Much at all? What the heck does that mean? If you use the fresh stuff, it will burn. If you use composted horse manure, it won't burn, period!

1. First of all, horse manure is not a very good fertilizer. It is a better provider of microbes. If you use fresh manure, the stuff that has that horsey manure aroma, then it has pathogens in it. If you use composted manure, the stuff that smells fresh like a forest floor after a thunderstorm, then it has no pathogens in it. If you use the smelly stuff, then don't use it right before you harvest. If you use the composted stuff, you can use it the day you harvest. But a better fertilizer is made from ground up grains (seeds), nuts, and beans. Corn, soy bean, coffee bean, cottonseed, flax (linseed), or alfalfa are great ingredients for an organic fertilizer.

2. If it is composted, you can use some every day (since you have an unlimited amount). It still will not be a very good fertilizer no matter how much you use. You can use any amount from a light dusting to inches and inches of mulch.

Dusty should not be a health problem. Maybe if you have a history of respiratory problems, you might want to be checked out first.

I use tons of horse manure in the garden. It is an excellent source of organic matter and a good slow-release fertilizer. I cover the raised beds with about 3 to 4 inches of it and dig it lightly into the top few inches of soil or simply cover it with a hay mulch. It is hard to apply too much fresh or composted manure except in the case of some soils where salt levels can become elevated, which is not a problem in my sandy soil.

I do this in the fall. This is more than enough time for the microbial action to make even the freshest manure safe. Allowing 4 months before planting is adaquate.

Don't spread fresh manure around your plants. Since you have an unlimited supply, try to keep a good amount of it composting continuously. Composted manure is fine to use as a side-dressing. And having an unlimted supply of free slow-release fertilizer is always better than buying anything at the feed store. Use it!

Re dust, I would wear a mask. As with anything organic and dusty.

while in a fertile soil horse manure may supply more N than required, I've never seen or heard of it "burning" anything, and I know a number of folks around here that spread it on their flower bed every year - I add it to the garden sometimes, but usually use it as a welcome addition to my composting

Bill

Swanz

Googling this topic a little I find data from the Rodale institute that backs that up. They differentiate between dairy and meat cows, with dairy cows having lower nitrogen in their manure, but being recommended over the steers since they have less salt in their manure. I guess it depends on what they are fed, I don't know. Steers had nitrogen about the same as horses, dairy cows half as much. Another site gave a big range for horse and cow manure that was about the same .5 - 2.5 I think it was % nitrogen. So basically your mileage varies according to who you ask, but amongst the gardeners I know we always thought horse manure had more nitrogen. That is why I use it even though there are cows down my street and the horses live down a different street. :-)

Marcia

An inch or two on top of the soil isn't likely to pose a problem and I personally directly planted (wildflower seeds) into about 3" of it covered with an inch or so of topsoil.

Nevertheless the only burn related caution from manure is temp, not fert.

I will also highly disagree with Dschall in stating that horse manure is NOT a very good fertilizer. When the total NPK nutrients may run over 5 pounds per hundredweight, that's better than a lot of high-priced 1-1-1 stuff that is sold at high prices. Although horses may not be as effective in breaking down organic material into instantly available nutrients, they are still there. Yes, it's great food for soil microbes since there are still many cells which are available for their feasts. I recently saw a drawing of a horse eating hay and expelling dollar bills. That is very true. After having several years experience of assisting in planting and harvesting well over 5,000 garlic plants in a field, and horse manure being the only fertilizer used, my own allium beds now have an ample layer of relatively fresh and non-composted horse manure. It may not be the ultimate organic fertilizer but it is indeed a good organic fertilizer.

Martin

FWIW

Horse manure has more weed seed than cow

Salt

There is an issue with steer manure from slaughter houses where the steers are feed cotten gin trash just before slaughter, The sodium content is (about) 47 ppm v 27 PPM in Dairy cows, Most plants can handle 100 PPM sodium. Objective if you have sodium sensitive plants, and Steer manure feed cotten gin trash, don't add too much manure

Martin

Ziggy

Total Nitrogen % Dry weight
Horse 2.3
Cow 1.7

My interest in all of this is much different especially regarding weeds. I am trying to track the potential effects of nitrogen and weeds on trails. I have checked with Rocky Mountain National Park and there are some references that show weeds do spring from horse manure. I am trying to track those references down now.

Fresh manure can burn plants because of high levels of nitrogen, mostly from urine. Horse and cow manure are not as hot as say chicken manure, but it's best to compost or used aged manure so the urea can have time to incorporate or escape.

All hay, even 'good hay', contains some grass/weed seed (especially first cut hay). Cows have a more extensive digestive system that will destroy seed viability while horses do not.

However, I always laugh a little at this fear of introducing some weed seeds into the garden, when there's already zillions in there already (so whats a few hundred thousand more?)
It sounds like the manure you're speaking of is already aged and you can use it at almost any level without regret.
Somewhat dry, you may have some chips which may be better chopped and dug in rather than used as a top dressing.

