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binarysunrise
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Any Difference Between Types of Manure?

Ok, so when we got our garden, the previous owner said he often fertilized and tilled the soil before every season. I haven't done much in the past four years at all.

So before I till up the ground, I thought I'd add some fertilizer. On craigslist, I see there are a lot of locals offering up manure for gardens (some will even deliver!). This might be too novice a question, but is there any difference between using cow or horse manure for a garden? Some ads stated that they'd add sawdust to the mix as well.

My plan was to get a delivery, spread it out across the garden, and then till it all together. I'd love any advice you can give :)
cynthia_h
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Please read through our Compost forum; I just did a search (see the top left hand corner of each page) on "manure" and returned over 20 pages of threads here at THG which discuss this topic. :shock:

Even restricting the discussion to the manure of herbivores: some can and some should not be directly added to earth where you intend to plant in the near future.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
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Gary350
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Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.

Every time I get Cow manure for my garden it is full of weed seeds. I have to fight weeds all summer and the next 5 summers too. Horse manure does not seem to have that problem. I got a truck load of rabbit manure one year it was really good.
Last edited by Gary350 on Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
2cents
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I put Horse Manure on this past fall. Rye or something is popping up all over the place. :cry:
Did I mention I changes places I get manure. Time to go back to the other place. :wink:
The Helpful Gardener
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Straight up poop is going to do that: find someone composting his "stuff" and use that or compost the "stuff" youself before using. USCC standards need three days at 137 degrees to be certified compost; THAT'LL kill weed seed and pathogens...

HG
2cents
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Location: Ohio

Helpful,
Thank you. The other guys was an old pile. This one was fresh, I thought I was getting better stuff because it was still wet. No I was just getting the live seeds.
My compost pile will love you for this suggestion.
The Helpful Gardener
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Yeah it will, and you will love your compost more than ever...

Thermophilic (hot) compost really needs a manure component, and the biology it brings to the table will fire things up fast. You are gonna be suprised...

HG


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