I sent you an email!

{{gwi:1100884}}

Denny--you didn't ask me, but I'd pile it up for the winter and go for it in the Spring!
Love the stuff!!! :o)

Janice,what a great picture!
How nice to see that Wile E. Coyote,loves hosta too.
Or,,should i say "Wild*dog,loves hosta.
You are full of talent.
Carol

If you're planning to put it on an existing flowerbed, I'd pile it up like hey_j said and put a polytarp over it. That will raise the temperature slightly to speed up composting and keep the rain from leaching the nutrients out. You can flip it over once or twice if you want to. Then apply it around your hostas next Spring (not on top the crown) if it's not too hot. Since the horses have been fed hay, you'll get lots of weed seeds which will germinate unless you heat the manure up or apply Preen. Don

PS If you buy Preen, get the large bag from Lowe's for about $30. It's a whole lot cheaper (per lb.) than buying the box or plastic jug.

"PS If you buy Preen, get the large bag from Lowe's for about $30. It's a whole lot cheaper (per lb.) than buying the box or plastic jug."
Don

Have you ever bought Surflan (the active ingredient in Preen) liquid, great to mix with a herbicide and kill 2 birds with one stone. I got mine from a farm store, 5 gal last forever.

Kill the weeds and suppress weed seed. Not necessary to mix them if you don't need to kill just suppress.

BTW, the bottom half of my constant water reservoir pots is horse manure with media on top, holds down the weeds. The water that runs out is brown for months.

If you pile it up, and cover it, (as Don wisely suggested) do you really have to worry about
weeds? I mean, if it heats up enough, wouldn't it kill any seed present?

I'm really a novice at composting so that's why I'm asking for clarification!! :o)

Oh, and thank you, Carol! I just couldn't 'resist'--I have this 'impish' side, ya might know!
Anyone that's been around here long enough, knows that I do, anyway!:o) I try to keep that
side more 'under-wraps' these days, though! Some, just really prefer that I do, on *this side*!;o)

"If you pile it up, and cover it, (as Don wisely suggested) do you really have to worry about weeds? I mean, if it heats up enough, wouldn't it kill any seed present?"
hey_j

Well yes if you get the heat up enough, BIG BUTT that ain't always as easy as it seems. Horse manure is a brown and needs regular green additions to compost fast and get properly heated to kill weed seed. Just covering horse manure will not kill seed for "maybe" years.

If you pile horse manure and add grass clippings or other green material and turn to make sure all the manure gets to the center where it gets hot then it will work.

There is 2 basic bedding for horse stalls, straw and wood chips. The straw composts faster and will be more likely get to a heat, wood chips are denser and therefore slower like composting twigs in a compost pile. .

Now it will compost over time but slowly and may never reach "kill weed seed hot."

Now i am really confused!

Are you "Butch Ragland" EO?

Carol

Everyone loves a *mystery* don't you think? ;o)

Ok, you are Butch Ragland**aks**EO,,eh?
Only you use the "Big Butt", :0)
Carol

And then there is WILDDOG !

Hey Fred, you asked a question the other day I meant to respond to, no offense.

Haven't seen your fingers for a while.
How u is
How u been
How's momma an em?

My grandfather taught me to let horse manure age before putting it on a flower/vegetable bed, hence the manure pile. He said the amonia from urine is too strong for plants and could burn them. Needed to have that dissapate before adding it to the garden. Was that an old wives' tale?

PIM

SOOO,
I pile it up and cover it with a tarp. Let it heat up and then put it around the plant in late spring. Got it!

Thanks All,
Denny

"He said the ammonia from urine is too strong for plants and could burn them. Needed to have that dissipate before adding it to the garden."
pim

Depends on the volume or thickness, any compost applied to thick is a problem and different inputs will vary in thickness requirements.
Mainly the urea will help decompose the manure.
Horse manure of old was usually from horses not bedded in things like wood chips. Bedded in straw will heat up more BIG BUTT it is not a problem unless you put hot manure on the garden.
The urine acts like a green for the brown manure so that helps. The urine is tied up in the clump and will tend to stay there because it is chemically reacting with the clump.

What leaches out of a pile of any compost is valuable so the best place to compost is where you need the compost. If you've ever notice how lush things grow around a compost pile.

Finally don't over do anything.

Having grown up on a farm with cattle, my dad and brothers would clean out the barns in the spring and apply that winter's accumulation of cow manure onto the fields with a manure spreader.The manure then got disced in. Planting of the crops happened a month or 2 after that. Very simple and very old school.

Thanks for the insight Butch. Really appreciate you taking the time to go through that.

Kind regards, PIM

"Thanks for the insight Butch. Really appreciate you taking the time to go through that."
Kind regards, PIM

Tks, you're kind.
My purpose is to take the horticulture and demystify what is going on, understanding the process or system usually leads to simple answers to complex questions leading to easy growing.

Not that I explained all there is to know about composting or or understand all there is to know. You may have noticed how often I suggest looking at the natural process for understanding.

Denny
About 3 years ago in the fall, I used horse manure to make a lasagna bed. The horse manure came straight from the farm (not composted) put down where we wanted the bed, layered with leaves, compost (ddint have much) and grass. Planted the area in the spring.
Easy as can be to make a new garden. Used news paper, so we didnt have to take out the grass.

Grew some of the best hostas and plants in our yard. There were a few weeds, but not something we couldnt deal with. Here is a photo of a "Brother Stefan" that is growing in that area.

trudy,
Wow that is a beauty! I can't wait to put the crap to good use!!

Denny

I say mold the maure into patties and then thro them on the BBQ!! That should heat that stuff up pretty fast!!

LOL

Paul

WooHoo!! Paul's throwin a BBQ! I'll be there as long as you do the cookin and take the first bite! LOL!

Denny

Years ago when potting media was first being brought to the home, little was known about "potting soil" outside of greenhouse operations. At that time most greenhouses bought sphagnum and constructed their own soils for particular crops. I didn't know much either!

I stopped to buy food, even remember where; Calhoun, KY. While waiting for the food I was admiring an indoor foliage plant that appeared very healthy, examining the potting soil that had little pellets in it. I picked some up and mused about what it was, smelled it, broke it up between my fingers, examined it trying to determine what in fact it was. Very interesting media, the fibers were a bit thicker than sphagnum yet clearly some fiber not wood, holding moisture evenly.

When my food was ready I turned away from the plant to find the 2 clerks clearly amused by what I was doing. I asked what type of potting media this could be, they just broke up telling me it was rabbit poop.