Weeds, manure, compost

  • Weeds, manure, compost

    Posted by TCF-1995 on November 25, 2023 at 8:27 pm

    Hello, new member here and found this site and forum, hopefully, to find help re. compost. I have a pasture with horses and weeds. I want to do away with the weeds but the manure is given to many folks who garden. Is there anything to kill weeds that won’t end up, via manure compost, killing gardens or orchards?

    Thanks for any help; sorry if I’m not clear, it’s been a long day and I’m no tech.

    Sandra

    EvW replied 1 year ago 9 Members · 9 Replies
  • 9 Replies
  • Hanidu-Acres

    Member
    November 25, 2023 at 8:51 pm

    I do it by hand. Yes, by hand. For the bigger stuff I use a pick-axe to help lift them up.

  • HoneyBunnyFarmLLC

    Member
    November 25, 2023 at 9:05 pm

    I heat the compost and that kills some but not all. Anything that will kill the weeds will also kill everything else.

  • MartHale7

    Member
    November 25, 2023 at 10:38 pm

    I have moved to giving them bare root plants with a wet towel to keep the roots wet.

    Potting soil is gold I let them think about what they want to plant it in.

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    November 25, 2023 at 11:36 pm

    Nope nothing I know of will kill the weeds without moving along with the manure. When one uses black gold AKA manure then you just deal with the weeds. A good hot compost pile will burn up 90% of the weed seeds if not all.

  • BiggKidd

    Member
    November 25, 2023 at 11:37 pm

    And welcome to the forum

  • BLTN

    Member
    November 26, 2023 at 12:05 am

    That’s one of the difficulties with horse manure, it retains many of the weed seeds intact. Cattle, with their four stomachs, destroy more weed seeds in their digestive process so you get fewer (but still some) in the garden. Getting the compost hot as it breaks down is the only thing I know…or using heat on the weeds themselves when they first come up (flame weeding) before planting your garden.

  • JerseyGiantChick

    Member
    November 26, 2023 at 11:39 am

    Weeds will come from everywhere, but I have put weed fabric over the market garden beds and worked very well, nice clean soil just prepare the bed and seed or plant. Weeding is like Therapie if you look positive, doing hand weeding on time.

  • Patsplace

    Member
    November 26, 2023 at 11:56 am

    If you’re talking about the weeds in your pasture, rotational grazing so the horses don’t eat the grass down to short and mowing it to keep the weeds from going to seed will work, but it will take time.

  • EvW

    Member
    November 27, 2023 at 1:25 pm

    What ph is best for the grass you are growing? You may need to add lime or sulfur. Test the soil in the pasture to see what elements it is missing. If you have an animal that will eat the weeds, try rotational grazing – let the horses graze, then move them and let the second animal (chickens? guineas? goats?) work on the weeds.

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