Lewes Forum thread
Forgotten Fertilizer
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On Tue 10 Jul at 10:35am George Derrick wrote:
As a point of interest, in late Victorian Britain there were 3.3 million horses, most of which were worked. Chemical fertilizers had not been invented and there was easy access to mountains of cheap, if not free organic horse manure.
Allotments became available from circa 1800 and the then plentiful supply of aged horse manure was the natural choice of feed for the soil.
By the time Queen Victoria passed away in 1901 the industrial world was starting to overtake mother-nature on the transport stakes, our horse population declined to such a degree that rotted manure was not as easy to come by and people looked for alternatives. Thrifty plot-holders and gardeners made good use of their waste and together with leaf-mould made their own compost. However, this is time consuming and with the introduction of large scale mushroom farming and local amenity â??green wasteâ?? centres enterprising companies have now mixed spent mushroom compost with smashed green waste to produce a weak and cheap, non-nutritious soil conditioner.
Today, horse riding is a passion for many and together with the sporting fraternity there are just under a million horses throughout the UK. Many equestrian centres and stables offer fresh manure to passers-by for free or some even sell it to allotments. In this state it will harm your plants and will, without doubt, contain weed seeds.
Quality manure is a â??productâ??, itâ??s collected, shredded and turned regularly for months until its black and odour free. The heat in the pile is sufficient to kill off the weed seeds and it encourages worm activity. This type of horse manure is still difficult to buy and with the passing of time and all the various options available on the market, using aged horse manure as a first and natural choice of fertilizer has been forgotten.
If you have access to a supply of quality manure consider using it as a food for your soil, its goodness and natural quality cannot be matched by composts or chemicals.
At Sussex Manures we are proud of our Puckamuck and offer it at great prices in 60Litre bags, bulk-builders bags, by the transit tipper truck or by the articulated lorry load. See our website www.puckamuck.co.uk or call George on 01903 877689 07899 676166. (Find 60L bags at Ferring Nurseries, Lansdowne Plants, Southwick Nursery, Camellia Botnar Nursery, The Vineries (Bookham) Gardner and Scardifield and leading hardware stores.)
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On Tue 10 Jul at 10:48am middleclassandabitsmug wrote:
Or bag it up yourself for free.
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On Tue 10 Jul at 10:54am Redundant Rose wrote:
No Sh1t
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On Tue 10 Jul at 11:11am Pete wrote:
I have a ready supply of FREE horse manure as and when I need it, thank you.
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On Tue 10 Jul at 11:12am No ads, please wrote:
Hey, Webbo, this is a straight ad - is this going to turn into an advertising site?
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On Tue 10 Jul at 2:11pm Sceptic wrote:
Could be a load of bull manure, I was going to use the word that Reduntant Rose used but Webbo told me off for swearing. This reeks of favourtism
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On Tue 10 Jul at 3:35pm Redundant Rose wrote:
Obviously business is a bit slow in muck these days...
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On Tue 10 Jul at 7:44pm Clifford wrote:
George: We don't come here to read ads but to read the opinions of fellow residents of Lewes. You're not going to win any friends by trying to use the forum as a platform for free ads, you know.
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On Fri 13 Jul at 11:21am Brixtonbelle wrote:
I'm sure a few stables locally would offer horse sh!t for free if you go and bag it up yourself. Any one know of any - I'd like some for my allotment this winter.
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On Wed 18 Jul at 6:20am Geoge Derrick wrote:
Apologies guys and girls, I genuinely believe in our product and just want to let people know the benefits of the manufactured stuff compared to a stable pile. You are right, I should have left my details off. It will not happen again.
George.