On 15/07/09 16:12, brooklyn1 wrote:
"Ed" ex@directory wrote in message
o.uk...
I have a couple of large compost bins on my allotment which I regularly
fill with compostable materials from home, but this only accounts for a few
percent.

For the most part, I go to the local riding stables where they bag up the
horse manure and leave it outside for people to take for free.

In the winter time, when the horses are inside the stables, the mix is
heavy with straw and bedding. But now in the warmer months with the
horses outside , it is mainly stuff gathered straight off the paddock
areas where the horses pass their days.

The thing is this. The bins are 4'x3'x3' and I just do not have the
energy or strength to turn them. So , in effect they are cold compost
heaps. I let the contents rot down over a 2 year period.

But is there a danger that the pathogens in the horse dung will not die
off (as they would if I were operating a hot heap) and that my family
could become seriously ill if I use this composted material on my
vegetable plot even if it is 2 years old?


There is no concern with pathogens with manure from vegetarian beasts except
perhaps if you know the beast to be ill with a disease transmittable to
humans. In your case I'd be more concerned with viable weed seeds.



Weeds aren't a great problem for me.. I got the time and I love weeding
most days. Most of my weeds anyway are in-blown from other plots so I
always expect them.

But thanks for the re-assurance on the pathogens though. I'd hate to
grow my own crops and then find I make my family ill.

Ed