Can you use fresh manure?

[palborn]

Gardening books etc always talk about using well rotted manure but is it also possible to use fresh manure if the soil isn't going to be used for a few months? I'm preparing a number of new beds that will be dug over in the next couple of weeks and then left to settle over the winter. I would like to give them a boost as the land was grassy before and has never been cultivated. I will also have a number of empty beds where this year's growth has ended and I would like to do the same for them too. I am planning to grow some green manures on some but I would like to manure too especially where the spuds will be going. Can I use fresh here and then dig it over in the Spring?

[Flummery]

Not a manure expert but I would have thought you'd waste the nutrients. They can weather out in the winter. I'd still be tempted to bung it in a compost bin for the winter and bang it on the land in Spring. Someone might know better though!

[terrier]

When cows,sheep,horses, etc, are in the fields, the muck goes on fresh. It all ends up doing the same job in the same place. The difference is what you want to grow in it. Different plants like different types of growing medium, lime haters will be quite happy with fresh manure but carrots evidently hate the stuff. Keep an eye on the Ph of your soil, soil checking kits are cheap to buy and see what difference adding fresh manure does to it.

[sewer rat]

If you apply fresh manure now then the winter weather and the worms will incorporate it into the soil for you. It is perfectly okay to add fresh manure now - as it'll be weather beaten for about 6 months before you plant anything.
However, as Flum points out, the nutrients and especially the potash will be leached out of the manure. This may or not be a problem depending on your soil type, as some soils leach quicker than others. I have a good very free draining soil over sandstone but it leaches nutrients like you wouldn't believe.
You should ask yourself one question before you decide which course of action to follow ; Which is more important to you - nutrients or organic matter. If the former, compost as Flum suggests, if the latter, start spreading now.
Hope this helps

[Snadger]

I would say it depends a lot on what the manure consists of! If it is horse muck with a lot of wood shavings in it I would compost it. If it was strawy cow muck I suppose you could put a thick layer on top of the soil as a mulch and by planting time in spring any ammonia should have washed out.

I personally would opt for the composting option for either cow or horse poo, even if it was piled in a heap until Spring when it should have cooled down a bit!

[palborn]

There's so much to this manuring lark isn't there. I think I'll try and get hold of some fresh horse manure and let it rot down until next Spring. This shouldn't be too hard living in rural France.

[rustylady]

Main reason for not using fresh manure is that it burns any plants it touches because of the high ammonia (nitrogen) content. Bit like when your dog pees on the lawn the grass dies. However, if you're going to leave beds empty for a couple of months there is no reason not to top dress them with fresh manure and leave it to rot down in situ, or let the worms pull it down into the soil. I try to dig out a bean trench in early winter, and line it with fresh stable manure plus leafy waste. Cover it with soil and leave the worms etc to work it into the soil and you have an excellent moisture retaining base to your bean trench. Worked a treat this year - runners still going.