Horse manure (Straw v’s Wood Shavings)

[oilampdaveMember]

We normally use well rotted (2 yrs +) horse manure made with straw in our vegetable garden. At this stage the manure has the look and texture of peat you would buy in bags from your local garden centre. We fill up 3 raised beds with just the manure and mix in the manure with the clay on 2 plots. As I said, the manure we use is made from straw but for one season we had to use wood shavings to bed down the horses. This is the manure we now intend to use.
Is this ok to use as before or is there a risk of contamation from the wood on the vegetables. As far as I know the shavings used were un-treated, it’s well rotted but is not as ‘crumbly’ as the straw manure.
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Dave

[charlesModerator]

 Dave, it is a little unclear as to whether you are filling beds from new every year? The issue is not contamination at least.

From your description of the fine shavings in your manure, I would be happy to use the manure as surface mulch, but not mixed with your clay. Mixing wood with soil can lead to soil nutrients, mainly nitrogen, being ‘grabbed’ by wood and anything carboniferous, to help itself rot down. But this happens little with any wood on the surface, where nitrogen from the air is also available to it.

It may even work to fill a bed with such manure if the proportion of wood to animal droppings is not high, and some breakdown has happened already. I can’t say for sure, you could try it and see.

 

[oilampdaveMember]

Charles, thanks for your very helpfull advice. The manure in the beds are there 3 seasons. I think what I will do is fill 1 raised bed with the shavings manure and try that with a mix of veg and compare them with the other 2 (straw manure) beds. On the 2 plots I will do as you suggest and use the manure as a mulch and mix it in with the soil in part of 1 of the plots. All I can say now is “watch this space”.

I only came across your ‘no dig growing’ in last Sunday’s, Sunday Times, which I found fascinating. Also, congrats on your website, which is very informative and easy to navigate. I look forward to learning more.

[charlesModerator]

 Thanks for your feedback Dave and I expect you will enjoy experimenting. I wonder why you refill your beds after three years rather than simply top them up with compost and manure? It is easier to do the latter and works fine; the filled material in contained beds (unless it is topsoil) is always shrinking and being taken down into soil below, allowing the opportunity to add some new soil food every year.

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