Horse manure is ideal composting material and can be used as an organic fertilizer to super-charge your garden!
When is it ready? So how long does it take to compost horse manure? Generally, it'll take three to six months for horse manure to turn into compost. The NRCS says this allows fertilizer nutrients to stabilize and weed seeds to be killed.
You can also use horse manure compost, just like any other compost, to make a liquid plant feed for your organic garden. Simply add composted horse manure to some water, strain the mix, and use it to give a boost to leafy plants.
A steaming pile of fresh manure is a treasure trove for the vegetable gardener! If you are a gardener and you have a source of either fresh or composted horse manure, then you are indeed blessed for horse manure is particularly good for most garden plants and vegetables.
Although the composting process will occur naturally over several months or years, with human help the entire process can be completed in as little as 4-6 weeks. Four essential ingredients are needed: oxygen, moisture, and a proper Carbon:Nitrogen ratio.
Blending manure into the top layer of topsoil will help encourage root growth and health because the manure is packed full of nutrients. The main nutrient released is nitrogen which is needed for plants and vegetables to grow in a sustainable manner.
Manure should be kept as dry as possible, since wet manure provides a breeding ground for flies and will lead to the presence of fly maggots. A roofed storage area may be advisable to keep manure as dry as possible when stored for long periods of time.
This is a good environment for microbes and earthworms that can start turning the material into soil. That's why you need stay on top of the watering if you plan on using fresh manure as fertilizer. Make sure to cover the manure with some type of mulch to keep the pile damp too.
Horse manure is high in nitrogen, way too volatile to put straight onto the garden, so it must be always be composted. Also, the high nitrogen manure is very often mixed with a carbon bedding material, like straw or sawdust, which makes it a ready-made compost mix. Stack it in, adding a little water (if dry) as you go.
Place daily manure and stall waste in one bin or pile. When that bin or pile is as large as you want it (at least three feet), leave it and begin building a second pile or bin, and so on for the last bin. In two to four months, the first bin or pile should be finished, and you can start using the compost from that bin.
Brown items such as horse manure, wood chips, and sawdust are great sources of carbon. A few good sources of nitrogen (the green items) for a compost pile include: green leaves, fresh grass clippings, the scraps from raw fruits and vegetables, and coffee grounds.
Add a heat source such as the summer sun. Add water to the manure with a hose, or in the rainy season, let nature take its course. Keep the manure moist until it composts to half its mass. Mix with a pitchfork every day, or at least every other day, to speed up the composting process.
Ideally, manure should be removed from stalls daily. If allowed to accumulate in stalls, it can attract flies, harbor parasites and pathogens, increase the risk of thrush and other hoof- related problems, and generate offensive odors. Exercise paddocks may need weekly cleaning.
You can't burn fresh manure (it contains too much moisture), but you can burn it once it is dried. Horse manure can be dried in “bricks” and then burned for heat.
If you are offered fresh manure, create a separate bin to rot it down or mix it with your own homemade compost. Once rotted down, spread it across the soil in spring, about three weeks before planting. Gently rake the top layer to break down any lumps and mix it with a little topsoil.
Age is important, because fresh horse manure can be so high in ammonia that it will damage the leaves and roots of your plants. At this stage it will be smelly too.
If the stall is bedded with straw, use a pitchfork to remove manure and wet or soiled bedding. If shavings or sawdust have been used, use the shavings fork to remove manure and wet bedding. Fork the manure and soiled bedding into the wheelbarrow or cart. Sometimes it's easier to pick up wet bedding with a shovel.
To Minimize the Health Risks Associated with Using Manures in Home Gardens. Wait at least 120 days after applying raw or aged manure to harvest crops that grow in or near the soil (root crops, leafy greens, strawberries). Wait at least 90 days for other crops.
Simply ageing a manure pile for three months can kill about 60% of the weed seeds present, and bacterial counts start to drop within days after the manure leaves the animal. Then, when the aged manure is mixed into the soil, soil microorganisms clear out residual bacteria in about a month.
Manure that is piled and left alone will decompose slowly. This can take three to four months if conditions are ideal. It can take a year or more if the starting material contains a wide carbon:nitrogen ratio (as is the case when manure contains wood chips).
Adding too much manure can lead to nitrate leaching, nutrient runoff, excessive vegetative growth and, for some manures, salt damage. And using fresh manure where food crops are grown poses risks for contamination with disease-causing pathogens.
Poo-picking your paddock, especially if it's a smaller one, helps to keep the pasture palatable as well as reducing weeds and the worm burden of any horses grazing the field. You should poo-pick at least twice a week and ideally more often than that.
Healthy manure should have a glossy shine, indicating normal hydration, and forms neat, somewhat firm, balls. You should be able to break up the manure balls easily. If your horse's manure is dull, dry or hard, he may be dehydrated, and you will need to increase his fluid intake immediately.