Manure - Help Please!

[kermit]

I am new to GYO and am not sure what muck to use on my allotment. I read somewhere that rabbit manure is excellent, can anyone confirm this? Also, what exactly is 'well rotted'? And how best can I acheive 'well rotted' - ASAP!!

Would love any help and advise!

[shirlthegirl43]

Hello and welcome to the Vine Kermit.

I have also read that rabbit droppings are a good manure but I would think that as with other manures they have to be rotted. Basically, well rotted means that it no longer looks like rabbit poop and straw/shavings, but instead looks pretty much like dark, rich soil. Best way to get it well rotted is to put it in your compost bin (or just in a heap), cover it, stir it about from time to time and wait for a few months or so. I expect adding some compost activator (human wee works I am told so long as it is male wee) would speed the process but I couldn't say how much it would speed it up.

[LaurenGrows]

Hello Kermit and Welcome to the *Vine* ...Lauren

[kermit]

So any tips to what I can use instead as I don't have well rotted manure! My Allotment has been empty about 3 years so I've been told that it should be fertle - but I want to grow potato / cabbage / rhubarb etc.

[shirlthegirl43]

Are there any riding stables or farms close by? If not, garden centres often sell bagged farmyard manure - not ideal as it is more expensive but it is something. Your local Instore (used to be poundstretcher) will have pelleted poultry manure - it is ideal for your spuds and quite easy to transport around.

Sure there will be far more experienced grapes along shortly to advise you further.

Personally, I am hoping that land which has grown nothing but brambles and nettles for at least 10 years doesn't need much feeding for the first year! I will be using some blood, fish and bone or whatever they call it, along with growmore (if I ever get enough dug over to plant something in it).

Good luck and most of all - enjoy it all!

[Two_Sheds]

Hi Kermit...don't worry too much, your plants will grow! I haven't used animal muck in 2 years, and have only just got round to putting some well-rotted compost on some of my beds.
I do grow green manures...have a search thru old Threads for advice on these. And I do compost my guinea pig bedding. I also fertilise with Comfrey juice, bootiful!

[rustylady]

Hi Kermit, just get planting. Your crops should grow well this year anyway - may need some supplementary feeding for which you can use comfrey juice, nettle juice or a proprietary liquid feed. Make yourself a compost heap and put any manure you can get hold of, plus green waste, and save it for an autumn or winter top dressing. Manure is more a soil conditioner than a fertiliser but it does do a lot of good.

[kermit]

Hi

Thanks for all the advice! Have put a message of Freecycle.org and have since been offered LOADS of free horse poo!

Yippee

[terrier]

Hi Kermit, if you live in a horsey area, there will always be loads of equipoo. We have 3 horses at the moment and between them they produce enough waste to supply the whole village. We can't give the stuff away. I've asked local farmers if they want it but they seem to have enough of their own. A mixture of equipoo, straw and waste green material rots down pretty quick and the fresh stuff (straight from the horse) should keep your greenhouse nice and warm in winter. I'm even thinking of drying it out and using it to fire the chimnea for summer barbies, crazy or what.

[kermit]

Thanks Terrier

Went to a stable at the weekend and helped myself from a pile of muck about 8ft high!! Now that's a lot of poo! The stable owner said that last year they actually had to pay to dispose of it - what a waste!

Will chuck it in the Dalek along with the kitchen waste and rabbit poo and hopefully something good should come of it!

[nudger]

I'm fairly lucky on the poo stakes, I live not too far from a stable that could supply half the world in the stuff i measured it on google earth... at 138ft long by 19ft wide and as high if not higher than me at 6ft... not a bad pile of organic matter! it's well rotted too at the base as well as being free.

I'm just wondering now if there is a listing in the guinness book of records for the largest pile? could be a contender i reckon.

[nudger]

Hello and welcome to the Vine Kermit.

I have also read that rabbit droppings are a good manure but I would think that as with other manures they have to be rotted. Basically, well rotted means that it no longer looks like rabbit poop and straw/shavings, but instead looks pretty much like dark, rich soil. Best way to get it well rotted is to put it in your compost bin (or just in a heap), cover it, stir it about from time to time and wait for a few months or so. I expect adding some compost activator (human wee works I am told so long as it is male wee) would speed the process but I couldn't say how much it would speed it up.

Rabbit is one of the best i've been told and you don't need to rot it down they act like a time release fertiliser. I have a fairly steady supply... it does contain a vast amount of shavings so I do need to compost mine down i just add a bin bag full onto my compost heap when adding lots of "green stuff" to balance the mix. seems to work very well in my case just remember to keep turning it over every few days.

[kermit]

Thanks nudger!

Perhaps you should give someone a call about that world record - will look out for it in the next book!!