"michael adams" wrote in message
...

"sfby" wrote in message
ps.com...

Once I've got my bags of horse manure, how do I know when it has
rotted
enough to be mixed with my compost? Last year I just left it in a
spare
bin for 6 months, but it didn't look (or smell!) much different to
when
I started.

The part that needs to rot is the straw or shredded paper or
whatever
other bedding material was used. And so the degree of further
decompostion and heating up, will depend on the proportion of straw
etc
that was used. Manure of itself doesn't need to decompose any
further as
all the decompostion was already done inside the animal's stomach.
That's
why its possible to spead fresh cow manure, suitably watered down,
straight
onto fields etc. Straight manure can be too concentrated when
applied
direct to the soil however, hence the need to mix it with organic
matter first.

I use manure straight onto beds and the fresher the better has been my
experience. I know that this isn't the recommendation, but it works
and the plants seem to love it and espcecially the roses which love
fresh horse poo. I always spread the manure and then top it with
lucerne (alfalfa) hay. My manure has no hay in it. The only manure I
don't use fresh is fowl. I've also recently managed to get my hands
on some Elephant manure, something I've been waiting years to try.
Looks just like giant horse poops.