Jill,

The quick answer is that yes, it (and all animal manures) has to age/decompose before it can be added to the garden soil. Pile it up, keep it moist, stir it up every now and then. You can mix in the sawdust if you want. I've linked a FAQ from the Organic Gardening forum that discusses manure in depth.

There's nothing wrong with leaving the clippings on the lawn--they are good for it! If I didn't have a bagging attachment, I'd leave them there.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: O.G. Forum FAQ on Manure

If you can get free sawdust, then you need more blueberries.

On the serious side, find out what bedding material, if any, is mixed in with the horse manure. That might influence your decision on how to use it.

Scott,

I think you are on a mission to get everyone to grow more blueberries! : )

I think that maybe next year I will plant some for DH and DS. They both love them but, as you know, I don't. (Maybe it is based on what you grow up eating? My parents didn't like blueberries, so we never ate them when I was a kid.) I don't think I ever tried them until I was in my late teens.

So, if I decide to do blueberries, I guess I will have to do a heroic amount of soil improvement to create the right environment for them. My uncle grows them in sugar sand in East Texas and he is addicted to them. His bushes are huge monsters, and he is always adding another one here or there.

I have a general policy of not planting anything that has to be babied, coddled or needs huge amounts of soil improvement. It has always seemed more logical to me to focus on what grows best without a lot of special treatement. (Although, if that was really true all I'd have here would be Johnson grass and ragweed.)

I have always steered clear of most animal manures ever since the Grazon/compost crisis of the late 1990s/early 2000s. For that matter, I have been really careful about what hay and straw I use ever since then too. It has been long enough, though, that most people who garden organically know to steer clear of anything that might have become contaminated with Grazon.

I prefer cow manure, or rabbit manure when I can get it. And, of course, chicken litter from the chicken coop is great for the compost pile. There is a horse ranch right across the street, and the ranch owner told me once I could have all the horse manure I wanted, but I've never taken them up on it. Too many memories of other gardeners (not me) applying fresh manure (or too much of it) and burning up their gardens. My first year here, a local cattle rancher gave us a pickup truck load of manure and said it had been piled up and composting for months. Well, I put it into the ground without doing additional composting here, and had the absolute worst weeds ever. I am more careful now about thoroughly composting manure (of any type) before using it.

Dawn

Hi Scott and Dawn,

The manure is free, they say it's pine shavings + manure. It's from a new stable/equistrian place in Broken Arrow and they are just looking for people to haul it off for them. Scott, if you want the contact information, let me know. I am a little concerned about the weeds; I've always heard that is the problem with horse manure.

The saw dust is $10/pickup load and it's between Catoosa and Inola. They don't always have it, you have to call before you go, but it's a very short/convenient drive for me and I thought it would be worth the $10. I plan on mostly using it for mulch in the garden unless someone tells me different. I am considering blueberries, not on a large scale like you at least not yet and maybe not even this year. I thought I'd get mine from Boston Mountain Nurseries near Fayetteville. They also sell some thornless blackberries--humm, so many possibilities. I grew up in NW Ark near Fayetteville and go there from time to time.

I do also have access to some rabbit manure(free or small donation like a bag of feed), but I have to haul it a pretty good distance. A young relative of mine raises them for show in 4H. (I've considered raising them for the manure!)

Thank you guys and all the others out there again and again so much for all the wonderful advice and guidance. I didn't grow up with a lot of gardening influences, even though it was a rural area. My maternal grandparents would have been a wealth of information, but they passed when I was a infant/toddler. My mother just didn't care for gardening althuogh she let me plant a flower bed along our house and work in a nearby greenhouse 1 summer as a teen. I loved doing both :). I've put off pursueing this love until I recently realized I'm going to get too old to do it or enjoy it if I don't get busy. Plus I'm hoping my kids will take an interest if it's all around them. If not that's okay too, but at least it will be there for them.

