This week I'm going to put them down for the first time; they came from British Columbia and are made of pine shavings. Apparently they expand to about 5x their size after they get wet, I'm going to put down 150 lbs over 5500 sq. ft. of lawn, with 144 lbs (4 bags) of Milorganite.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes them to break down. At $5/30 lb bag this is the cheapest OM I can get outside of leaves, and it has super high carbon content. I'm hoping they break down in a reasonable time period as I'd like to move this into my weekly rotation. I'm guessing I should put down the Milorganite (or SBM) each time they go down as I don't want to bind up too much N (does that make sense). If I can do it every other week it would be exciting.

They won't bind N on the surface, except from the surface soil layer. Adding N from whatever source (Milorganite and soy are great) does assist with the speed of breakdown by supplying N to decay organisms.

Like any other decay sequence, you get that N back when the bacteria and fungi die, are hunted out, or excrete it to your plant roots in response to a carbohydrate delivery.

Lacking it, they'll tend to foster nitrogen-fixing bacteria that pull N from the air, but that's a slow process and very energy-inefficient. It's better to add N.

Andy may know more about breakdown speed as I think he uses something like this.

Here is the company/website:


Click here for more information

They're reasonably slow. I have various forms of sawdust on a four-week rotation. The pellets expand and then dissolve within 10 days. The sawdust spreads and weathers over the next few weeks. When I don't see much anymore, I do it again. The herd gets used to them after a while.

JG: French? Parle Anglais, s'il vous plait.

JG

Are the horse pellets a Long Island purchase or a ME purchase? If so who is selling them. Thanks

LI, Agway.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

I suppose it will do fine with plenty of Nitrogen to help break it down......

If you think about it.... Most animal bedding is made so it doesn't break down particularly quickly..... At least you won't have flocks of Pigeons eating your "Fertilizer" like what happened every time I spread Cracked Corn or CGM....

Thanks

Thanks JG for Agway

I threw their website through Google translate and below is what they are saying:

GRANULE BOREAL
LITTER FOR HORSES
&
FUEL
Wood pellets are obtained by recycling waste softwood which are ground and compressed at the factory.
Higher absorption
This is a horse bedding more absorbent than wood shavings since granule absorbs at least three times its original volume.
Through our unique process of compression, our product absorbs when it is placed in the stall no need to spray with water as some other brands of pellets.
Simplified cleaning stalls
Wetted, the granules clump together, which simplifies cleaning stalls and avoids waste since it is easy to remove the contaminated areas. Furthermore, after using the granules are compostable.
Amount to be used
The optimum amount to apply per stall is 10 to 13 cm thick (4-5 inches).
Easy handling
The 30-pound bags are easy to handle and does not require as much storage space as bags of shavings.
Fuel GRANULE BOREAL
- High energy efficiency
- Low ash production
- Ecological
Distributor of carpet ANIMATMC
- Comfortable
- Resistant
Click here for more information
201, 6th Street West
Amos (Quebec) J9T 4E1
819 732-8651

John_in_SC wrote:I suppose it will do fine with plenty of Nitrogen to help break it down......

If you think about it.... Most animal bedding is made so it doesn't break down particularly quickly..... At least you won't have flocks of Pigeons eating your "Fertilizer" like what happened every time I spread Cracked Corn or CGM....

Thanks

Since it has so much carbon, if I can get my soil to process it on a timely basis and continue with the other grains & MO, I figure I'll be able to get even more down this year. In November my lawn processed the output from my chipper in about a week to 10 days, so I have to believe it can handle these as the weather warms up.

jglongisland wrote: I'm hoping they break down in a reasonable time period as I'd like to move this into my weekly rotation.

So you fertilize your lawn every week? Is that normal for an organic program or are you trying to overcome some sort of problem?

Would horse bed pellets help hold down soil temps and retain moisture in the summer heat?

Bryan wrote:

jglongisland wrote: I'm hoping they break down in a reasonable time period as I'd like to move this into my weekly rotation.

So you fertilize your lawn every week? Is that normal for an organic program or are you trying to overcome some sort of problem?

Would horse bed pellets help hold down soil temps and retain moisture in the summer heat?

I put something down every week as part of my goal of converting a bed of compressed sand (thanks to construction equipment when my home was built) into viable soil. It is working, I started in 2008 at 2% OM and am close to 4% 3-4 inches down (and about 6-8% in the top 1.5 inches). Excluding leaves (which I get a lot of) I put down 1330 lbs/thousand sq. ft. in 2010. This year I'll probably hit about 1500 or so. I think I'll reach my goal at the end of 2012 (5.5 to 6% OM 3-4 inches down).

