[LilacSandy]

Never use manure, however I have masses of compost and cover most of the ground each year, I also use nettle and comfrey tea.  In the winter I dig one plot and the other I cover with tarp or cardboard to keep in the nutrients, the following year I dig the other plot.

[Totty]

In my opinion, good well rotted manure cannot be overused. I use masses of the stuff, along with leafmold. Try to see the use of organic matter as feeding the soil. So long as the soil is fed, crops will want to grow well in it.
You then use your gardening nous to determine when these plants need feeding with any extras, nettle and comfrey juice, BFB, growmore etc etc.

Don't assume that because you have used a huge amount of manure/compost, that plants won't need feeding, they will, but they will also be in a much better medium to take advantage of any feed you do give them.

Totty

[SimonH]

I have just collected a load of steaming horse manure for a local stables.   Should I spread it now, leave it for a couple of months and if I leave it, should I cover it to stop it getting too wet?


Regds
Simon

[J_B]

put it in and spread it out as much as u can and let me be over winter and then dig it in in spring.

[goodtogrow]

....or don't put it in, stack it instead, covered, spread it in Spring and don't dig it in.....

[Yorkie]

If it is steaming now, then in my view it is unlikely to rot sufficiently by spring to be safe.

I'd leave it for a year.

[Totty]

It's easy really. Get as much as you can.
If it is well rotted, chuck it on the soil and work it in.
If it's not, stack it until it is well rotted, then chuck it all over the place.

Totty

[gremlin]

Here's one of those annoying half remembered references...

Maybe about 6 months ago there was a TV program on the history of London explaining that there were once large market gardens and huge numbers of livestock within half a mile of centre of the city in the 1600s(?)   The whole of the South Bank was market gardens.  But they weren't very productive and an enormous amount of London's food had to be imported from Holland.

Then someone realized the secret was that by spreading manure on the exhausted fields you could make them as productive as the Dutch. It became known as the "Dutch Method" of farming.

And I assumed prehistoric man has worked it out, rather than it only being a 300 year old invention.

[Kirpi]

I find it strange that the feeling here is that manure and compost is not very high in nutrients. Along with Comfrey tea and Nettle tea, my homegrown compost and a lot of guinea pig hutch bedding from a local breeder/kenneler is all I use on my beds and I do fine.

Manure
Comfrey Tea
Nettle Tea
Homegrown compost
Guinea pig hutch bedding

Is all you use? I think there's a bit of a clue here. That's 5 different lots according to my system of counting. It's way more than just manure.

Thanks DD. So my compost and/or manure may be relatively low in nutrients but because I use so much of it and use a wide source of supplementary organics, my nutrients are actually quite high. I suppose it is labour intensive compared to nutrients in a box, but I do enjoy the process.

[goodtogrow]

...and you must get good results, otherwise you wouldn't do it, would you kirpi?

Best wishes

[DD.]

I was pointing out that Kirpi found it strange that it was felt compost and manure were not high in nutrients, yet he got good results.

He then went on to say that a lot of other nutrients were added to the basic mix, so in reality, he wasn't adding just manure and compost as he stated.

[peedee555]

i get as much as i can and just bung it on soon breaks down with this lovely weather then come spring start turning it in addind growmore ,blood fish and bone and anything else thats needed for what crop im going to do works for me but we have got a heavy clay soil ....or did have

[4 Seasons]

When animals drop their waste on the land it's always fresh and seems to have a beneficial effect on the grass so putting it fresh on the soil in the winter to work it's magic in the spring is just following a natural course of events. By then any heat will have dissipated and what you are left with has got to be good for the soil I would think.

But then I tend to let it rot before spreading it more out of habit than anything because that is what you are told to do in the books. I tend to prefer to spread lime if it's required in the autumn and spread manure in the spring so that the two are not immediately in contact.

[Nobbie]

If fresh manure is spread over the surface over winter then it won't 'burn' crops in the spring as the rain will have washed through it all winter, however the straw/woodshavings won't rot down much and will rob the soil of nitrogen as it breaks down when it warms up.

I reckon the best idea is to stack the fresh manure in a heap and cover it over winter. If the heap is big enough it will generate plenty of heat for a decent decomposition by spring I reckon. The covering should stop any nutriants being washed out by rain.

[DD.]

I'm with Nobbie.

Naturally dropped manure will not have the extra bits in them that need to rot down, as he says.