Still, if it were me, I would make piles, watering as you go, and compost before using unless you're months away from planting, in which case it can go right in the garden.

Some sources show cow manure to be higher in nitrogen and others state horse is higher. What should be kept in mind is that they are both around 1-2% N and whether one or the other is 1/2% higher is basically irrelevant. Cow manure is thought to break down a bit faster.

Something to keep in mind when calculating dry manure compared to fresh is that wet manure is 80-85% water.

Take about 3 lbs of manure, place it in some panty hose and tie off the top. Place this in a 5 gal plastic bucket and let it marinate for about a week

Strain this thru some panty hose into a 6 gal hose nd sprayer with a tbsp of Epsom salts, cover about 200 sq ft before refilling

Any thoughts?

~Chills

~Chills

Travis

We are blessed with very good topsoil where I'm sitting
I don't know if it was the bacteria or little critters that made the difference in the new plot. I do believe the poo makes for better moisture retention also give better aeration..more air pockets in the soil. just all around the best amendment I've ever used. The soil is much softer, less willing to become compact with more horse poo.

I'm doing an experiment with some German Extra Hardy cloves right now, The same 80% mix in pots in the house. I have 5 1/2" plants in 2 weeks, granted this is in the house not out in the 20 degree cold outside.

Travis

I wish I could get more of it at the right time of year for planting garlic. Its easiest to score big quantities early in the spring, when everyone has a big pile from cleaning out the stalls all winter.

My belief here is stemmed from controlled test plots I've done over the past two years. I'm suspicious of "snake oil" claims but then research a substance extensively before I'll ever try it. Fulvic acid for example, I've read all That I can find on this, How it's made, what it's derived from...what it does at the cellular level in the plant. I've studied Mycorrhizae and what effect if has on plant roots and uptake of phos.

I have really looked up close at what this horse manure is..it is partially digested alfalfa, the horse has already broken it down to a form that will give me an ideal fibrous material to soften my soil...the plant material has already been "composted" for me

Anyway, I'm not relying on any one element for the nutritional properties of my ground. This just has the best effect I've found yet. I add other organic ferts to the ground to bring up some values and micro nutes.

David, I don't see a problem with adding it to the soil in the spring. I'm applying huge loads to plots that I'll plant in next fall. I'm fortunate to have a horse trainer 6 miles away. he cleans the stalls daily...also these are show horses and only eat the best hay and grain supplement.

Travis

I think I need to double the garden space, so I can spend an entire year prepping half of it. I get most of my manure in April - early May.

Keep one thing in mind when having garlic with other crops close by, You can over water garlic pretty easy where other plants will happily soak it in..errr, I think. What the hell do I know about anything other than garlic though.

:-)

Travis

Personal,garlic goal is to pop out, on July 5th, 300 heads of 3" Music Pink. Spacing, Spacing, Spacing. The current manta. I got 'em lined up, single file, all over the place. I have a small choir of locavores cheering me on.

I was told that here in Florida, mixing it into the sand only requires one month before you can plant, because of our hot, wet Florida summers. I'll tell you now it goes.

Greg
Nevada

Ron
The Garden Guy
http://www.TheGardenGuy.org
"New Articles & Garden Journal Entries"

I was planting some willows yesterday and am using 100% aged poo in the pots. I smelled the stuff that is on the top 8" of the pile..smells like fresh clean earth. I dug down to the dry part to see what it was like, it still have the ammonia smell to it. This tells me the top layer that has been exposed to the weather is now nothing more than fibrous material with little fert value left in it. Should make for good potting soil. We shall see. I'll give my report in a month. Side note: I made up a batch of poo tea and am using it on my house plants...hooya

Always wear breathing protection when handling dry manures regardless of where they came from or whether they are fresh or dry. It is possible to fertilize too much because some plants will make lots of foliage at the expense of the crop, such as potatoes. But generally speaking with composted manures you can use as much as you can get. I would probably choose chicken over horse or cow, but I found that rabbits make the perfect manure, it's usable immediatley after production and it comes in the perfect package, pelletized for easy spreading. Cheryl

Horse's digestive systems are rather inefficient for processing anything other than what they are designed for, consuming large quantities of grass type roughage. Feed them any seeds and some come out well able to sprout. If their teeth don't grind it enough for the gut to digest, it's coming out the other end.

Check the manure of any horse that is fed a "sweet feed" grain mix. You'll find corn and oats galore. The birds love to peck apart horse manure just for the seeds that pass through.

As far as being safe to eat vegetables that were grown with horse manure fertilizer it all depends on if the horses were pumped with chemicals or not. Some show horses are, it depends on the stable. I always make sure the fertilizers I use have been certified organic. That eliminates the worry.

As far as direction on how to use horse manure, there are some basic guidelines on the website for the stuff I use. Its called Seven Year Gold. Its under the For Best Results section. There are not a lot of details but I did find it useful to know when to fertilize my garden.

Linner