A silly question from a person born and raised in a city and only ever
having veggies from a supermarket, nicely washed and packaged !

Adding horse manure to soil for growing veggies - could you get the
screaming abdabs from the manure, some deadly disease or nasties of some
kind? I see some fellow allotment holders adding fairly fresh manure to
their soil, and I wonder how healthy it is to eat veggies grown in it?

Thanks.

Jack wrote:
: A silly question from a person born and raised in a city and only ever
: having veggies from a supermarket, nicely washed and packaged !
:
: Adding horse manure to soil for growing veggies - could you get the
: screaming abdabs from the manure, some deadly disease or nasties of
: some kind? I see some fellow allotment holders adding fairly fresh
: manure to their soil, and I wonder how healthy it is to eat veggies
: grown in it?
:
: Thanks.

You should use well rotted manure as fresh manure will take nitrogen from
the soil in the decomposing process although this will right itself in a
while. There are always risks in dealing with soil even without manure
although for a normal sensible gardener these are very much kept in
proportion by cleanliness and proper immunisation. You should always ensure
that you are up to date with tetanus immunisations and wash any cuts
thoroughly. Have a look at the article on our website concerning tetanus,
there is a link on the home page. www.rraa.moonfruit.com
With plenty of horse manure or any other, used correctly, you will have
crops to rival anything for taste and health

: A silly question from a person born and raised in a city and only ever
: having veggies from a supermarket, nicely washed and packaged !
:
: Adding horse manure to soil for growing veggies - could you get the
: screaming abdabs from the manure, some deadly disease or nasties of
: some kind? I see some fellow allotment holders adding fairly fresh
: manure to their soil, and I wonder how healthy it is to eat veggies
: grown in it?

As Robert has pointed out use rotted manure and if you are organic make
sure that the horse owners are not giving the horses medication, I think
that we have discussed this topic before and I am still not sure how
long it takes the drugs to become safe.

kate

"Kate Morgan" wrote in message
...
and if you are organic make
sure that the horse owners are not giving the horses medication, I
think
that we have discussed this topic before and I am still not sure
how
long it takes the drugs to become safe.

I'd be more concerned but not very much concerned about possible
hormone weedkillers on the straw. Without doing any research I would
guess that the horses wouldn't be excreting any significant amounts of
medicines. If most of the medcine wasn't metabolised that would be a
wasted vet's bill wouldn't it?
--
Rod

My real address is rodthegardeneratmyisp

and if you are organic make
sure that the horse owners are not giving the horses medication, I
think
that we have discussed this topic before and I am still not sure
how
long it takes the drugs to become safe.

I'd be more concerned but not very much concerned about possible
hormone weedkillers on the straw. Without doing any research I would
guess that the horses wouldn't be excreting any significant amounts of
medicines. If most of the medcine wasn't metabolised that would be a
wasted vet's bill wouldn't it?

yes you are probably right, my little mare is on hormone drugs but she
is quite small.I do however still warn anyone who wants the manure and
it is up to them. Not many people do want it tho, they are happy if I
bag it up and deliver but I am tired of that game and don't do it any
more. It just rots down in the corner of the field, one day I might
plant that corner up and it should be amazing :-)

kate

"Jack" wrote in message
...
A silly question from a person born and raised in a city and only ever
having veggies from a supermarket, nicely washed and packaged !

Adding horse manure to soil for growing veggies - could you get the
screaming abdabs from the manure, some deadly disease or nasties of some
kind? I see some fellow allotment holders adding fairly fresh manure to
their soil, and I wonder how healthy it is to eat veggies grown in it?

Thanks.


It's not a silly question at all. You *could* get something nasty from it,
but it's unlikely, and long term we're all toast anyway. It doesn't do IMHO
to get too obsessive about what may or may not be in the manure. As others
have said, there are always risks. If for instance you buy pelleted chicken
manure, you don't know what the chickens were fed on, and what was applied
to the crops that became chicken food. How far down the chain can you go?

The way I see it, if you grow your veg without applying chemicals yourself,
and you use natural fertilisers, whether horse, cow, chicken or something
else, you're organic. It's going to be way better than what you buy in the
shops. And of course the immense smug value of knowing that what you're
eating, you grew.

Steve

On 7/1/07 11:18, in article , "Rod"
wrote:

"Kate Morgan" wrote in message
...
and if you are organic make
sure that the horse owners are not giving the horses medication, I
think
that we have discussed this topic before and I am still not sure
how
long it takes the drugs to become safe.

