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We have recieved a 'present' of horse/emu manure. My husband has placed it in the composter, along with paper from his shredder at work and obviously the kitchen scraps. How long does manure take to break down?

Secondly, can we put the next 'present' of this nature straight onto the veg patch, or does it need time to rot down first? It was fairly fresh when we recieved it last time.

thanks, Sarah

Yep you need to let it rot down. some people leave it 6 months some leave it a year some longer.
The bugs (pathogens) in the manure need to go for one. Also when things are rotting the organisms doing the rotting down need nutrients. If they can't get this from the manure they'll take it from the soil. This takes it away from the things your trying to grow. What you want is for the organisms to leave you with a nice pile of broken down nutrient that you put on your soil all nice and ready for your plants to take up and use.

hope that made sense!

P.S. the shredded paper in the manure is a dame good idea. It balances out the nutrients in there and makes good air spaces (which will infact reduce the smell from the decomposition). Thus help the process speed up.