Jill

Jill,

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a pickup load of the manure from the place you posted about. It is about 2/3 shavings and 1/3 manure. It looks pretty good. The guy there seemed very nice. Not worth the gas $$ for the pickup drive unless I am going to be in the area (Atwoods!) anyway.

Dawn,

What I especially like about blueberries is that once you get the soil right and provide frequent water, the rest is easy. I compare it to blackberries, which seem to have all kinds of blemishes and on which everything likes to crawl and eat. It is the perfect fit for a large container since the root system is so shallow anyway. Plus highbush blueberries are incredible in pancakes and ice cream. You may have to go with rabbit eye or lowbush, though, at your location. The only place around Tulsa where you can pick them has way too much demand. We need more local growers!!

If the sawdust you are getting is fresh, it too will need to be aged. Fresh sawdust applied to the soil will rob nitrogen from the soil as it decomposes. Sawdust is also acid and aging it allows the pH to neutralize somewhat. Although as Scott says, it's perfect for blueberries. We lost our source of aged sawdust recently. For many years we hauled from an abandoned sawmil where a huge pile of sawdust had been sitting for years. Then the property was sold and the sawdust removed. Sigh

I have no knowledge of this whatsoever but met a little old guy in walmart just yesterday who used to have an orange orchard in CA. and now he farms around the Healdton area. He SWEARS by horse manure and says it doesn't burn like other manures.
He says he has improved his entire acreage by using fresh horse manure and now it will grow anything he wants. He has all kinds of fruit trees plus his garden. He said his garden is about a half acre.
This little man was probably in his 80s. And I usually listen to the older folk.
Just adding this info due to only yesterday being told that I need horse manure for my raised beds. I have NO idea where to get any....lol.
G.M.

G.M.,

Does Carter County have horse ranches like we have here in Love County? If so, I bet someone has horse manure they'd sell very cheaply....or let you haul away free. You might try posting on Ardmore Freecycle or Craig's List that you're looking for horse manure. It couldn't hurt, and you might get a positive response.

I HAVE heard some people say fresh horse manure doesn't burn plant roots, and others say it doesn't, and it can be a topic of hot (no pun intended) debate. I just tend to play it safe and compost everything first. One thing with any kind of manure from animals is that you don't know what the cows or hourse are treated with, chemically speaking, like for worms or other parasites or if hormones are given to them or what. So, I just think composting it first is safest.

Dawn

Okay, I just unloaded what appears to me to be 80-90% pine shavings and a little horse manure. It looks like a mound of sawdust that's surrounded by a ring of manure that rolled down as I unloaded it. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. It's supposed to rain in the next few days, so I'm assuming that will help with the composting process. Is there anything I can add or do to hurry the process along? I'm figuring this is not going to benefit me much in the near future, but thought maybe I could add it before I try to plant in July for a fall harvest.

Also on "aging" pure sawdust -- how long does it need to sit/compost before it would make a good mulch? I know these questions probably depend on several variables. I'm just trying to get an idea of what to expect.

Jill

I've had horses for years, and more manure than I know what to do with, but I've rarely ever used it on my gardens, and only an iris bed at that. Now I use it to fill in holes in the yard (our place use to be a tree farm and there are a few places where root balls came out that aren't filled in with soil). I've always heard horse manure contained too many weed seeds, so I've only used it sparingly in my compost piles. I prefer to use cow manure versus horse manure, but my all time favorite manure is rabbit manure. I know for a fact you can use it straight from the rabbit without composting it, and it won't burn your plants. I LOVE rabbit manure, LOL. But not enough to raise rabbits any longer. I can't stand those little rodents!

I just got a truck load of horse manure/spoiled hay. I added a foot to the garden to till in. I also have extra to help improve the clay soil my grass growns(not well) on. After reading posts about somewhat fresh manure, I called my father, who is a vetrinarian and also gardens. He said that it would be good in my garden, especially since it is clay. He said that I could plant in a couple weeks, but to till it in 2 or 3 times. He thought that in order to improve my clay soil that I could add a foot or more in the fall and till it in the spring. I read where people who say it is ok to use Fresh horse manure, have done it and it was fine. The people who say don't do it, do not say "because I did it and _______ happened to my plants." I will let you know how it works out for me.

