How to mix with out a tiller?

[Mlarv]

Ok I have a place I can get a few 14 foot trailer loads of composted horse manure. I can also get a few trailer loads of not top soil but pretty good soil. I don't own a titler and have access to another tractor besides my own (with an operator).

I want to mix them together to make the pretty good soil better.

With out a tiller and just basically two buckets is there a good way to mix them together.

I was thinking about dropping all the loads in rows along side each other. Then getting a few buckets of this and mix in a few buckets of that until it look right. I Have a Kubota Sidekick I can use as a little dump truck to move it to the areas we are filling in. There I will just dump the mix and spread it out about 1 inch to three inches thick.

Ok is there an easier way to do it with out a tiller?

I checked with my dealer and they may have a used one they would rent me but they are not sure if they will have it in a few weeks when I plan on doing this job. That is the reason for no tiller ideas.

 

[BobInSD]

I'm assuming you don't have a cultivator or disk. Do you have any kind of box blade, plow, middle-buster, or whatever? I'd think first scuffing the area where you are dumping it, then dumping it, maybe in alternating windrows, and then dragging the new stuff around until it all looks the same color/texture would be a good start.

 

[Mlarv]

No I don't have any way of doing it but the bucket. I will look around for a cultivator or some other things but I can not bet on them.

 

[BobInSD]

I'm not even sure why I think scuffing it up first would be a good idea. If it's fairly dry I think just back dragging with the bucket might somewhat work. If the manure is wet I think it'll just be a mess.

Maybe spread the soil out first (slowly spreading it out of the bucket instead of piles), then the manure on top? When do you want it done by? If you spread it now and wait till spring it might not even need mixed up much.

 

[Mlarv]

The manure is already composted so it should mix pretty well with the dirt. Maybe a few chunks here and there but nothing major. I had a five gallon bucket full of it and used it to make manure tea with. Between myself and my neighbor we need a lot of dirt to fill in all the low spots and grade our yards. The manure is coming from his brothers farm a few mile away, he want to ge rid of it so we figured we could put it to good use. There are a few more farms there that want to get rid of composted manure so we should be good to get as much as we want.

 

[PapaJ]

I would dump it all in 1 pile, pick up loads and dump it over and over on different parts of the pile. Works for my ginormous compost pile. If are need a much tighter mix ratio for your application, this may not be the best idea you get.

 

[BigG]

Looking at the map to Cookeville I would call Sunbelt rentals. I have rented a 5 foot tiller from them for $85 for the day. Rent it on a Friday night and return it on Monday morning and you should be able to get it cheap. Spread the dirt where you think you need it beforehand and till it in over the weekend. With 2 tractors it should be very doable.

 

[D2Cat]

Without seeing the low spots of concern, the consistency and dryness of the manure, I'd off load the trailer somewhere near and in the low spots, meaning you'll have piles of material in various locations you will need to spread. Level out the piles as you can with the loader bucket, then use a piece of chain link fence to drag over the whole area to level. Call it good!

 

[GeoHorn]

I would offer the advice to STOP! If this is for a garden or such... you DON”T WANT horse-manure!

Horses have very different digestion than cows. COW MANURE is great for a garden or such. But Horses do not digest as well as cows (cows are ruminants and horses are not.). Horse manure will have lots of weed-seeds and such that will still germinate and populate your garden with vegetation you probably do not want.

Get cow manure or at least confirm you are obtaining STERILE compost if horse-manure is in it.

Hope this helps and not too late.

 

[Ikc1990]

We have used horse manure many of years on our gardens never had a problem some of our best years were mixed horse and cow manure... and we put mulch hay on gardens after plants germinate I weed my garden once mulch it and grow grow grow. Makes good added compost when you till it in again in fall

 

[Crash277]

I’d probably just rent a tiller for a day and be done with it. Mind you I say that, while owning a tiller for my tractor because I didn’t want to have to rent one 2-3x a year.

