Lawn horse manure aged

[stanleyjscott85]

Hi,

I have access to horse manure that is 5 year old, I live in Colorado (Clay) and considering topdressing my lawn by 1/4 inch,

Different articles on the web mentioned that the level of nitrogen evaporated (basically nitrogen level is from the urine),

Should I then add an organic fertilizer on top? any risk of burning my lawn?

I have perennial, Kentucky and fescue mix

[PaulF]

Not with five year old manure. I would also add some balanced fertilizer to the organic material the composted manure will provide. Turf still needs a boost of N, P and K. Perhaps a 10-10-10 fertilizer for lawns.

[stanleyjscott85]

thanks Paul, so no risk, of burning even with the fert added?

[PaulF]

Not if you follow label directions on amounts. Five year old composted horse manure will not add enough nitrogen to burn turf. Excess nitrogen will burn grass.

[john gault]

What does 5-y/o horse manure look like? If I put fresh horse manure anywhere in my yard, in five years it'd be indistinguishable from any other type soil. How does one keep manure for five years

[imafan26]

If you use fresh manure it looks more like the pellets they feed the horses. Be aware fresh hay and horse feed have a lot of weed seeds as well. That is why composted is better. Top dress is better for lawns since it is a fine compost and won't change the shape of the lawn. Horse manure won't have a lot of nitrogen. It would still be a good idea to give your lawn nitrogen fertilizer. If the lawn is older, all it needs is mostly nitrogen and maybe some iron.