Thank you, sportsroad. Good info.

So far my garden it doing so much better this year vs LY. My corn, squash, melons, potatoes, onions, and carrots are all growing well. As a test, I planted pumpkins in a 1 ft. pile of the fresh horse manure/spoiled hay, to see how it would do vs the rest. My pumpkin plants look better than any other plant in my garden. My conclusion, fresh manure is good for the garden. I am going to try to bring in another dump truck load, till it into my lawn and reseed this fall. I am also going to get another dumptruck load in the fall, after harvest. I love the free supply of the good stuff, I only pay about $60 for a dump truck to pick it up at the farm and drop it off in my front yard. It is a lot of work, and the neighbors don't talk to me for a couple weeks. but in the end, it is well worth it.

I get horse manure from a guy who raises those miniature horses. I'm currently looking for another source of manure because there is so much chat and weed seeds in the manure. I am constantly digging out cockleburrs, nut grass, and Johnson grass, everywhere I have applied it. Though my garden seems to be enjoying the extra "nutrition", I'm not enjoying pulling all the noxious weeds.

I live in town so I don't know anyone who raises chickens or rabbits. Wish I did! The people I know who have any kind of livestock have cows or horses.

I think I might call in to the local radio station "Trading Post" and ask if anyone has chicken or rabbit poo. --Ilene

Scot - Are you saying I could grow blueberries in containers? I haven't even been reading the blueberry threads because I couldn't think of a place to put any. Is it hard to maintain them in pots? How big a pot? Do you have to fight the birds for them, or do you net them?

Sportsroad,
Thanks for coming back and posting your experience with the horse manure in your garden. That's good to know how well it's doing.

Ilene,
Your problems with the weeds from horse manure might possibly be from what they're eating at the time you get the manure. I thought about this last winter, when I was feeding my horses very nice, weed free Bermuda grass hay and gorgeous alfalfa. It dawned on me then that would be a good time to collect their manure for my gardens, because it should be weed free. But like now, they're eating grass from my pastures, which have a lot of weeds in them, which would make the manure contain a lot of weed seeds. I wouldn't dream of using manure from them right now...

So anyway, that's my thoughts on the subject. I might try using the winter manure when I'm feeding them good quality, weed free hay, and that's mostly all the grass they're getting since the pastures are eaten down so badly during winter. I think I will try it next winter since I have so much manure available. :)
Dawna

soonergrandmom, I'm sorry I didn't respond earlier. I didn't see your post until now. Hopefully you will check this thread.

Blueberries are easier in containers than in the ground IMO as long as you get them water every day during the growing season. Even mine in the ground got 100% substituted peat moss in place of the native soil, so it is almost like a container.

The easiest way is to use about 60% peat moss and 40% potting soil (at most) or similar and then fertilze with a little miracid every few weeks. The pot needs to be pretty big if you are going to leave it in there for many years. Let me know if you want more suggestions from me, or check the edible landscape forum or container forum to see what other people say.

I think there are a few varieties that don't get the usual size. These may be the best choices.

I got an e-mail from someone named Ellen Perkins regarding miniature horses.

Ellen, I hope you will see this post, as I tried to reply to your e-mail and it came back to me. So try again and send me an e-mail address that will get to you. :) --Ilene

Ilene, I saw your posting and sent you my email address.
Thanks a bunch, Ellen

I started reading this because the poster is as confused as I am. And I am still confused. Half say yay and half say ney. About two months ago, I bought a truck bed load of "composted manure" off of craigslist and filled my raised garden with that at garden soil. Everything died. I guess it wasn't aged enough. I tried again last week by cutting a pot sized hole out where I wanted to replant, filled it with potting soil, and planted all my new plants. I watered each one seperately until today (3 days later). Today I used a spray on my hose. They are all laying over, wilted and yellow. I guess the water went through the manure and the manure water killed my plants! I'm about to scream!