Hi folks,

Theres a local horse stable that gives away sacks of so-called 'manure'
which is full of straw, so I guess it's what they shovel out of the stables
when they clean them out.

I have a lawn which was planted on very poor gritty, clayey soil. I'm
wondering if I can just spread a load of this stuff over the lawn, thinly
enough not to smother the grass, and mother nature will take it down
beneath the surface and enrich the soil a bit.... or will I get a load of
fresh weeds coming up from seeds contained in the 'manure'?

TIA for your input.

JakeD

On Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:50:45 +0000, JD wrote:

I have a lawn which was planted on very poor gritty, clayey soil. I'm
wondering if I can just spread a load of this stuff over the lawn,
thinly enough not to smother the grass, and mother nature will take it
down beneath the surface and enrich the soil a bit.... or will I get a
load of fresh weeds coming up from seeds contained in the 'manure'?

If I were you I'd hot-compost it before use. Try to get a trailer-load in
one go - add nothing else except water occasionally if it is getting too
dry. Straw tends to reduce the nitrogen content but this should be more
than made up for by the horse-urine, which will also act as an
accelerator. I may be wrong but I wouldn't rely on the horses' digestive
systems to destroy all the seeds in their diet. A good, hot compost heap
should and composted manure will be less likely to smother as it will be
broken down and friable.

Derek Turner wrote in
:

Subject: Hoprse stable sweepings - contains weed seeds, typically?
From: Derek Turner
Newsgroups: uk.rec.gardening

On Wed, 19 Feb 2014 21:50:45 +0000, JD wrote:

I have a lawn which was planted on very poor gritty, clayey soil. I'm
wondering if I can just spread a load of this stuff over the lawn,
thinly enough not to smother the grass, and mother nature will take
it down beneath the surface and enrich the soil a bit.... or will I
get a load of fresh weeds coming up from seeds contained in the
'manure'?

If I were you I'd hot-compost it before use. Try to get a trailer-load
in one go - add nothing else except water occasionally if it is
getting too dry. Straw tends to reduce the nitrogen content but this
should be more than made up for by the horse-urine, which will also
act as an accelerator. I may be wrong but I wouldn't rely on the
horses' digestive systems to destroy all the seeds in their diet. A
good, hot compost heap should and composted manure will be less likely
to smother as it will be broken down and friable.

Derek,

Thank you for the tips. How long does stuff generally need to compost for
in order to kill the seeds?

JD

On Thu, 20 Feb 2014 13:48:04 +0000, JD wrote:


Derek,

Thank you for the tips. How long does stuff generally need to compost
for in order to kill the seeds?

JD

It's not a question of time but temperature. If you were to get a cubic
metre (about a ton) and use pallets/carpet/bubble-wrap to make a 1x1x1
cubic insulated 'bin' and fill it in one go it ought to heat up quite
quickly. 60-70 Celsius should do the trick. Others may know better but my
guess would be an original hot compost for about 3 months (keeping an eye
on moisture content) followed by a good turning over and watering and then
another 3 months. Compost can then go on the lawn after the last cut in
the autumn and have all winter to be incorporated. Or a smaller quantity
in a compost tumbler would be ready even sooner.

D