DU gardeners: I was just offered all the horse manure I want, free.

[DemoTex]

And this guy will load it into my utility trailer. That would sure be cheaper than buying Black Kow composted manure. How well does horse manure work in a garden? How bad will it mess up my utility trailer (wooden)?

[BikeWriter]

1. Get it! I've used it for years in my gardens.

The fiber adds tilth to any soil. :)

[mr_hat]

2. Horse manure has the unfortunate side effect of >

discouraging cats from pooping in your garden.

You will, however, have all the neighborhood dogs rolling in it.

[DemoTex]

7. Maybe it will keep the panther away too!

My dogs love to eat horse manure. But they can't get into the garden. It is fenced to keep the deer out.

[crispini]

3. I'd compost it first.

I believe that straight horse manure has horse pee in it which might burn your plants, but I could be wrong.

[H2O Man]

9. Yep.

Always a good thing to do. If you have room, you can prepare fertile dirt for years to come.

[BurtWorm]

4. You want to buy some cat manure?

I've got a shitload!

:spank:

[havocmom]

5. Great stuff, but let it age at least a year before pouring it to your

garden. Needs to 'mellow out' a bit so it won't burn plants.

As far as damage to your wooden trailer goes, that depends on how fresh it is. The fresher, the more ick you will be dealing with. Time heals many wounds and allows a lot of harsh parts of poo to dissapate.

If it is fresh, look over your property for a good place to compost it for awhile. The smell will fade and you will be dealing with 'gardners' black gold' instead of horse shit.

You WILL have great tomatoes in a year or two.

Works very well in garden after the composting period, but you may do a bit more weeding. Amazing how many seeds can survive the long trip through a horse. ;)

[GardeningGal]

6. You'd need to compost it first

If you put "fresh" manure on your garden, it will burn the plants. It should be composted first and then I think it would be fine.

As for your trailer, I'd get one of those tarps at the hardware store and put that down before loading.

[swimmernsecretsea]

8. Oh. I thought this was another political thread.

My bad. Whoops.

[CottonBear]

10. I scoop horse poop daily and add it to a compost pile.

The horse farm should have some that has already been composted for many months. If the horse was bedded on hay or straw then that will be mixed in the composted manure. Undigested oats may sprout.

This is a great soil mix for potted plants:
1/3 native mineral soil (red clay in my area)
1/3 composted manure
1/3 Nature's Helper

You will grow the best tomatoes ever with this mix!

You can get pure manure without straw, hay or shavings from composted stallion piles in a stallion pasture. The stallions make several big poop piles to mark their territory. This makes it really easy to collect. You can drive out and scoop it into plastic garbage cans or buckets or onto a trailer.

edit: composted horse manure doesn't smell bad at all.

[MichiganVote]

11. Send it to Washington