On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 10:39:45 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote:

thank you tish, jonno, and farm. i'm not in any rush, anyway, so that's very
helpful to know.

i was wondering though - some bits of the manure would be older, & some
quite fresh, as it's chook house rakings incl from their yard. does the poo
deactivate a little anyway (in a dried condition) as it ages, or does it
need to compost down a bit (with moisture)? i ask because 1: i don't know
g but also 2: i got a shitload (no pun intended... well maybe) of horse
manure from a neighbour, & it was the same, mixed ages (of poo, not horses
;-), but felt more confident to just start using it straight away because
it's milder than chicken manure. i'm not 100% sure this was a grand plan,
but for the most part it seemed absolutely fine. (the several things which
came up which weren't too healthy from the beginning, i wouldn't necessarily
claim it was from too-fresh manure, as our weather's been bizarre, so there
have been deaths & stunted plants anyway, iyswim... but perhaps it was the
wrong thing to do.)

thanks for any further advice on ageing manure!
kylie
whose yard is being peppered with wallaby manure every night!! my kingdom
for proper fences!!!

Hi Kylie,

I, unfortunately, learned the hard way that very fresh horse manure is
enough to burn plants to death - I'm the only person I know who can
kill rhubarb!

The main reason I've heard for composting horse poo before using it on
the garden is weed seeds. Horses are not ruminants, like cattle,
sheep and goats, and the horse gut processes food more quickly and
less efficiently than a ruminant gut. As a result, a lot more weed
seeds get through in viable condition. The heat of a well constructed
compost heap is thought to be sufficient to kill any weed seeds that
make it through Dobby's gut.

Tish
- Also fighting the good fight against marauding wallabies