Stable Manure
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
-
Good Gourd
- KG Regular
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:46 pm
- Location: Buckinghamshire
We have just built a raised bed and to fill it we used stable manure with straw and shavings top soil and grow bag compost on the top. Just finished it all and a mate of ours said you have`nt used wood shavings have you because you`ll get wire worms. HELP any advice on what to do apart from take the manure back to the horse.
Never heard of this one before! Just make sure everything in the bed is well mixed.
John
John
The Gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men’s lives, the hours spent fishing Assyrian tablet
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
-
Good Gourd
- KG Regular
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Wed Oct 31, 2007 5:46 pm
- Location: Buckinghamshire
Thank you for your reply John, I feel better already, I never gave it a thought, in my day horse muck was horse muck. The way some go on your nearly afraid to walk on the allotment in case you transfer some thing or other. I know you have to be carefull but if it gets to intense then it takes all the relaxation out of it. 
-
JohnN
- KG Regular
- Posts: 636
- Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:45 pm
- Location: Hookwood, near Gatwick
- Been thanked: 2 times
hi GG
I used to use stable manure when I had an easy supply from a girl friend with a horse, but gave up because 1.Too many wood shavings (no wireworms as far as I know!), and 2. A record crop of weeds from seeds that had passd through the nag.
John N.
I used to use stable manure when I had an easy supply from a girl friend with a horse, but gave up because 1.Too many wood shavings (no wireworms as far as I know!), and 2. A record crop of weeds from seeds that had passd through the nag.
John N.
Just a further thought. I think I'd give the mix a little sprinkling of lime as the manure and compost mix has probably made the soil a bit acid. It depends what you intend to grow in it.
John
John
The Gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men’s lives, the hours spent fishing Assyrian tablet
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
Hi GG,
If you over use manure you are likely to get Spring Tails and not Wire Worm. The Wire Worm are the lesser of the two evils.
Wood shavings will take up Nitrogen from the soil as they decay so should be kept to a minimum. If the manure is well rotted and they are not fresh shavings they should be OK.
As regards weeds from manure, if the plot is regularly hoed then they should not represent any problems.
JB.
If you over use manure you are likely to get Spring Tails and not Wire Worm. The Wire Worm are the lesser of the two evils.
Wood shavings will take up Nitrogen from the soil as they decay so should be kept to a minimum. If the manure is well rotted and they are not fresh shavings they should be OK.
As regards weeds from manure, if the plot is regularly hoed then they should not represent any problems.
JB.
What do you mean by 'over use' of manure, JB?
We put a thick layer of years old manure (a lot of which was peacock poo, I kid you not!)on our very neglected allotment last season. This year we found an unlimited supply of well rotted horse poo (bedded on shavings) though we did not put it on so thickly this time.
Should we use a different form of soil nutrient next year? It would be a shame, cos the manure is free, and as I said, unlimited.
We put a thick layer of years old manure (a lot of which was peacock poo, I kid you not!)on our very neglected allotment last season. This year we found an unlimited supply of well rotted horse poo (bedded on shavings) though we did not put it on so thickly this time.
Should we use a different form of soil nutrient next year? It would be a shame, cos the manure is free, and as I said, unlimited.
-
Catherine
- KG Regular
- Posts: 1459
- Joined: Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:46 pm
- Location: Pendle Lancashire
- Has thanked: 3 times
- Been thanked: 2 times
We made a raised bed last year and because our soil is very thin we dug up what we had, filled the bottom with manure and then put the soil back on. The result was, moles, lots of them because the soil was rich and easy to wriggle through they spent the whole time working through that bed and left all the other beds alone. We caught four moles in one week. We did give them the chance to move out but they took no notice.
Strangely enough no one else had any problem with moles. I planted my purple sprouting broccoli in that bed at the back end and they are all growing at alarming angles because to the mole runs. As fast as I weeded and pushed soil into the runs the damned things came back.
Strangely enough no one else had any problem with moles. I planted my purple sprouting broccoli in that bed at the back end and they are all growing at alarming angles because to the mole runs. As fast as I weeded and pushed soil into the runs the damned things came back.
-
Lurganspade
- KG Regular
- Posts: 155
- Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2007 8:09 pm
- Location: Quedgeley
.
Quilty as charged.
Because we get loads of free stable manure,and need to get rid of it from it's pile, to make room for the next free batch, most of the plot holders over use the stuff.
Sometimes there is lots of wood shavings mixed in, but this has never laid to me having wireworms in the soil. There were a few when first I took the plot over, but they quickly disappeared, never to be seen again!
But one thing is does encourage, are black keel slugs, literally "millions" of them, and how they go for my potato's.
One year I grew a full row of Maris Piper for roasting, every potato was ruined,riddled with holes and full of the blighters!
The plot holder next to me does not use either compost or manure,just good old fashioned Growmore, and his potato's does not suffer from slug damage unlike mine!
I have not used any fertiliser for some years as my soil is fertile enough,as far as I am concerned, but some times I wonder if using manure and compost is all it's cracked up to be?
Cheers
Quilty as charged.
Because we get loads of free stable manure,and need to get rid of it from it's pile, to make room for the next free batch, most of the plot holders over use the stuff.
Sometimes there is lots of wood shavings mixed in, but this has never laid to me having wireworms in the soil. There were a few when first I took the plot over, but they quickly disappeared, never to be seen again!
But one thing is does encourage, are black keel slugs, literally "millions" of them, and how they go for my potato's.
One year I grew a full row of Maris Piper for roasting, every potato was ruined,riddled with holes and full of the blighters!
The plot holder next to me does not use either compost or manure,just good old fashioned Growmore, and his potato's does not suffer from slug damage unlike mine!
I have not used any fertiliser for some years as my soil is fertile enough,as far as I am concerned, but some times I wonder if using manure and compost is all it's cracked up to be?
Cheers
Buy land, they do not make it anymore!
I have tried both horse (with straw not shavings) and pig manure and found both brought lots of weeds onto the plot. I suppose it depends what they eat. i have just had a discussion with a fellow plot holder about the benefits or not of manure. My plot is on heavy clay (I'm thinking of starting a sideline in pots!) and the manure has made it harder still to work. I'm now preparing a patch for strawberries and have added bags of sand to help, instead of manure. Although I will use compost from my heap as well. Never heard of wireworms though, and I use the contents of my rabbit hutch in my compost heap, which is mainly wood shavings, and have never had wireworms.
-
Lurganspade
- KG Regular
- Posts: 155
- Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2007 8:09 pm
- Location: Quedgeley
My plot soil is heavy Severn clay, cannon balls in the summer, porridge in the winter!
Even with all the humus added, it does not break down into a tilth.
But it does grow great crops, in spite of the slugs!
Cheers
Even with all the humus added, it does not break down into a tilth.
But it does grow great crops, in spite of the slugs!
Cheers
Buy land, they do not make it anymore!
I saw the most peculiar soil once when I was a student on a field trip. It was heavy heavy yellow clay overlaid with peat. It had had a crop of potatoes harvested, and was churned up to quite a depth. It was bizarre seeing clods of clay intermixed with peat, and knowing it was laid down naturally, not added to the soil. Wierd.