horse manure compost, need advice

smoking shawn86

Meat Mopper

Original poster

Jun 13, 2011

244

12

southern Ca,

• Jul 5, 2012

• #1

I'm looking to expand my garden next year and I will need a lot of manure for that,so i'm looking to make my own manure and I need a little advice

 

diggingdogfarm

Master of the Pit

Jun 23, 2011

4,648

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Southern Tier of New York State

• Jul 5, 2012

• #2

Horse manure is good , but be sure that it's composted well enough to kill weed seeds because horses don't digest whole seeds well.

~Martin

 

smoking shawn86

Meat Mopper

Original poster

Thread starter

Jun 13, 2011

244

12

southern Ca,

• Jul 6, 2012

• #3

do you know how much carbon to manure ratio should be

 

diggingdogfarm

Master of the Pit

Jun 23, 2011

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Southern Tier of New York State

• Jul 6, 2012

• #4

The rule of thumb is 25-30:1 Carbon to Nitrogen for proper composting.

You'll have to guess on the ratio of c:n in the horse manure you get based on the amount of bedding mixed with it.

If there are a lot of wood shavings mixed with it you'll likely need more nitrogen.


~Martin

 

garand555

Smoke Blower

Apr 17, 2011

107

11

Albuquerque

• Jul 18, 2013

• #5

DiggingDogFarm said:

Horse manure is good , but be sure that it's composted well enough to kill weed seeds because horses don't digest whole seeds well.

~Martin

Click to expand...

This. You don't want to know how much alfalfa is growing next to the horse pens here. I haven't had a problem with any of the stuff that I've composted though.

 

diggingdogfarm

Master of the Pit

Jun 23, 2011

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Southern Tier of New York State

• Jul 18, 2013

• #6

Depends on what the horse are fed.....the biggest potential threat is hay that may have something like bindweed seeds in it.....the seeds may survive composting and it's almost impossible to get rid of.




~Martin

 

smokeamotive

Smoking Fanatic

Jul 1, 2009

709

15

Lees Summit Mo.

• Jul 18, 2013

• #7

DiggingDogFarm said:

Depends on what the horse are fed.....the biggest potential threat is hay that may have something like bindweed seeds in it.....the seeds may survive composting and it's almost impossible to get rid of.




~Martin

Click to expand...

Yeah this^!!! I picked up a load of compost from our landfill here a few years ago and I'm still battling bindweed and morning glory!!!:devil:

 

jdoyle

Fire Starter

Jul 15, 2013

32

10

North Carolina

• Jul 23, 2013

• #8

I have been composting chicken manure for years,to kill the weeds you need to get the compost working hot.the way I do it is as I am building a pile I will soak everything down with water then add some 10-10 fertilizer just speed up the process. I will do this in layers. Then I will cover the whole pile in black plastic and let the sun help heat things up. Turn it in about a month and recover Hope this helps

 

smoking shawn86

Meat Mopper

Original poster

Thread starter

Jun 13, 2011

244

12

southern Ca,

• Aug 21, 2013

• #9

If you let your compost heat up to much then you risk killing the beneficial organisms. form what I read you shouldn't let it get hotter than 150F

 

daveomak

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Nov 12, 2010

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Omak,Washington,U.S.A.

• Aug 21, 2013

• #10

I bought cheap chicken manure compost from wmrt a few years back.....   Morning Glory in all the areas I put it...     

I add Urea and ammonium sulfate when I add horse manure.... just to break down the wood chips or straw that's in it....

Dave