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Old 02-12-2006, 11:00 AM posted to aus.gardens
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Default chook manure breakdown

hello,

if i have a pile of straw with chook poo in it (as i do), can anyone tell me
the minimum time i can leave it till the chook poo is deactivated to the
point where it won't burn the plants? (i don't really want to compost it all
down, or anything, i just want it for mulch with extra vitamins). i watered
it, it's not dry. it's mostly straw, though, it's not a pile of manure by
any means.

tia!
kylie


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Old 03-12-2006, 09:18 PM posted to aus.gardens
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Default chook manure breakdown

It will vary, but I would imagine that a month should be enough if it
is mostly straw.

Tish

0tterbot wrote:
hello,

if i have a pile of straw with chook poo in it (as i do), can anyone tell me
the minimum time i can leave it till the chook poo is deactivated to the
point where it won't burn the plants? (i don't really want to compost it all
down, or anything, i just want it for mulch with extra vitamins). i watered
it, it's not dry. it's mostly straw, though, it's not a pile of manure by
any means.

tia!
kylie


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Old 03-12-2006, 11:28 PM posted to aus.gardens
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Default chook manure breakdown

Just run sprinkle water over it for a week, small amounts at a time. Better
still, water the area you want to apply it to, then apply small amounts of
manure, gently water the chook poo .
I havent seen any on my plants die from being fed... If it heats up too much
it can do, so put in small amounts, it shouldnt cause any incidents.
Just dont put it too close to the plant, but within reach. Im of to do the
same thing now...

"Tish" wrote in message
ups.com...
It will vary, but I would imagine that a month should be enough if it
is mostly straw.

Tish

0tterbot wrote:
hello,

if i have a pile of straw with chook poo in it (as i do), can anyone tell
me
the minimum time i can leave it till the chook poo is deactivated to the
point where it won't burn the plants? (i don't really want to compost it
all
down, or anything, i just want it for mulch with extra vitamins). i
watered
it, it's not dry. it's mostly straw, though, it's not a pile of manure by
any means.

tia!
kylie




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Old 04-12-2006, 12:52 AM posted to aus.gardens
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Default chook manure breakdown

"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
hello,

if i have a pile of straw with chook poo in it (as i do), can anyone

tell me
the minimum time i can leave it till the chook poo is deactivated to

the
point where it won't burn the plants? (i don't really want to

compost it all
down, or anything, i just want it for mulch with extra vitamins). i

watered
it, it's not dry. it's mostly straw, though, it's not a pile of

manure by
any means.


I thought about this question overnight and it's a bit hard to answer
because it's a matter of being able to
see what it looks like. Having said that, what I think I'd do is to
try to start the rotting process by watering it and turning it a few
times. If that worked OK, I'd then give it a few weeks at least (3 or
more depending on how it's going) before I spread it. I'd spread it
cautiously away from the stems of plants to begin with. And I'd water
the soil well before spreading it as if the place where you spread it
has drought stressed plants then you could still do damage resulting
from an inability to cope with rich food whilst in poor condition.


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Old 04-12-2006, 11:39 AM posted to aus.gardens
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Default chook manure breakdown

"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message
...
"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
hello,

if i have a pile of straw with chook poo in it (as i do), can anyone

tell me
the minimum time i can leave it till the chook poo is deactivated to

the
point where it won't burn the plants? (i don't really want to

compost it all
down, or anything, i just want it for mulch with extra vitamins). i

watered
it, it's not dry. it's mostly straw, though, it's not a pile of

manure by
any means.


I thought about this question overnight and it's a bit hard to answer
because it's a matter of being able to
see what it looks like.


it's certainly looking less pleasant than it did :-)

Having said that, what I think I'd do is to
try to start the rotting process by watering it and turning it a few
times. If that worked OK, I'd then give it a few weeks at least (3 or
more depending on how it's going) before I spread it. I'd spread it
cautiously away from the stems of plants to begin with. And I'd water
the soil well before spreading it as if the place where you spread it
has drought stressed plants then you could still do damage resulting
from an inability to cope with rich food whilst in poor condition.


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!!!




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Old 04-12-2006, 10:09 PM posted to aus.gardens
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Default chook manure breakdown

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

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Old 05-12-2006, 12:03 AM posted to aus.gardens
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Default chook manure breakdown

"0tterbot" wrote in message
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message


I thought about this question overnight and it's a bit hard to

answer
because it's a matter of being able to
see what it looks like.


it's certainly looking less pleasant than it did :-)


LOL I got a very vivid mental picture when I read that! My mind had
a very unpretty sight in it :-))

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

If it's all very old and a uniform brown colour and in biggish
horizontal sheets (that's how it compacts down when old) then it is OK
to use like that, but you have to break it up a bit and compacted chok
shit in sheets can be hard to brek up. However, if it is mixed ages -
some fresh and juicy and some brown and compacted looking, then I'd
turn it a bit. But also as Jonno says, you could use it very thinly
and a long way from stems. Round shrubs or trees maybe, but be very
cautious if you want to use it in either the veg bed or in the flower
bed - maybe you could use it on corn as it's such ag ross feeder.

