what should I use horse manure on?

[mattyod]

hey i'm just wondering what i can use the horse manure with, i can use it with flowers and shrubs etc.. but is it ok to use with veg and herbs? or is it best leaving manure for a year to brake down and then use with veg, or is it safe to use fresh? sounds like a daft question but i've always used plain old soil and peat for growing stuff.

matt

[solway cropper]

Some people put it on their rhubarb but I prefer custard

I know it's an old joke but I couldn't resist.

Always best to let fresh manure rot down before using it if you can.

[King Carrot]

Best to stack it or bag it and grow beans and squashes in this summer to test it for herbicide contamination. I don't think anyone can be absolutely sure these days and I won't put any manure straight on the ground anymore without testing it, even though the main culprit, aminopyralid isn't even licenced in Ireland. Search aminopyralid contamination in manure and you'll get the story.

If it is fresh, test it and leave it, your soil and the manure will benefit from it having a year or two to rot down

[gojiberry]

Let it rot down over the summer months, then spread it over any beds that are being left fallow over the winter months. The winter weathering should also neutralise any herbicide contamination.

Ian

[bobleponge]

Another vote for letting it rot for a year, however when I first started I got given a load of horse and cow manure with straw, and I filled a raised bed with it in early spring, covered it with a couple of bags of soil from a garden centre and grew squashes on it, worked fine.
It can get very hot (Victorians used fresh horse manure to grow pineapples) which can be harmful to crops, but that depends how much you have and how fresh it is.

[Two_Sheds]

is it safe to use fresh?

No, never use it fresh - it can burn plants. It also probably contains lots of undigested weed seeds

I've never used horse manure (never had access to any) but I do use parrot poo and guinea pig bedding, which is added to the compost heap with everything else

[chucks]

Best to stack it or bag it and grow beans and squashes in this summer to test it for herbicide contamination. I don't think anyone can be absolutely sure these days and I won't put any manure straight on the ground anymore without testing it, even though the main culprit, aminopyralid isn't even licenced in Ireland. Search aminopyralid contamination in manure and you'll get the story.

If it is fresh, test it and leave it, your soil and the manure will benefit from it having a year or two to rot down

How do you test it?

Just wondering as I have some manure but it's too fresh at the minute so won't be going on til autumn.

[Two_Sheds]

How do you test it?

For aminopyralid? Plant something quick growing (peas or beans) in some of the suspect manure - if they shrivel up and die like they've been weedkillered... they have

here's a better explanation than mine: http://www.allotment.org.uk/garden-d...lid-in-manure/