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Bristol R.I. USA

After getting my soil test back im lacking in organtic matter. Getting cow crap isnt a problem its getting the aged stuff how long does it have to be aged?

10/24/2009 3:07:51 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Aerobically compost correctly - maybe alittle as 6 months.
Sitting in piles on the ground could take years.

Does the farmer turn ANY poles of aged stuff?
They don't around here.

You might need to buy a pile of fresh & age it a year yourself.

10/24/2009 5:11:40 PM

Bristol R.I. USA

Thanks tremor after speaking with craig he suggested that i get 8 inches deep of cow horse flap. Getting the crap aged is a problem. Luckally i talked with a man at Agway he said that he could till and get some compost layed down for me. I'll then plant the winter rye. I put down some calcified lime today then the cow shit. Throughout the year i'll throw down coffee grounds. I can get about 12 pounds a day so i'll be okay. A lot of prep in the fall and more in the spring.

10/24/2009 5:50:55 PM

Colorado Springs, CO

We are an instant-gratification society. The best way to "age" any manure...is to give it...time. Exposure to moving air, water from rain and snow, and some direct sunlight are all natural contributors to a quicker breakdown of the pile. Adding dry molasses, cornmeal and alfalfa meal into the depths of the contents helps too.

Start the practice of having at least three manure or compost piles whereby you can recognize one as oldest, then younger and youngest. At some point in time you stop adding new material to that oldest pile and you let it complete its process till ready to use.

As we find local sources of horse, cow, alpaca, etc. manures imagine how helpful it would be to encourage that farmer or rancher to gather and store their resources in a similar manner.....build piles on their land that range from oldest to youngest, turn them over with their front-end loader every now and then, and develop the "quality" of their "stuff" for the local gardener who seeks it.

One local horse stuff provider I have availed progressively adds to his pile from all directions and, thus, the center of the pile is oldest and he scoops for me from that outer edge. I can't convey to him how prudent it would be to build a pile with length (oldest to youngest)....and not so much one of height.

10/25/2009 11:15:07 AM

El Paso TX.

Luckily I found a supply where the owner is actually also a gardener as well as having horses so she actually composts the stuff with hay and straw and keeps it turned and sorted by age and gets more than she can use so provides it to those willing to stop by and load it !!

10/28/2009 11:42:37 AM

Adams County

Kenny, I know of one man that puts down manure in the fall, and lets it set there all winter. then tills it in the patch in the spring . by letting it sit on top of the ground spread out all winter . maybe it gets enough air and moisture to do the trick...

10/28/2009 7:36:22 PM

Bristol R.I. USA

I've been doing that. I hope it works...Just keep laying down light amounts of Horse Cow And Goat and even Lama shit down. I thin mother nature will break it down and get out all the bad stuff....lol.

10/30/2009 2:23:12 PM