ground parts start getting big, I scoop them up and toss them in the compost bin.

arivaraci · December 28, 2012

Thanks for all the info. I have read through all the links and have started some beans to test the manure. Thanks for the idea. And I will definitely be using the mulch over newspaper for the walkways! Love winter for all the plans I get to make. And the advice and expertise on the boards here.

Doug9345 · December 28, 2012

I'd also put some bean seed directly in the manure mix to make sure there wasn't some kind of pre emergent herbicide in it. Store bought food beans should work as well as anything else.

kilroyscarnival · January 7, 2013

I just heard back from a post on a Freecycle group I followed up on - it was a month or more old, but I assumed if they had horses they had more manure, and maybe just didn't get play on the list so didn't bother posting again. It's a nearby (very close to my office) nonprofit that gives special needs kids the chance to experience riding and working with horses.

They said I can come by any weekday as long as I contact them to say when I'm coming. I plan to ask all the questions I can about herbicides, and also do a test on the manure. Not yet sure how composted it will be. If it works out it could be a great resource for getting those raised beds fill all the way up for next time!

rxkeith · January 7, 2013

horse manure will tend to be real seedy unless its aged a bit. doesn't stop me from using it though. you have to weed anyway. a mulch between the rows or plants will help keep the weeds down.

keith

kilroyscarnival · January 7, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by rxkeith

horse manure will tend to be real seedy unless its aged a bit. doesn't stop me from using it though. you have to weed anyway. a mulch between the rows or plants will help keep the weeds down.

keith

Thanks, Keith. I am planning on adding some to my slowly composting pile of leaves, so maybe it'll get hot enough in there to kill seeds. Don't know whether it will be mixed with hay, or sawdust, or what. Especially if it's also urine-soaked, I want to compost it. I'm only going to be taking a couple of Rubbermaid bins full, at least to start.

kilroyscarnival · January 11, 2013

Well, I made it to the horse facility. Very nice people there. I filled up two 18gal containers, plus the 14gal Rubbermaid I keep in my car "in case of coffee grounds or something", which meant that the Rubbermaid had to go on the car seat. I stopped back in the office to let them know I had padlocked the gate back up, and met another gardener coming by for some. He let me know he has had no problems with the manure (regarding herbicide issues) and he is obviously one of the fountains of LOCAL advice I'd been hoping to find... I suggested he check out Tomatoville, also.

I talked so long I ran out of lunch hour, so I have said fifty pounds or so of horse poo still in my car. By coincidence, tomorrow is "air out your car" day.

Redbaron · January 11, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by kilroyscarnival

I talked so long I ran out of lunch hour, so I have said fifty pounds or so of horse poo still in my car. By coincidence, tomorrow is "air out your car" day.

Are you kidding? Horse poo smells awesome! Like roses growing beside a fresh mowed field of hay!

Pig or chicken manure?

Now that's another story.

arivaraci · January 11, 2013

I am still waiting for my baby beans to emerge. I am afraid I haven't kept it wet enough as I am hiding the pot out of sight, so my husband does not realize I am propogating inside the house with horse manure. He still is a little freaked out by the manure pile beside my garden.

kilroyscarnival · January 11, 2013

You're right, I was pleasantly reminded that horse poo smells like summer. Must be some childhood memories there, though we didn't have horses some neighbors did.

However, any scent concentrates in the car. Last week I bought some flavored coffees at The Fresh Market on my way home; there's not one in my neighborhood yet so it's a rare stop. Had to make a few stops and it was a warm late morning, so by the time I got home everything smelled like coffee beans! (Not that that's not great itself)

My bins have just a little straw in there, not much, but some wood shavings, I aimed specifically for those rather than the straw. I didn't smell urine, but since I'll be composting it it wouldn't have mattered much.

dice · January 11, 2013

Quote:

I am still waiting for my baby beans to emerge. I am afraid I haven't kept it wet enough

You can try soaking some beans in water for 24 hours before testing
them in the watered horse manure or manure and pottting soil mix.
That way drying out on top will be less of an issue.

December 28, 2012	#1
arivaraci Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 199	Horse Manure and Wood Mulch Pretty new at all this 3rd year gardener, 1st year soil builder. Spring '13's garden expanded to just over 3000 sq ft from 500sq ft. I have a neighbor who works for a tree service and has offered unlimited woodchip mulch - generally finely shredded and with green (somewhat seasonal) - dropped off on property. And a farm close by that has offered free horse manure/straw whenever and however much I can pick up. I am getting my first batch of the manure today. I have 2 huge piles of wood mulch already from trees we had taken down. I also have a compost pile - leaves, grass, and kitchen scraps. What would you do with these resources? Are these ideal amendments? Can I begin incorporating the manure today as I continue to dig the rows in the virgin part of the garden space? (Oh, and I have serious amounts of leaves that I was adding to the soil as I dig the rows for the first time.