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.)


I also get horse poop of mixed ages from a neigbour and I use it
straight away. Not too close to stems and on well watered soil and I
always top it with mulch. I swear by horse poop and think it is THE
best manure of all time (although I have a freidn who says rabiit poop
is better). I also find that I have surprisingly few weeds from the
horse poop - possibly because of the mulch as seeds need light to
germinate. I might get 3 oat plants and a few others each year in a
bed of 70 roses which is heavily muclhed and always gets horse poop.
I'd get more wind blown seeds than I get from the horse poop.


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Old 05-12-2006, 12:10 AM posted to aus.gardens
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Default chook manure breakdown

"Tish" wrote in message

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!


How on earth did you do that? By that I mean what did you do with the
horse poop to manage to 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.


Have you tried putting mulch on top of the poop? I find this stops
most weeds.

I also find that because the poop is such a wonderful soil
conditioner, I now find weeding a horse pooped bed a pleasure because
the soil becomes so friable and the weeds are extremely easy to
remove. This wasn't the case before I started using horse poop
regularly. I now find that I can pull out all weeds in the
established beds in my usual gentle mornings walk around the garden.
I used to hate weeding but now the horse poop treatment combined with
the morning inspection tour with the coffee mug in hand is enough for
all but the wild and still undeveloped parts of my garden.


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Old 05-12-2006, 12:39 AM posted to aus.gardens
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Default chook manure breakdown


Farm1 wrote:
"Tish" wrote in message

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!


How on earth did you do that? By that I mean what did you do with the
horse poop to manage to kill rhubarb?

I stupidly put very fresh (green) horse poo onto the rhubarb bed.
Rhubarb said "screw you" and promptly died a nasty brown, burnt death.
I didn't think it was possible, but it is. Since I love rhubarb, I'm
treating the replacement plants with a little more kindness!

Tish

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Old 05-12-2006, 10:28 PM posted to aus.gardens
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Default chook manure breakdown

"Tish" wrote in message
...

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.


hm. when i get my next load i'll see if i can compost some, just to see how
it goes (i don't think i'm the world's best composter, quite frankly). but i
really didn't have weeds from the last lot - i spread it over the potatoes &
things like sheet mulch almost, & not a weed to be seen! (when i told my
neighbour she seemed surprised as well - so i don't know how unusual that
might be!!)

my neighbour amazes me in that she has loads of horse poo & NEVER uses it! i
say she's doing me a huge favour but she says i'm doing her a huge favour!!
Tish
- Also fighting the good fight against marauding wallabies


last evening they, and the rabbits(!), were gambolling about under the
trees, like in a picture book for goodness sake. it was very cute but also
completely _enraging_ :-))




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Old 05-12-2006, 10:35 PM posted to aus.gardens
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Default chook manure breakdown

"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message
...

If it's all very old and a uniform brown colour and in biggish
horizontal sheets (that's how it compacts down when old) then it is OK
to use like that, but you have to break it up a bit and compacted chok
shit in sheets can be hard to brek up. However, if it is mixed ages -
some fresh and juicy and some brown and compacted looking, then I'd
turn it a bit. But also as Jonno says, you could use it very thinly
and a long way from stems. Round shrubs or trees maybe, but be very
cautious if you want to use it in either the veg bed or in the flower
bed - maybe you could use it on corn as it's such ag ross feeder.


hm! well there's an idea, i can put it on the corn when it's a bit older. i
haven't got "sheets" - perhaps i'm a bit of a clean freak but i rake out
their house into their yard fairly often (& haven't had them all that long
anyway) - & then it seems to get scratched about so much it couldn't settle
anyway. still, the older bits have shrunk to little dark balls. the whole
lot being a chook-yard clean up, there's fresh there as well.

i'm a little dismayed at the hens' complete disregard for hygiene tbh. the
way they poo in their nests is just outrageous :-) and the way they poo near
the gate where i walk in - it's a bit of a minefield. ha!

I also get horse poop of mixed ages from a neigbour and I use it
straight away. Not too close to stems and on well watered soil and I
always top it with mulch. I swear by horse poop and think it is THE
best manure of all time


that's encouraging!