 

[Mlarv]

This is for lawn area so if there are weeds and such they are green and I am good with that. Really I have a bunch of low spots in the yard that has been washed out by bad drainage design. I have fixed the drainage problems so now I just need to add soil. I figured if the manure was free why not use it to help the soil.

As for renting a tiller, the top of the mountains are about an inch below the soil that is there. I have pulled some very large boulders out of my lawn. I am sort of scared to rent a tiller and have it hit one. That is why I am thinking a used one at my dealer incase I have to buy a broken one(-;

Mike

 

[BigG]

This is for lawn area so if there are weeds and such they are green and I am good with that. Really I have a bunch of low spots in the yard that has been washed out by bad drainage design. I have fixed the drainage problems so now I just need to add soil. I figured if the manure was free why not use it to help the soil.

As for renting a tiller, the top of the mountains are about an inch below the soil that is there. I have pulled some very large boulders out of my lawn. I am sort of scared to rent a tiller and have it hit one. That is why I am thinking a used one at my dealer incase I have to buy a broken one(-;

Mike

Pay for the insurance and there are no worries.

 

[SidecarFlip]

We have used horse manure many of years on our gardens never had a problem some of our best years were mixed horse and cow manure... and we put mulch hay on gardens after plants germinate I weed my garden once mulch it and grow grow grow. Makes good added compost when you till it in again in fall

So do I and always have as we have both cattle and horses. I just spray roundup ultra on the untilled garden 2 weeks prior to working it up and no to very little weeds come up

 

[SidecarFlip]

Doing any plot without at least a tiller = handwork = exercise

 

[armylifer]

This is a little off the subject but if you can get chicken manure, it is a better fertilizer than horse manure. It takes much less chicken stuff to fertilize than horse stuff. It is easier to work in to the soil too.

 

[Crash277]

Pay for the insurance and there are no worries.

I agree. You beat me to it!

a decent rental company is going to have a gear drive, slip clutch style, less chance of breaking anything. No sheer pins or chains to screw with.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I've been using horse manure for YEARS in the wife's 1/2ac veggie garden as well as the giant pumpkin patch. This is actually 'stable sweepings( manure/pine chips). I usually get 8 trailer loads ,so 32 cu yds of 'material' at a time. Pile it up as high as the BX23S can get.Then repile, mixing with whatever materials I have , grass clippings from neighbours,top soil,veggie waste. I breakdown the pile and repile every 2-3 weeks. In about 3 months I've got GREAT garden ready compost. I use a Millcreek srpreader to apply to the field in spring and fall.,use a 5' tiller to mix into the garden. I don't have a weed problem, proper compost kills the weed seeds. The more compost you add, the better the soil. There are 3 distinct 'areas' in the garden..good,better,best that correspond to where I placed the compost.
You MUST replace what you take from a garden,just be sure it's distributed evenly and well tilled.

 

[GeoHorn]

I believe those who have posted success stories using horse manure have used well-composted material. Proper composting takes time and builds heat which kills any seeds within... and Flip is essentially using Roundup as a “pre-germinate” treatment which sterilizes as I was suggesting.
Anyway... As a city-mouse newly-arrived in the country I tilled-into my garden a trailer-load of horse-manure from a nearby stable and it was a disaster. If it had been composted a season first it likely would have worked out fine.. and all my genuine “country-mouse” neighbors got a big laugh at my expense over dominoes ......but. I didn’t know it at the time. (It’s taken almost 30 years but they now talk to me about the other new-comers out here like I was one of them.... almost.).

Big PLUS on the chicken-manure. That definitely makes things GROW.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

You MUST be careful with 'chicken manure' ! IF still 'young' ,it's very high in Nitrogen so you need to know the 'strength' of it. I also get 'mushroom compost', great stuff...when used in the right amount....and you WILL get 'free' mushrooms too ! Any 'organics' added will benefit a garden. I also add a lot of new drywall bits( adds calcium), needed for great peppers and tomatoes.
A veggie garden needs a blend or balance of nutrients as well as 'tilthe' to be sucessful.