Aged Horse Manure

[Beekissed]

You could maybe add some lime before next rainfall that may sweeten it a little.

 

[Joel_BC]

I was thinking of getting some Free Aged horse manure from a guy I found on Craigslist. He said he has some that is aged up to 5 years and then some that is 3 and 1. So, im assuming the 5 yr stuff is going to be almost like dirt by now. I was wondering how much to put on my garden and if i should just top dress or work in?? I think my garden needs a little boost in the way of natural fertilizers. But i dont want to be too rich in nitrogen and have super big plants and no veggies on them.

We've used horse manure quite a lot on our gardens. Aging for even a few months, if you turn it (get air into it) is enough. It's great stuff to work with. The aeration encourages 'hot composting'.

I doubt very much you'd have to worry about burning plants if the manure pile has been sitting for two or three months and has gotten air into it.

Generally, it's nitrogen that "burns" plants... too high a nitrogen content. That's the usual culprit. When horse manure has been sitting, rotting for six months, it will probably have so little nitrogen left in it that you may want to actually supplement the nitrogen. That's not to say that the manure is worthless at that point, because it will have other constituents (potassium, phosphorous, calcium, trace minerals, beneficial bactera) plus organic matter. But the nitrogen it provides when aged that much will probably actually be too low.

 

[BirchHatchery]

i put new horse manure on the garden a month ago tilled it in the soil 3-4 times it had hay/straw/shavings in it also it wont burn the seeds unless i plant fresh seeds in it it dont take long to not be hot once it mixed with soil and gets rain i also side dress my corn and everything every year with Chicken manure/straw right down each row takes care of weeds and adds nitrogen ive never burnt roots and its told that chicken manure has the highest amount of nitrogren

 

[leolady]

Horse manure is my fertilizer of choice when gardening, since I have a horse. I use it all the time -- even fresh as long as I place it in between plants.