Horse manure stands out as by the far the best manure around for soil improvement. It is usually very cheap or free and it is readily available around horse stables. Horse manure is not as strong a fertiliser as chook, cow or pig poo – but it is the best organic additive for soils.
Sometimes horse manure isn’t fully understood and has a bad name. Yes, it does happen that some stable manure sends up a green crop of wheat, barley or oats. This is a one-off event called a green manure crop. When the crop reaches around 30cm (1 ft) tall, pull it up and lay it on top of the ground. This is a real added bonus to the superb organic benefits of the manure itself as the green manure crop breaks down rapidly and never re-emerges.
Stable manure also contains wood shavings and/or hay. This too is superb as a soil conditioner. The urine (for added extra!) helps to break down the shavings or hay, to produce organic colloids that will make any soil perfect.
One reason that horse poo is so misunderstood is that some people have used it incorrectly. No manures should be used fresh; they should be aged, or more correctly, composted. Some people have used fresh stable manure, with sawdust or straw, and have noticed that their plants went a bit yellow. This means that the manure was too fresh – not composted enough. As manure and organic matter break down, they use up nitrogen causing yellowing of the plants that then run short of nitrogen. But if you wait til it has composted for a few weeks, the manure releases nitrogen, producing strong, green growth in all plants. If your manure is still in dry scones and not composted – wet it and wait a few weeks before using it.
Since horse manure is so poorly understood, you can usually get it free from larger horse stables. Often, they will let you load up a trailer load for free: this is about $85 worth of organic soil conditioner (i.e. 1.5 cubic metres) for nix, nothing, gratis, nil, on the house, on the horse, without charge, at no cost!
We got our manure from Warwick Farm racecourse in Sydney. Phone the Jockey Clubs in your area to find out which racecourses or trainers might have free manure available. You can also try smaller scale horse breeders many of whom are often happy to allow you to collect manure at no cost.
In addition to getting free manure it’s sometimes possible to get free soil from pool companies. Pool builders have to get rid of the soil they get when excavating for the pool area and they have to pay to dump it. This means they may be prepared to deliver some to your place. Check with local pool builders in your area.
Warwick Farm Racecourse: 02 9602 6199
Head Office Australian Jockey Club – Randwick, NSW – 02 9663 8400 – www.royalrandwick.com
