[go4it]

One more question and then I'll go to bed! (should have posted all 3 posts as one general "garden q's" thread, but oh well... ))

I have a recycle bin of fresh horse manure mixed with straw (barn litter, I guess...) that dh picked up for me from a local stable. I used some in a new garden bed I'm "cooking" but want to use the rest in my compost pile.

Although I try not to let green vs brown run my life, I don't want to knock the thing off-kilter by adding too much that can't be easily "cancelled out". So what would you call this barn litter - green or brown?

Also, if grass clippings have sat around drying out in a lawn bag (paper) for a week or more, are they still "green" (ie more full of nitrogen) or are they now "brown" (ie more full of carbon) bc they are literally brown and brittle?

What if the horse manure has been drying out for a week or more? It has also been rained on quite a bit...

I am SO thrilled to be married to the best dh in the entire world - all I have to do is say, "can you please go pick up some poo for me - it's free!" and off he goes!!! )))

(Friday's project - he doesn't know yet! - free wood-chip mulch from the city mulch depot!)

 

[MissMommyNiceNice]

It depends on how old your manure is. I have heard that horses do not digest fully like cows, and lots of seeds can be left in their poo from the hay they eat. So that any horse manure you use should be "aged" for at least 6 mos before any use in the garden or compost. Otherwise, you could have seeds start to sprout. I've only ever used cow manure though, from our local dairy. (surprisingly, they're more than happy to give it away

!)

 

[lightheart]

horse manure is considered a hot manure... ususally... it really all depends on what the animal has in it's diet, more nitrogen rich food more nitrogen rich poop, think about it this way, grass or hay fed animals will be pooping more fiber out compared to the amount of nutrients in the food , whereas grain fed animals will not be able to absord all the nutrients out of the food because there is just too much, excess calories or what have you so their poop will be richer.

Say you have 2 animals, doesn't matter what species, one is malnurished and is only getting enough food to survive, it's going to be absorbing every little bit of nutrient from it's food and converting it into energy for it to live, that animal's waste will be low nutrient. Then you have another animal, getting the same type of food the malnurished one is whether it be grain or hay or straw or potato chips but in an excess quantaty, it takes in the nutrients it needs, uses it for energy, starts adding fat to it's own body and there is still more nutrients than it needs, so will excrete the excess in their poop, thus producing a more nutrient rich (green) poop.

So you have horse poop and then their excess straw all mixed together, that's green and brown already mixed if you want to think of it that way, you don't need a much quantaty green compared to brown to get a pile working... in reality you don't really even need the green, you can pile up dry dead whole tree branches, I know it's green in ne way but more brown and they will eventually rot down.... but if you are trying to cut down on the number of years it takes to make your compost you will want to add green.

I'd think the amount of poop compared to the amount of straw in this mixture there would be more green, so maybe look at the brown in the horse poop mixture being cancelled out by green and having excess green left over

How's that for over analizing this, and it's broad daylight here!?

 

[go4it]

That is indeed quite the analysis. I had never thought about them being mixed, but you are probably right. I have no clue what the horses eat but I suspect they are very well cared-for, as it's a pretty exclusive stable.

Thank you for taking my dumb poop question seriously!!!!

J