Fresh manure

[George Cooke]

I have access to a source of ‘fresh’ horse manure (2 weeks old).

Should I let this rot down and plan to use it next year?

Or can I spread a thin layer on top of my clear beds now (early November) and trust that it will be incorporated by sowing time in Spring?

Thanks

[charles]

 It helps that you are precise about its age and two weeks is certainly fresh. If you spread it now, some nurients from the horse-poo will wash out and much of the bedding will be left in the way by spring (assuming there is bedding).

Stacking it in a tidy heap, preferably with enclosed sides to keep some warmth in, will see worms arrive soon and by next summer you can be spreading it around plants. Worth waiting.

[George Cooke]

Thank you, much appreciated.

[Rhys]

George

I started a ‘fresh manure’ heap about 5 weeks ago, filling a wire cage of 1.2m * 0.7m within 10 days courtesy of about 5 trips to the stables filling ‘council green waste bags’ about 1/3 full (all I could lift). I forked it about 3 times within the heap to test whether heat was still emerging. After the third time, the heat had mostly disappeared from the top 40cm, so I’ve just topped it up again yesterday. I can already tell the difference between the lower level collected 5 weeks ago vs the new fresh stuff – the older stuff is much blacker.

Yesterday, I got some ‘older stuff’ as the stables’ dogs weren’t out in the area of the mature stuff. Digging it was an educational experience: at the top, you still had the shape of round dung pellets, a bit lower down, the material was full of worms and even further down you had a darker more uniform sludge. We’ve put the mature stuff down under the fruit trees which are all relatively young.

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