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Not Quite Social


Registered: 07/16/10
Posts: 1,418
Loc: Midwest
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Horse manure
#27790997 - 05/24/22 06:47 PM (2 years, 7 months ago) |
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Hi Friends,
This is my first post in quite a long time. Great to see Shroomery still such a strong and active community!
So....
I used to grow oysters and other woodlovers on straw and sawdust. This will be my first time growing on substrate that's mostly horse manure. (I'll be using stoneson's 50/30/15/5 universal substrate to grow PE.)
I found a farmer on Craigslist who will give me as much horse manure as I want for free on Sunday. He said his manure pile is in the back of his barn, help myself.
What should I look for to make sure I'm getting the right stuff? I know it shouldn't have wood chips or other things, grass or whatever, I guess, mixed in with it, but what else?
How fresh? How dry? Appearance?
Any and all tips are greatly appreciated!
THANK YOU, NQS
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CreonAntigone
Stranger

Registered: 05/30/21
Posts: 3,374
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There are plenty of growers here who might say to just use coir as a hydration source with your spawn, and to not bother with manure. And that strategy does work - but honestly I see such beautiful things with manure.
I think this is a great opportunity for you. I say do it. They are best aged so that they are dry and crumbling and a little like dirt in consistency.
Since you are already following stonesun's TEKs you might consider his manure prep tek that prepares all-in-one grow bags using a manure mix. He pressure cooks manure bags for 2 hours. Check the section of that post that says 'alternative fruiting method'. He is using it for stoneproducers but I bet that method would work just as well with cubes.
Also, stonesun's example pictures in that thread show manure at a pretty ideal time for use. You can see that the outside appearance is completely dry.
Edited by CreonAntigone (05/24/22 07:13 PM)
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Not Quite Social


Registered: 07/16/10
Posts: 1,418
Loc: Midwest
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Perfect! Thank you so much, CreonAntigone 
I did not know he had that tek--that's awesome!
His grows are beautiful.
I avoided manure and active medicinal mushrooms in the past... for no good reason, in hindsight. I'm excited to give it a go!
Thanks again
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MTZ
In between



Registered: 12/17/21
Posts: 702
Loc: Northern rockies
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You're going to need to leech it. It'd a process that's why most of us just use coir now. But you can build a screen or possibly just do it on the ground. There's more to prepping it than letting it dry out which does nothing. A sprinkler and a screen is a valuable asset when working with fresh horse shit. It gets a lot of that powder fine stuff out as well. That way it doesn't get so "muddy" when you hydrate and pasteurize it. And yes, it has to have true pasteurization. That's another reason to use coir. But with the prices the way they are and no hope for it to get better for the next few years, it would be worth it to get set up for horse shit. Especially if you've got access to tonnage. And if you do go that route, the pelletized straw is MUCH easier to deal with.
-------------------- Rehears your death every morning and night. Only when you constantly live as though already a corpse will you find freedom in the martial way, and fulfill your duties without fault throughout your life. ~ The Book Of Samurai
........
I live in the void. I can go to the in between anytime I desire. I visit the spirt world.
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Not Quite Social


Registered: 07/16/10
Posts: 1,418
Loc: Midwest
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Re: Horse manure [Re: MTZ]
#27795029 - 05/27/22 11:51 AM (2 years, 7 months ago) |
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Thank you very much. Man, you've got me reconsidering this. I'm going to check out that farm and see if his manure pile is actually indoors or outside. If it's outside and naturally leeched, then I will use it, but if it's fresh and indoors--forget it. I'm reading newer threads, getting good advice like yours, and learning. Horse manure might not be worth the extra time and effort. Thanks again. Appreciate you taking the time, MTZ.
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kirkeng
Stranger


Registered: 02/14/21
Posts: 1,298
Loc: Lost
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Leeching can be made super simple. All your doing is evaporating ammonia from fresh wet manure. I always get fresh manure from a local farm and just lay it on a tarp in the backyard to sun dry for like a week or two depending on weather, mixing the manure around everyday. The sun drying works great without needing a sprinkler or other wetting method, generally though it does get some rain while drying. But once it’s bone dry and rehydrated it smells just like dirt and not like ammonia and works great. I like to do a couple runs in the spring each year and get as much as I need for a whole year and store dry in 55gal trash bins in the garage. Don’t sleep on leeching with the sun and natural rain.
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SeaSalt



Registered: 12/08/21
Posts: 495
Loc: PNW WWA
Last seen: 9 months, 25 days
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Re: Horse manure [Re: kirkeng]
#27798050 - 05/29/22 04:25 PM (2 years, 7 months ago) |
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I haven't used any manure yet but, I collected mine from the pasture and started drying it a few months ago. Manure from stalls is mixed with shavings &/or straw and contains a LOT of urine. Manure from the top of the pile is fresh and manure from the middle will be composted and hot. The mushroom plants in my area used to collect fresh manure/straw blend from the racetracks then treat it with chemicals to break it down. They don't collect it anymore and have developed a different process.
Make sure you know what you're getting. I'm a noob to mushrooms but, I'm a old hand with horse shit.
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