Weed Control in Manure Question!

[carman_liz]

I have read that using manure from horses that graze on fields that have been sprayed with PP or Grazon as compost ends up killing flowers and plants in gardens. How true is this, in that same vein, does spreading that manure in your fields help with weed control? Almost like a second lower strength dosage of it thru the compost? Looking for real world experience please!

My manure pile is almost all just manure. Pony and senior eat all their hay during the 6 to 7 hrs a day they are in right now (May thru probably early October) I pick my fields daily so thats pure manure and their stalls usually only have 1 to 2 piles that are easily forked with minimal shavings attached to them.

The shavings area in their 2 stalls that get urine on them, I rake into a pile and tend to fling out into the drylot/ barely growing grass area. The urine and shavings help keep the grass from growing and with all the rain we have had they breakdown super fast. This also keeps my manure bins from filling too fast lol.

Just looking for any experience with this. I can spread on my fields, the strip of grass around my fields, and in my apple and pear orchard. I would like it to help with weed control in my pastures but I am worried about using it around the orchard if it really ends up killing stuff after the horses have grazed on sprayed grass? I used Pasture Pro this year, first time spraying, if it makes a difference between that and Grazon. TIA!!!

[Sfbayequine]

I’d suggest reading the label on your product. I use milestone and yes, it can kill veggies and other broadleaves from the manure. It’s definitely a ‘thing.” I don’t know about it helping kill weeds a second time around… my star thistle thinks everything is fertilizer.

[danacat]

Here is a fact sheet on how to use Grazon around trees:
https://www.corteva.us/content/dam/d…_FactSheet.pdf

Apple and pear trees aren’t mentioned ^^^ so your fruit trees will be fine.

[Simkie]

Pasture Pro is just 2,4-D. It does not persist in manure.

[Where_sMyWhite]

@danacat

Here is a fact sheet on how to use Grazon around trees:
https://www.corteva.us/content/dam/d…_FactSheet.pdf

Apple and pear trees aren’t mentioned ^^^ so your fruit trees will be fine.

IMO, just because apple or pear trees are not mentioned does not mean they will be ‘fine’.

Perhaps an interesting read “Common Landscape Herbicides and Their Effects on Trees”.

Always read the entire label for application information, any cautions (such as wind drift depending on how the herbicide is being applied) and Personal Protection Equipment.

When it comes to trees, I tend to be conservative as trees are often an expensive investment (in purchase and over time care and maintenance).

[Tarlo_Farm]

My horses are on pasture all summer and hay in the winter. The manure pile grows in the winter. In the summer, I cover it with a sheet of heavy black plastic until October when it has then baked and settled into the most wonderful “Pony Poo” fertilizer. If I don’t bake it though, the weed seeds found in horse manure are simply distributed with extra fertilizer. Horse manure is notorious for growing weeds unless the seeds are incubated to death.

[littlebaypony]

I would advise to never use Grazon or herbicides with the same active ingredients. I used it on my pastures about 6 years ago. I ended up having to bury my manure pile that year. My manure continued to poison my gardens and I was totally frustrated; how could it persist this long? Found out this past spring that my hay guy uses Grazon on his hay fields. So he sprays, cuts, bales; the chemical is still active. My horses eat the hay, poop it out, I muck and add it to my first manure pile; it’s still active. Several times a year the pile gets moved to the “old” pile where it composts for at least 6 months; the chemical is still active. So, my manure can’t be used in gardens at all. I can spread it on my pastures but, oddly, it doesn’t control weeds at all. I have had a couple of people take manure to spread on their yards but I caution them about not putting it in gardens. While the composted manure does a good job of greening up their lawns, sadly, they still get weeds.

[CupOJavaa]

It is advised that manure from horses who graze after Grazon application should not be used in the garden for up to several months (I do not remember the exact time limit but the length did surprise me). I am actually completely renovating my 8 acres this year so have been doing a whole lot of reading and researching labels and I just came across this bit, it was directly from the company itself. As for spreading weeds via manure, this risk can be eliminated by rotating and mowing fields regularly. The only weed here that goes to seed that my horses graze on is narrow leaf plantain and that is because that devil of a plant can practically reseed over night and each time you cut its head off the stems get shorter. I am pretty sure the story of the hydra was inspired by the plantain.

[foggybok]

@CupOJavaa

It is advised that manure from horses who graze after Grazon application should not be used in the garden for up to several months (I do not remember the exact time limit but the length did surprise me). I am actually completely renovating my 8 acres this year so have been doing a whole lot of reading and researching labels and I just came across this bit, it was directly from the company itself. As for spreading weeds via manure, this risk can be eliminated by rotating and mowing fields regularly. The only weed here that goes to seed that my horses graze on is narrow leaf plantain and that is because that devil of a plant can practically reseed over night and each time you cut its head off the stems get shorter. I am pretty sure the story of the hydra was inspired by the plantain.

I have so much plantain in my small barnside pasture… Mowing makes it laugh at me!