Composted Horse Manure useable in Vegetable Garden?

[PeteyPie]

@TCA Arabians

One word of caution from experience. I used straight manure in the pot of my favorite azalea. It totally burned the roots and I lost it. I’ve been cautious ever since. It does sound like tilling it in over time and letting it compost is the trick.
There’s another thread in “Off Course” entitled “When do you put your garden in” that is discussing this same topic.

Isn’t it wonderful to have your horses home! Enjoy!

That might have been due to the Ph in the manure. I’m not sure about this since I don’t know if the manure tends toward basic but I do know that azaleas like an acidic soil. Anyway, it’s something to think about.

Edit to add: After googling around, I came across several articles which seemed to indicate that composted manure is a moderating influence on the Ph of soils, so if it affects both acidic and basic soils it must be in the middle somewhere. So far, I haven’t seen anything listing the actual Ph level in either composted or un-composted manure, and I don’t know enough about science to know if the level would even change during composting. But the most intriguing article was a post from a gardener who did a test on horse manure himself and got a super alkaline reading which he supposed had to do with lime being added:
https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1625963/danger-of-horse-manure

[TMares]

Azaleas love used coffee grounds fwiw

[susanne]

Delicate, young feeder roots are easily burned. (Irises and roses are an exception in loving fresh manure.)

With nearly composted manure, you can dig a larger planting hole and fill around and below the new plant with top soil+very aged compost+starting (non-burning) fertilizer.

Also, and I should have said this in my previous post, DON’T use just manure. Even aged manure is used as part of a soil/compost/vermiculite blend — NOT used alone. Manure alone can break down into an extremely fine medium that doesn’t drain well and has a poor structure. I mix composted manure with top soil and a small amount of 1/4-10 gravel (like pea gravel but crushed, not rounded). Broken down stall pellets can also make your soil more friable, but you risk tying up the nitrogen (it is used to break down the wood instead of nourishing your plants), so use it sparingly.

[TheJenners]

I wonder if that’s what’s going on with my rhodies and lily of the valley plants, they aren’t looking so hot this year after a gangbuster year last year, when they went in. I did add stall pellets for “woody debris”… I’ll add a titch of nitrogen and see what happens. Any recommendations?

[susanne]

@TheJenners

I wonder if that’s what’s going on with my rhodies and lily of the valley plants, they aren’t looking so hot this year after a gangbuster year last year, when they went in. I did add stall pellets for “woody debris”… I’ll add a titch of nitrogen and see what happens. Any recommendations?

The northwest’s February snow has delayed many plants, so that may be your biggest issue. My rhodies don’t look that great, even though we were lucky with our minimal snowfall. A fertilizer with a high first number (the numbers stand for nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) will benefit foliage. Or you could top-dress with additional composted manure (minus the pellets in this case) and/or grass clippings .

[Ruth0552]

So just an FYI- Ivermectin is also used in small animal dewormers. Like Heartguard. So a small amount of ivermectin won’t kill a cat or dog but yes, in large doses it can be poisonous. I think most dogs with a sensitivity to ivermectin are prescriped a different kind of heartworm medication that does not use ivermectin.

[TheJenners]

@susanne Thanks for the tip! Well, I have one rhodie that is looking woody with little foliage and buds, and one lily of the valley that looks the same And the biggest rhodie is paler/yellower than the other two that are the same type (it’s a large planting, three will-be-big rhodies, two lily of the valleys, and eight (I think?) smaller rhodies. I top dressed with a pelleted feed for acid loving plants like azaleas, blueberries, etc hoping to perk them up but maybe not enough. Pic is last year, even then the center rhodie was acting different.

[susanne]

Your planting looks beautiful!

Are the leaves yellow with green veins? If so, this might be chlorosis from iron deficiency.
https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdiseas…uced-chlorosis

Is your soil acidic or alkaline? A high pH can cause this, as it makes the iron unavailable to the plantl The article does mention nitrogen deficiency as a contributing factor.

There are a number of products available for treating chlorosis, but I haven’t had this problem, so I can’t recommend anything specific. I would check with your local extension or a good nursery (not a big box gardening center). You could also call your area’s Master Gardener program, as their mission is to help with such issues.

[TheJenners]

Ohhhh I didn’t think of taking pics to the nursery, duh.

And thank you! The three bigger ones are supposed to have those white with purple center flowers, then the eight smaller ones have straight up dark purple flowers. It dressed up a barren in corner of my house