I'd be more concerned but not very much concerned about possible
hormone weedkillers on the straw. Without doing any research I would
guess that the horses wouldn't be excreting any significant amounts of
medicines. If most of the medcine wasn't metabolised that would be a
wasted vet's bill wouldn't it?

As has been said upthread, urg discussed this a while ago and I think Janet
Barraclough had discussed the matter with her son, who is a country vet. It
would be worth Googling for.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

how do you know when it's sufficiently rotted? I bring home a souvenir from
my riding lesson each week and stash it in a corner of the garden, I dug
some into next year's potato patch when it looked a bit discoloured, but I'm
really no conoisseur



You should use well rotted manure as fresh manure will take nitrogen from
the soil in the decomposing process although this will right itself in a
while. There are always risks in dealing with soil even without manure
although for a normal sensible gardener these are very much kept in
proportion by cleanliness and proper immunisation. You should always
ensure
that you are up to date with tetanus immunisations and wash any cuts
thoroughly. Have a look at the article on our website concerning tetanus,
there is a link on the home page. www.rraa.moonfruit.com
With plenty of horse manure or any other, used correctly, you will have
crops to rival anything for taste and health

On 7/1/07 19:08, in article
ws.net, "Oxymel of Squill"
wrote:

how do you know when it's sufficiently rotted? I bring home a souvenir from
my riding lesson each week and stash it in a corner of the garden, I dug
some into next year's potato patch when it looked a bit discoloured, but I'm
really no conoisseur

snip

It goes dark and crumbly like good fruit cake. ;-) The original shape of
each dropping is lost.
I used to have a book called The Untidy Gardener and the author describes
asking someone to clean out the stables, saying she would be able to use the
manure on her flower beds. Next thing she knew, he'd chucked it straight
onto the beds from the stables and she was convinced all her plants would be
damaged. She describes seeing them 'waving helplessly' from above great
mounds of steaming manure. However, they survived, the winter and the worms
did their work and all was well, though it's not a recommended practice,
admittedly. And NB, these were flower beds, not veg beds.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

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

I get an attack of the irritations every time I see advice about
the
'need' to rot horse manure..I always wonder about whether the
person
giving the advice has ever experiemented or is just parroting book
learning.

It doesn't need rotting at all, ever. It may need some judicious
thought about placement but it can go on some spot or other in the
garden straight from the end of the horse's alimentary canal. I
know
because I've used it that fresh and never found any detrimental
effect. It may not look pretty and the well rotted stuff does
look
prettier but with mulch on top, who cares or will even notice?

I have a small muck heap near the stables and a big one in the
corner of
the paddock but at this time of year when the ground is wet I have
chucked it straight onto the garden or any available bit of ground,
it
has never caused any problems I just dont usually admit to doing it
:-)

Atta girl! Now stop that coyness and start singing the praises of
pure horse poop loud and long. For too long pure horse poop has had a
bad reputation and you and I both know that such a reputation is
totally undeserved, it's time we true believers educated the benighted
:-))))

horse poop is wonderful stuff for the simple reason is its free round these
parts and readily available. Whenever I need some horse poop I simply stop
by a stable who bag it up at the roadside. Free and constant. I have laid
straight poop directly in to garden beds before and let it rot in situ over
winter. If worried about weed seeds mulch it, I used old carpet so the weeds
can germninate but die from lack of sunlight. Stuff that comes mixed with
wood chip (huckery hunks of pine) I do age as I use it as a fertiliser come
spring and don't want fresh wood chip in gardens during the growing season.
I have used woodchip poop as mulch under hedges and the hedge has done ok
out of it.

rob

"Jack" wrote in message
...

Adding horse manure to soil for growing veggies - could you get the
screaming abdabs from the manure, some deadly disease or nasties of
some
kind? I see some fellow allotment holders adding fairly fresh
manure to
their soil, and I wonder how healthy it is to eat veggies grown in
it?

I add fresh horse manure to the tops of my veg beds every winter (and
when I say fresh, some of it would have only come from the horse's
rear end a couple of days before). It sits all winter with a mulch on
top and come srping, I rake off the mulch and dig over the bed (or
somtimes just clear planting spots depending on what it is I'm
planting) and I find it's fantastic stuff for improving my clay soil.

The only warning about horse manure is that there is some suggestiont
hat the vermicides that are givent o cope tih worms int he horses gut
could kill garden worms. I don't know if that's right but I guess
it's possible. My worm population explodes after I use hosre poop on
any bed so either my supplier is not using vermicides (which I doubt
as she has Warmbloods and they are too bloody expensive to ignore good
care) or, she hasn't treated them recently when I pick up the manure
or, my worms survive anyway. I LOVE horse poop (fresh I find is
better than old).

