what do you mean by peat??? .. well rotted manure???

That would be my question as well :-) Not sure how one gets peat from horses..........unless it was horses that lived a couple hundred years ago! LOL!

I just googled "peat and horses" and learned that peat moss is sometimes used as a bedding material for horses.

Really? My horse po and wood shavings from the 2 stalls daily goes back to beautiful dirt in about 3 years. We have 20 acres and a area that was low we filled in with our stall shavings/poo and now it fills the hostas hole before planting. I can post a picture of it in a couple days. Horse poo is made up of hay if you open a piece of it (yuck I know) but its green hay! In 3 years its peat moss. beautiful some of our patients have wanted to buy it.

Connie I dont use peat moss in my horses stalls I use pine shavings:)

None of our horse friends use peat moss in their stalls :)

Ken rotted poo plus rotted pine shavings. Maybe thats not peat moss I thought it was. If not I know mine is very nice rich fluffy dirt/peat ....it looks like peat moss.

This is a photo of what someone posted about horse poo

" rotted poo plus rotted pine shavings" does NOT equal peat moss!!

"Peat moss is the decomposed remains of sphagnum moss and other living things that forms a dead, fibrous material over the course millennia in peat bogs around the world. Unlike compost, peat moss forms in the absence of air. This slows the decomposition process and creates a homogeneous material that is highly absorbent, which makes it very useful in the garden as a soil builder and a seed starter."

Key to the issue is the word 'millennia' - peat takes centuries to form. It is also highly acidic (pH of about 3.0-4.0).

And in the excerpt posted above note that poster is referring to the poop - manure only. Manure and stable bedding mixed together will of course contain urine and this can indeed burn vulnerable plant tissues but this is less of a concern if the material is well aged and quite rotted. And horses have very simple and not very efficient digestive systems. If they are pastured at all, they will consume whatever weeds are available and those weeds and their seeds may remain viable in the manure.

"In 3 years its peat moss."

No, it is not.

It might look like peat moss and it might smell like peat moss but it is not peat moss.

It is, however, composted manure, and excellent for hostas and most other plants.

If pots are used I would prefer soiless medium. Using composted manure as side dressing or mulch for soil is fine.

Thanks every one for the nice corrections except for gardengal48, you are very rude with your lol's and exclamation marks. I am a newbie and the dirt to me looks just like what I have bought in the past, so I thought it was PM. I will be very careful as to what I say and post

Relax Madonna. Please respect that we all are entitled to our own opinions, and when you post on an internet forum, believe me you will get a lot of opinions. You won't always agree with what they say, or how they say it. Gardengal didn't call you any names, and offered a lengthy explanation of how peat moss is not in any way composted horse poo, I see nothing rude in her remarks.

-Babka

ok.. back to fert ...

you have a very rich compost soil ...i am envious ...

BUT ... what if any indication is there.. that your H need fert??? .. they are not children who need to be fed ... just for the heck of it ...

a little of this or that.. is not going to harm anything .... and i only see 2 issues ...

one.. blue hosta is a wax.. and if you spray foliar fert on top of the wax.. it MIGHT dirty the wax ...

and here in MI .. now is root growing time.. so timing is good ... but you want the fert used up by sept or so ... you want the H doing downhill to dormancy by october ... not all hopped up on steroids ... so no time release ...

ken

no steroids Ken and tks for the advice, I was not sure if anyone uses fert. on their hostas....some of mine look ratty right now :( . Just trying to get the right amount of sun, water, and a good dirt for them to live in.