[Womble1]

Hi all,
        Any advice on the pros & cons of using Horse manure mixed with wood shavings.Any & all comments welcome.

                                                               Dave.

[thebear]

Folk usually recommend manure with straw rather than shavings. I guess this is because the shavings can clump together and are soaked in horse piss!

[Trillium]

If the manure is quite fresh, the chips will be intact and hard to break down in a garden and fresh is just too harsh on tender plants. Best to let that compost before using. By then most chips should have broken down as well.

[ceri green]

i have used my (homemade) manure horse poo and woodchips very successfully on my veggie plot reclaimed from the field. It is 2-3 years old  and looks and feels like top quality compost and has made a fairly clayish soil much more workable. I wouldn't use it till its about this old though, I think it would be too acidic and still a bit too lumpy.

I think its brill stuff, particularly if you can get it for free!

[Stripey_cat]

The piss-soaked bedding is very rich in nitrogen, so is a good fertiliser.  However, shavings take a lot longer than straw to compost (years rather than months), so you need to stack it for a lot longer.