(although I have a freidn who says rabiit poop
is better). I also find that I have surprisingly few weeds from the
horse poop - possibly because of the mulch as seeds need light to
germinate. I might get 3 oat plants and a few others each year in a
bed of 70 roses which is heavily muclhed and always gets horse poop.
I'd get more wind blown seeds than I get from the horse poop.


i found with my first lot, the same thing. the beds which had weeds were the
ones where i dug it all in & the weed seed would have been in the dirt. the
beds where i spread it, no weeds at all. it's excellent. i'm very impressed
so far.
thanks for your help.
kylie


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Old 06-12-2006, 01:20 AM posted to aus.gardens
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"Tish" wrote in message
Farm1 wrote:
"Tish" wrote in message

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!


How on earth did you do that? By that I mean what did you do with

the
horse poop to manage to kill rhubarb?

I stupidly put very fresh (green) horse poo onto the rhubarb bed.
Rhubarb said "screw you" and promptly died a nasty brown, burnt

death.
I didn't think it was possible, but it is. Since I love rhubarb,

I'm
treating the replacement plants with a little more kindness!


I use very fresh horse poop all the time and have not (yet) had any
problems but then I also go a bit easy in the application rate if it's
very fresh (on the little and often principle) . Were the rhubarbs
well watered at the time of the offense or did you just use too much?

I sympathise as I also love rhubarb.


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Old 06-12-2006, 01:30 AM posted to aus.gardens
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"0tterbot" wrote in message
"Tish" wrote in message


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.


hm. when i get my next load i'll see if i can compost some, just to

see how
it goes (i don't think i'm the world's best composter, quite

frankly).

Dont' beat yourself up about not being a great composter :-)) The old
traditional way of composting (bins that need turnign regularly) is
for the birds IMHO. I now do lots of differnt types of composting and
they all work - sheet composting, trench composting (ocassionally),
tumble bins and anaerobic bins (the ones that sit on the ground opena
t the bottom with a lid on top). the traditional bins are now just
used as colelction points for composting material, but even if I don't
get roudn to using that material in the other forms of compost, it too
eventually rots down into usable 'compost'.

but i
really didn't have weeds from the last lot - i spread it over the

potatoes &
things like sheet mulch almost, & not a weed to be seen! (when i

told my
neighbour she seemed surprised as well - so i don't know how unusual

that
might be!!)


It's not. I have had the same expeerience and for some years now.

my neighbour amazes me in that she has loads of horse poo & NEVER

uses it! i
say she's doing me a huge favour but she says i'm doing her a huge

favour!!

I have the same situation with my neighbour. Licky for us that they
don't know any different.



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Old 07-12-2006, 11:17 AM posted to aus.gardens
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"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message
...

it goes (i don't think i'm the world's best composter, quite

frankly).

Dont' beat yourself up about not being a great composter :-)) The old
traditional way of composting (bins that need turnign regularly) is
for the birds IMHO. I now do lots of differnt types of composting and
they all work - sheet composting, trench composting (ocassionally),
tumble bins and anaerobic bins (the ones that sit on the ground opena
t the bottom with a lid on top). the traditional bins are now just
used as colelction points for composting material, but even if I don't
get roudn to using that material in the other forms of compost, it too
eventually rots down into usable 'compost'.


this was my thinking - it won't go to waste, it's just a question of how
bloody long it might take. i am keen to get a tumbler, because that's
something i know i can put the (minimal) effort into to get it right so i
have my end product, such as it might be, pretty quickly & easily.

tbh, i found it best when we were just burying our compostibles directly in
the ground. truly! but then i got this idea that if i could make lots of
loverly compost, it would be terribly useful (which is also true - hence my
interest in a tumbler). i find it really hard to get bulk though -
everything breaks down sooner or later, but still only leaves me with about
a teaspoon of compost g.

my neighbour amazes me in that she has loads of horse poo & NEVER

uses it! i
say she's doing me a huge favour but she says i'm doing her a huge

favour!!

I have the same situation with my neighbour. Licky for us that they
don't know any different.


true, but afaik her horse could keep the entire road in poo with no effort
;-) i am trying to turn her around about a few things... the other day i was
bemoaning how sad i was that my yellow sticky traps (which i put up for
these little black flies that were all over everything [midges?] but now
thankfully eradicated) were beginning to catch lots of predator species - i
got a little lizard, hence the conversation - hoverflies & lizards &
ladybirds etc. she didn't know what hoverflies were, & so couldn't
understand why i'd be distressed that i was getting so many of them. i
briefly explained they're a "good bug", she said "there's no good bugs
except ladybirds!!" but even so, i'm happy just to sow the seeds of
thinking-about-things - what else can we do? and you never know where
thinking-about-things will take a person. as long as there's lots of horse
poo left for us, of course. ;-)
kylie


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