Horse and cow manure ?

[Tmann]

What is in it? Is it safe?

 

[sissy]

It says it contains only natural ingredients and will not harm pipes or drains .It says you should not inhale ,well who would .It also says it can cause skin or eye irritation and even all natural ingredients like the lemon grass spray I use for ants says that .I have several lemon grass starter plants here ,found the seeds of all places the dollar store

 

[Shirleyc Cox]

Horse manure consist of mostly undigested roughage. Cow Manure is digested through 3 stomachs and is a puree, Thus Cow Manure is several times richer in Nitrogen than Horse Manure.

I have used both in my garden. My personal experience is: Fresh Horse Manure can be placed right next to plants without harming them. Cow manure must be sparingly or you will kill your plants.

 

[sissy]

So horse manure would be better .The one guy here has what he says is half and half ,I was thinking of getting some of it .5 dollars for a truckload

 

[gwydion]

If you want to use cow manure, then you should mix it well with organic matter (leave and straw are excellent) and then let it rot down for a couple of years before use. It will not be practical for most people, but if you have space then you get a very, very, rich fertilizer for pennies that has the right carbon-nitrogen balance (cow manure contains more urine than horse manure, hence the higher nitrogen content from the urea).

When you then mix with plant matter you put back the carbon, balancing out the manure. So, if you want a great use for autumn leaves, that's it.

If you are just preparing a plot and digging it in during the autumn ready for spring sowing then you can add cow manure and dig that in. It will rot down over the winter and the excess nitrogen will leach into the surrounding soil. By spring it will be perfect for planting.

 

[dhrynio]

I aksed my husband to get me older cow manure from his farmer friends. He showed up with a huge trailer full of the freshest of the fresh manure there is.
I was so frustrated. So I started googling way to compost it faster so that it could be useable. I found a method where you pile it into a sort of cone shape, large at the bottom sort of pointy at the top. Then spray it down and cover it with dark tarps or plastic, then put rocks on to keep the tarps form blwoing away.
After two weeks you take the tarps off and turn the pile so that the hot partly composted stuff from the inside is now on the outside and the outside is now in the center. Then make it into a cone again, spray and cover. Let it sit for two weeks. If it gets hot enough it should have composted quite quickly. I did this and it worked well but was not composted enough. So I did it again the next month and it was composted enough to add as mid season fertilizer to my raised beds!

The rest I made a big pile and mixed it with straw, covered it and turned it a few times during the summer and autumn. It will be great for next years garden!

 

[homejob0526]

We had cows in our own house earlier. Till then we used to use those only. But then, we shifted to a new place and we are not comfortable in having cows with us in this place. The people here think that having pets like cow is not a good thing and they do not encourage it. Other than that, there are other constraints like shelter for the cows and the maintenance work for them is very hard for me to do alone.
Cow's manure is the best way to get your plants grow very healthy as they do not let any pests or insects to attack your plants. It is my personal experience. There are other uses also of this manure. We used to dry the cow dung in the sun and burn the dried dung pieces and get the smoke inside the house. The smoke which comes out of that burnt dry cow dung has medicinal effects and it acts effectively against the viruses and bacteria. In our place, if there is a new born baby in the house, we will clean the house and first spread this smoke all around the house and only after that we will put the baby down on the floor to play. We do this everyday. It is very helpful.

 

[Cjk85]

I use cow manure on anything I can, but I find horse seems to throw PH balance.

 

[Khan]

Cow dung .....one of the best farm manure you can have.I am in the dairy business and have been using it for my plants and fields.No problem for other animals or birds as have dogs,rabbits and chicken at the farm free roaming and chicken like to dig 'some left overs' from the manure.
It gets better as it gets older.

 

[DrCase]

I bought a bag of pelitized chicken litter early spring
I have been putting it on every thing plants and grass every thing is healthy and green

 

[Khan]

One important thing to remember.When you add farm yard manure,give plenty of water for few days as it produces heat and it may burn your plants.

 

[sthrnmdgardeningguy]

How does one counteract the effects of using uncomposted horse manure that was put down just before planting? My grandfather wanted to help me out one day while I was gone on vacation. He wanted to help my garden become more successful for this growing season without knowing NEVER to use umcomposted manure. Needless to say I was thrown off by the fact most if not all of my plants are in some way stunted or burned from the effects of the horseanure. The only things that grow well are the weeds that were in the manure to begin with! What can I do to save my season????

 

[Little1]

Sissy you will have to keep us updated on if any weeds come up from it when you start using it. I wonder how long it takes to compost it and how do you compost it if say you should get a pile of it that's fresh? Do you just cover it w/ a tarp or? My friend up the road has horses and has offered me some but it's not composted.

It needs to be composted for quite a few months if you don't want weeds. Horses eat hay and a lot of the weeds you see sprouting up are what becomes hay. Nothing bad really, I can think of worse weeds. What it needs to compost is air, water and to be turned so if you throw a tarp over it it will not get the air it needs to break down. If your friend is offering you some free horse manure I would take her up on it, your plants will love it!