Using bedding/waste as fertilizer

Blizblaz
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Using bedding/waste as fertilizer

Post by Blizblaz » Sun Mar 01, 2020 9:26 am

I live on clay. This will be my 3rd summer coming up. So far the only gardening I’ve done is a few raised beds/pots. I want to start getting more raised beds going and start getting some proper plots started. I have my coop bedding and some horse manure I can use to help. What does everyone do to prep this stuff? How long should it sit before being added to a bed? What kind of advice do those of you who use it have?
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Re: Using bedding/waste as fertilizer

Post by labradors » Sun Mar 01, 2020 10:01 am

If your horse manure has been aged, you can use it immediately in your garden. The bedding would need to break down, as it will absorb a lot of nitrogen as it decomposes. You could probably spread the bedding on the garden in the fall and let it do its thing over the winter.

I toss bedding and chicken poop into a composter throughout the summer (along with all or our compostable scraps), then Iet it sit and age for at least a year, just to make sure that there are no "nasties" in the poop.

HTH,
Linda
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Blizblaz
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Re: Using bedding/waste as fertilizer

Post by Blizblaz » Sun Mar 01, 2020 10:35 am

I have some bedding that’s just been sitting in a pile since last spring or so. I haven’t done anything special to it, would that be considered composted enough? I don’t have a real composter set up with kitchen scraps or anything, because I’m worried about bears...
Is it enough to spread the bedding on a plot over the winter? Would it break down and age enough by spring to not burn anything?
How long would the horse manure need to sit? I have only had the horses since fall, so all the manure is only that old at most. In the spring I plan on scraping out what I can and putting it in a pile, so could I spread some of that in the fall, too?
Would you till it in in the fall, or just spread it and do the tilling in the spring?
So many questions! Haha
The clay is quite crazy, so I think I may be doing a lot of raised beds, but eventually I would like a plot I could use.
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Re: Using bedding/waste as fertilizer

Post by labradors » Sun Mar 01, 2020 12:39 pm

Apparently, it is wise to let horse manure sit for 6 months before using it on your veggie garden. They say it won't burn your plants, so you could use it sooner on flower beds.

I also have thick clay, so we built a raised bed and had some soil delivered which was dumped on top, then we added trailer loads of aged (2 years) cow manure and I planted directly in that. I like to be no-till, so we kept adding more aged manure on top every other year and it worked well for the veggies.

Since you are just starting your beds, it might be a good idea to dig everything over and mix it in to begin with.

I only recently heard about putting manure/leaves/etc on top of the beds in the fall and letting the worms and microbes work their wonders over the winter. You could do that, and see what it looks like in the spring. Maybe you won't have to dig it in!

It can be frowned upon, but I like to cover my beds with tarps over the winter. My thinking is that it stops the rain from leeching out all the goodies, and it certainly stops a whole pile of weeds from taking root in the spring before I can get out there to deal with them! Maybe it does compress the soil somewhat, but I do try not to walk on it.....
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Re: Using bedding/waste as fertilizer

Post by Blizblaz » Sun Mar 01, 2020 1:57 pm

I would love to be no till, as my clay is super impossible, but I may try to start by tilling some, and seeing where it goes from there. I guess I will just have to start making beds this year to be ready for next year kind of thing.
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kenya
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Re: Using bedding/waste as fertilizer

Post by kenya » Sun Mar 01, 2020 3:08 pm

My mom has clay and no matter how much matter you put in it it's still clay. Raised beds are your best bet but as kids we grew everything in that clay soil ,the only thing that didn't do really well was carrots.
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Re: Using bedding/waste as fertilizer

Post by KimChick » Mon Mar 02, 2020 6:33 pm

When I was a teenager, my family moved to the country where the soil was clay. I remember my mom using copious amounts of peat moss to create her flower gardens. She probably also purchased sand and topsoil.
To give our vegetable garden a good start, the first year we had our chickens, I would pour the fresh manure in between the rows for the next year of planting. It worked out quite well.
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Re: Using bedding/waste as fertilizer

Post by WLLady » Tue Mar 03, 2020 8:15 am

I routinely use spent bedding (shavings and chicken manure) straight from the stalls/pens as mulch on top of my garden! it works great....and then till in the mulch that's left at the end of the growing season and let it sit over the winter. I also till in 6 month to 1 year "cooked" from the manure pile-horse and chicken and turkey manure-as fertilizer first thing in the spring. Never had an issue with burning anything. But i am on sand-river sand-so things leech through pretty fast. not sure it would work on heavy clay as the nitrogen might all get stuck and burn the top roots....but 6 months is enough time in warm weather to "cook" a manure pile enough to be useable if it's mixed manure (aka chicken plus cow or horse or whatever).
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kenya
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Re: Using bedding/waste as fertilizer

Post by kenya » Tue Mar 03, 2020 8:29 am

I found with the horse manure sometimes you get a lot of weeds unless really rotted well.
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Re: Using bedding/waste as fertilizer

Post by WLLady » Wed Mar 04, 2020 8:46 am

oh especially oats. LOL but my chickens root through the manure pile and take care of a lot of the oats....plus they stalk the horses....and clean up the oats in the stall if they drop any LOL. The other is using old hay bales for mulch. NEVER AGAIN! ha ha.
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