December 28, 2012	#2
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	Wood chips: no black walnut (contains juglone). Manure: no aminopyralid (broad leaf herbicide that passes from hay through animals into their manure). See these threads: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=14502 http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...nure+herbicide Otherwise, horse manure makes great fertilizer and compost, and wood chips are a great mulch. __________________ -- alias

December 28, 2012	#3
Doug9345 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Durhamville,NY Posts: 2,706	THis link talks about the carry over into manure. Apparently they can persist anywhere from 30 days to several years. They also tell how to do a bioassay. Basically Beans, Peas and Tomatoes are very sensitive to herbicides. You plant a few in smaples take from the manure along with some in a pot of commercial potting mix. If the ones with the manure grow alright then you are good to go. WIth manure and leaves you should be good.

December 28, 2012	#4
delltraveller Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Iowa Posts: 481	Just echoing dice and Doug about the herbicide contamination in animal manure. You can unwittingly ruin your beds for years to come for things like tomatoes by adding contaminated manure. The farmer may not be aware of the problem or it could be intermittent, depending upon purchases of hay or rented pasture. I had to turn down an offer of manure, which I would have loved to accept, because of a -pyralid herbicide used on the pastures. Because of information provided on threads here, I knew what questions to ask. And I was able to educate the stable owner, who had no idea there were herbicides that didn't break down in digestion or composting, or how long the pasture land was going to be effected. Beans make a nice quick test subject for the potting mix/manure test. Don't forget to use one control subject in just the potting mix, just in case you get a bad packet of seed.

December 28, 2012	#5
habitat_gardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: California Central Valley Posts: 2,543	Wood-chip mulch (lots of leaves and branches) is always available at the community garden. When I had more time, I'd pile it onto the paths surrounding my plot as deep as possible (with cardboard or newspaper underneath to suppress weeds), anywhere from 4 to 12 inches. A year or two later, I'd sift the path mulch and use the compost in the garden -- a great way to get more compost with minimal work. I used the sifted-out coarse material for paths inside my plot, since I have never-walked-on garden beds and I like to keep the inside paths from getting muddy in the rainy season. One possible downside of using lots of woody mulch is that it's a great substrate for fungi. In the middle of the rainy season, I see some of the most interesting fungi and slime molds in my garden! Look up "dog vomit fungus" for a preview of a common slime mold you might see (the images online don't do it justice -- much more stunning in real life). But it's a curiosity, not a problem -- they don't interfere with the plants. If the above-ground parts start getting big, I scoop them up and toss them in the compost bin.

January 7, 2013	#8
kilroyscarnival Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 614	I just heard back from a post on a Freecycle group I followed up on - it was a month or more old, but I assumed if they had horses they had more manure, and maybe just didn't get play on the list so didn't bother posting again. It's a nearby (very close to my office) nonprofit that gives special needs kids the chance to experience riding and working with horses. They said I can come by any weekday as long as I contact them to say when I'm coming. I plan to ask all the questions I can about herbicides, and also do a test on the manure. Not yet sure how composted it will be. If it works out it could be a great resource for getting those raised beds fill all the way up for next time!

January 7, 2013	#9
rxkeith Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Back in da U.P. Posts: 1,848	horse manure will tend to be real seedy unless its aged a bit. doesn't stop me from using it though. you have to weed anyway. a mulch between the rows or plants will help keep the weeds down. keith

January 11, 2013	#11
kilroyscarnival Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 614	Well, I made it to the horse facility. Very nice people there. I filled up two 18gal containers, plus the 14gal Rubbermaid I keep in my car "in case of coffee grounds or something", which meant that the Rubbermaid had to go on the car seat. I stopped back in the office to let them know I had padlocked the gate back up, and met another gardener coming by for some. He let me know he has had no problems with the manure (regarding herbicide issues) and he is obviously one of the fountains of LOCAL advice I'd been hoping to find... I suggested he check out Tomatoville, also. I talked so long I ran out of lunch hour, so I have said fifty pounds or so of horse poo still in my car. By coincidence, tomorrow is "air out your car" day.