"Robert" wrote in message
news
Jack wrote:
: A silly question from a person born and raised in a city and only
ever
: having veggies from a supermarket, nicely washed and packaged !
:
: Adding horse manure to soil for growing veggies - could you get
the
: screaming abdabs from the manure, some deadly disease or nasties
of
: some kind? I see some fellow allotment holders adding fairly
fresh
: manure to their soil, and I wonder how healthy it is to eat
veggies
: grown in it?
:
: Thanks.

You should use well rotted manure as fresh manure will take nitrogen
from
the soil in the decomposing process

?????????? Isn't the whole reason for adding manure to add nitrogen
(as well as P and K)? I've not read any reports of manure being
nitrogen deficient.

If you were writing about adding sawdust then I'd agree with you about
losing nitrogen in the rotting process but not manure.

"Sacha" wrote in message

I used to have a book called The Untidy Gardener and the author
describes
asking someone to clean out the stables, saying she would be able to
use the
manure on her flower beds. Next thing she knew, he'd chucked it
straight
onto the beds from the stables and she was convinced all her plants
would be
damaged. She describes seeing them 'waving helplessly' from above
great
mounds of steaming manure. However, they survived, the winter and
the worms
did their work and all was well, though it's not a recommended
practice,
admittedly. And NB, these were flower beds, not veg beds.

I hope that the point of the story was that the author had learned how
to be a good gardener from that experience and that this lesson was
why she turned into an untidy gardener.

I get an attack of the irritations every time I see advice about the
'need' to rot horse manure..I always wonder about whether the person
giving the advice has ever experiemented or is just parroting book
learning.

It doesn't need rotting at all, ever. It may need some judicious
thought about placement but it can go on some spot or other in the
garden straight from the end of the horse's alimentary canal. I know
because I've used it that fresh and never found any detrimental
effect. It may not look pretty and the well rotted stuff does look
prettier but with mulch on top, who cares or will even notice?

I get an attack of the irritations every time I see advice about the
'need' to rot horse manure..I always wonder about whether the person
giving the advice has ever experiemented or is just parroting book
learning.

It doesn't need rotting at all, ever. It may need some judicious
thought about placement but it can go on some spot or other in the
garden straight from the end of the horse's alimentary canal. I know
because I've used it that fresh and never found any detrimental
effect. It may not look pretty and the well rotted stuff does look
prettier but with mulch on top, who cares or will even notice?

I have a small muck heap near the stables and a big one in the corner of
the paddock but at this time of year when the ground is wet I have
chucked it straight onto the garden or any available bit of ground, it
has never caused any problems I just dont usually admit to doing it :-)
kate

On 8/1/07 02:21, in article
, "Farm1"
please@askifyouwannaknow wrote:

"Sacha" wrote in message

I used to have a book called The Untidy Gardener and the author
describes
asking someone to clean out the stables, saying she would be able to
use the
manure on her flower beds. Next thing she knew, he'd chucked it
straight
onto the beds from the stables and she was convinced all her plants
would be
damaged. She describes seeing them 'waving helplessly' from above
great
mounds of steaming manure. However, they survived, the winter and
the worms
did their work and all was well, though it's not a recommended
practice,
admittedly. And NB, these were flower beds, not veg beds.

I hope that the point of the story was that the author had learned how
to be a good gardener from that experience and that this lesson was
why she turned into an untidy gardener.

I think she was an untidy gardener to start with! And IIRC, her name is
Elizabeth Craigie but I'm stretching my memory back a long way.

I get an attack of the irritations every time I see advice about the
'need' to rot horse manure..I always wonder about whether the person
giving the advice has ever experiemented or is just parroting book
learning.

It doesn't need rotting at all, ever. It may need some judicious
thought about placement but it can go on some spot or other in the
garden straight from the end of the horse's alimentary canal. I know
because I've used it that fresh and never found any detrimental
effect. It may not look pretty and the well rotted stuff does look
prettier but with mulch on top, who cares or will even notice?

It's more important to rot down cow and chicken manure, AIUI but I think the
point of leaving horse manure in a heap is to allow weed seeds to be washed
out by the rain or to be taken out by the proud owner of the manure heap. I
think the horse's alimentary canal does a good job of preparing the manure
for use by the gardener.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/