[Anton]

Dear members,

A fellow gardener here in Belgium has acquired quite a lot of horse manure mixed with straw. There is a lot more straw than manure but the manure is fairly fresh. People have advised him against using it at present as it will "burn" his plants. I suggested he could plant his potatoes and then spread the manure/straw on the top of the soil and then heap the mixture along with the soil up against the potatoes as they start growing, banking up the potatoes. Does this sound like sound advice or will the straw/manure mix still harm his potatoes?

Anton

[DavidT]

It needs to " weather " for a year before use, or it will indeed damage the plants.

[Terrier]

Generally, horse droppings will not be as 'hot' as other manures and can be used around established plants without any damage, leaving it to weather for a few months is all it requires. If, on the other hand, it is droppings mixed with a lot of straw, then it will be stable waste and therefor will contain a high propotion of urine and that's not good for growing plants. That's the stuff you want to give plenty of time to mature.

[Anton]

Thanks a lot for your tips.

Anton

[diggerjoe]

We get free manure dropped at the site that is more straw than manure which, probably as Terrier says, has a high percentage of urine.  I heap it up over an area as it is, for my sweetcorn, cover with a layer of soil and a weed membrane and grow sweet corn I also use it fresh as a mulch on the potato bed this year 25ft x 15ft it never seems to harm the plants and crops are good. Most old timers on the site do this and i use it to mulch inside the row of runner beans and  for the pumpkin bed I cant get well rotted and have no space to leave it to rot but so far using it only a week old seems to have been ok.