will this work?

[bodie]

i am dying to try this but not sure if it will be counter-productive. we have horses and clean stalls daily. i have been piling up the discarded manure and shavings and composting it for years. it breaks down and turns into rich soil additive. i was wondering if rather than composting, i should begin to place it directly around my plantings. this year i added 100 persimmon, 20 hazelnut, 20 chestnut, 10 crab-apple, and 300 spruce and fir. i also have a small personal orchard of apple, pear, peach, cherry, blueberry and grapes(although the deer don't understand its personal). my concern is the weed seed from the horse manure and the acidity from the shavings when breaking down. l am looking for thoughts from any with experience or the chemists out there. i look forward to everyone's input however.

 

[H20fwler]

A buddy of mine put donkey road apples in the bottom of his chestnut pots last year and his have grown twice as good as mine.
I'm always for natural fertilizer whenever possible and I think horse/mule/donkey is some of the best. I would keep it out around the drip line, the weed seeds would be a minor concern for me and the acidity of that type of manure wouldn't be a concern to me at all. I wish I had a good source locally I would put it out every year.

 

[Barndog56]

I put fresh horse manure in my garden every fall, then till it into the soil in spring. Everything grows like gangbusters. Haven't really had problems with weed seeds, but I suppose that would depend on what they're fed.

This year I spread the manure for all my fruit and nut trees. I'm expecting it will work pretty well.