Differences in Manures?

So, there's this farm near my house that offers any amount of FREE composted horse manure. Obviously since it's free I'm biased toward getting it. However, another farm is offering composted cow manure cheap. Then there's another farm offering compost really cheap (http://providence.craigslist.org/hsh/2871544430.html) If anyone has any input it'd be greatly appreciated. This would cross a huge amount off my workload.

http://www.plantea.com/manure.htm Maybe that'll help.

yes very much so thank you.

Cow manure is about 0.73 0.48 0.55 , horse puckey is about 0.70 0.25 0.77. Take your pick. As long as they're composted well, either will be fine. I'd prolly go with Cow manure personally.

I use horse manure in my compost. works great in the veg garden and on the herbs too.

p.s. I have an unlimited supply of the horsey stuff... they get fed the best in nutrition, so my manure is very rich.

Jack Harer said:

Cow manure is about 0.73 0.48 0.55 , horse puckey is about 0.70 0.25 0.77. Take your pick. As long as they're composted well, either will be fine. I'd prolly go with Cow manure personally.

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How does one tell if something is composted well?

If it's last seasons poop, your good! Manures are HOT (Except Bunny Poo), and will burn the bejeezuz out of plants if they are used too fresh.

putting fresh maure in your compost is a great thing!!!! helps add heat and to breakdown compost ,hell i would get all that i could haul if i was you.just gotta watch chicken shit it really high in nitrogen and needs to age before use,but is great for vegging plants horse and cow manure are better for budding plants .and as the bunny man added their poo is good to use also.

So,the free horse manure and the $5 bags of compost could potentially make up the majority of my mix? I plan on adding native soil and worm castings and such along with perlite and all the proper amendments. I'm just curious what a good ratio would be

Jack Harer said:

Cow manure is about 0.73 0.48 0.55 , horse puckey is about 0.70 0.25 0.77. Take your pick. As long as they're composted well, either will be fine. I'd prolly go with Cow manure personally.

Click to expand...

what the bunny said

Thats wrong. Horse manure is higher in nitrogen and phosphorous than cow manure. yyy

Thanx Grobofotwanky. I'm gonna cite this again: http://www.plantea.com/manure.htm Horse and cow poop are very similar in NPK Ratios, Horse being a bit hotter. The VERY BEST manure you can use (Of course, I'm predjudiced here) is ...............wait for it..............Bunny Poo!! http://riseandshinerabbitrydotcom.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/the-benefits-and-uses-of-rabbit-manure/
And just for shits and grins......Wood Ash: http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~blpprt/bestwoodash.html

i read that even composted manure can make your soil more acidic than it should be, and what people normally say is to add lime to bring the ph Up but the part that I read that alarmed me is that basically they said the composted manure should sit for atleast a month before checking PH levels and adding the lime if need be. This is the website I read this on: http://www.allotment.org.uk/fertilizer/garden-lime.php
it alarmed me because people were saying that I should cut in the manure into my soil mix and add lime to it as well which is basically going against this site's claims.
Any thoughts?

I think the key thing is making sure that the manure is completely composted. If it still has chunks in it, you might want to break those up and use later. I sift it through a screen. The powdery stuff is fine, at least in my experience.

Horse and cow manure can be used if it says "composted" on the bag, or if you lt it set for a couple months. (like 3 minimum IMHO), Rabbit Poo can be used straight out of the rabbit! And if you're in organic soil, dont get too hung up on pH and get overly analytical. A variance of pH + or - .5 points isnt gonna hurt you. Start with the pH at the correct value then forget it. Remember, it isn't the pH of what goes into the soil you are concerned with, it's the pH of the soil, specifically at the rootball, you need to be aware of. The buffer (Lime) will change the pH of whatever goes into th soil to that of the soil, not vice versa. Keep it simple and dont go over engineering things!!

Rabbit poo cannot be used strait out the rabbits turd cutter. Its hotter than horse and cow manure. I guess it all depends on the plant though.

Cow manure is cold and doesn't need to be composted before use just let it dry out. I've seen my friends hatch seeds in fresh cow poop that just dropped from the pooper, but the said cows eat nothing but grass.

Jack thanks for laying it out like that, very concise ... I have access to some composted horse manure, I will dig under the pile and get down at the ground level, compost. This soil is very black and there are no chunks in it. There is a little sawdust in it. My plan was to cut this black compost into some pro mix and go from there. I get overwhelmed sometimes when I see all the different things that people add into their soil mixes, guano, banana peels, coffee grounds, countless other fertilizers ... trying to keep it simple but also am somewhat fascinated by the science of it all and want to have maximize this season thumbsup

Hey Jack and anyone else who cares to chime in:
What sort of feelings do you have towards a time release fertilizer to add to my mix? I haven't looked at the different products but would I be shooting for an all purpose fertilizer? Blooming?

Ive read some other posts about people farming the micro organism colonies that live in healthy soil, mind expand on how that all works?

How about you just talk for awhile Jack, while we burn this down, and I'll take some notes

Get "Teeming with Microbes" by Lowenfels and Lewis. Great starter. NEVER add a time release fert to your mixes, thats the lazy consumer appeal of most potting mixes. All organics is in a nutshell is the micro biology of the soil breaking down organic matter into it's constituent components (N,P,K) into a form readily assimilated by the plants.
There are many great "pre-mixed" organic fertilizers out there, as well as other organics like guanos, Kelp extracts, etc. Jobes, Jacks, and my personal favorite Espoma www.espoma.com They are all really good organic preparations. If you get get your mind around how the cycle works and the role the bacteria and fungi play, you'll know what you are putting in there and WHY. People don't just add stuff for the hell of it. Certain guanos are high P, while others are high N, Kelp is great for P and K, get my drift?

Very informative Jack, I have to pick up a copy of that book.
but lets say I go with a more economic soil solution like promix. from what i can gather promix doesn't come with any ferts in it. Do all soils come with colonies of microbes living in it already? sorry if I am way off base here, just trying to grasp some concepts. My plan as it stands now is to cut in some very well composted horse manure into the promix and then look for an organic fert that enriches the soil with N for the spring/early summer vegging which I will add a few weeks after planting, giving the roots time to grow and not to burn the plant or over fert somehow. I'll leave out the time release, I just though there was value in having it deeper down in the soil so when the roots finally hit the deepest parts, there is ferts waiting for them. But like I said, I am perfectly fine leaving them out if that's your recommendation.