The pellets themselves are probably not going to do anything for soil temps and or moisture at the outset, they are just part of the long term plant to increase the OM. The OM will enable to soil to retain moisture (I read a study somewhere, which I can't seem to find that indicated each 1% increase in OM would increase the moisture retention by 10x). I thick/full stand of KBG mowed high will keep the soil temp down.

jglongisland wrote:I put something down every week as part of my goal of converting a bed of compressed sand (thanks to construction equipment when my home was built) into viable soil. It is working, I started in 2008 at 2% OM and am close to 4% 3-4 inches down (and about 6-8% in the top 1.5 inches). Excluding leaves (which I get a lot of) I put down 1330 lbs/thousand sq. ft. in 2010. This year I'll probably hit about 1500 or so. I think I'll reach my goal at the end of 2012 (5.5 to 6% OM 3-4 inches down).

We can't call it pulling a Morph any longer, it's now pulling a JG. You surpassed my highest-ever point last year, and are going to completely kill it this year.

For anybody cursed with very sandy soil, this is a great thing to do...but kind of requires a lot of energy.

The pellets themselves are probably not going to do anything for soil temps and or moisture at the outset, they are just part of the long term plant to increase the OM.

You might be surprised. Any mulching helps retain some water, so it'll do something--no more than an equivalent weight of anything else, but something.

Similarly, mulching holds down soil temps a bit (as above, not much for the amount).

The OM will enable to soil to retain moisture (I read a study somewhere, which I can't seem to find that indicated each 1% increase in OM would increase the moisture retention by 10x). I thick/full stand of KBG mowed high will keep the soil temp down.

I've seen about the same study, but it does depend on your soil structure. For sand, I can believe that easily, and wouldn't blink if you used a higher number. For silt, not so much. For clay, not really.

It's not the whole story. OM may hold less water than a clay does and about the same as silt (off the cuff, I'd have to find the article again), but it also relates to how easily the plant roots can pull it away from the mass (or, when the plants hit their permanent wilting point). Clay holds a lot of water, but the bottom end of that isn't very accessible to plants. It's strongly bound.

OM holds less, but gives it up more easily when the plants pull it.

MorpheusPA wrote:

jglongisland wrote:
For anybody cursed with very sandy soil, this is a great thing to do...but kind of requires a lot of energy.

The pellets themselves are probably not going to do anything for soil temps and or moisture at the outset, they are just part of the long term plant to increase the OM.

As far as energy, that's the worst part on my property. Hauling 50 lb bags up those rear steps and pushing a full Earthway spreader up that hill.

So the saw dust pellets were somewhat of a bust, they just wouldn't flow through my earthway. the pellets were about 1/4 inch too long. I ended up throwing them around by hand.

I might try the shavings next time, they come in bales like peat.

jglongisland wrote:So the saw dust pellets were somewhat of a bust, they just wouldn't flow through my earthway. the pellets were about 1/4 inch too long. I ended up throwing them around by hand.

I might try the shavings next time, they come in bales like peat.

You can try spreading them the way I spread compost last year -- fill a wheelbarrow and blow it around with a leaf blower. It's not at all precise coverage or very fast, but it does work.

So the saw dust pellets were somewhat of a bust, they just wouldn't flow through my earthway. the pellets were about 1/4 inch too long. I ended up throwing them around by hand.

Huh. They flow through my Edgeguard with no problem.

Could be the brand. Some of theses were an inch long.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

andy10917 wrote:

So the saw dust pellets were somewhat of a bust, they just wouldn't flow through my earthway. the pellets were about 1/4 inch too long. I ended up throwing them around by hand.

Huh. They flow through my Edgeguard with no problem.

I had a similar issue with my 2150 the other day. I was putting down 2# per k of potassium sulfate. It was the 50# bag of granules that kelp4less sells on eBay. The granules are a little too big to flow easily with the opening set at the 2# per k rate. I had to do a lot of lever jiggling to keep un-jamming it. I'm thinking of putting the rest of the bag through a food processor to make it flow easier. Not sure if my wife would appreciate the logic in that though.

I guess I could open it wider and walk twice as fast.

Urea flows easily at 2# per k
though.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

Don't mean to hijack, but Ohio, I am looking at the same thing. Got the same thing from Kelp. When I opened the box, I noticed how big the granules are, and at a rate of 2# per k, and maybe 1# per K during the warmer summer months, I'm not sure how that will work in my edgeguard. Just have to play with it and see.

Would it not be better to use something like organic compost? There is a company in our area that recycles leaves and turns it into compost. I am sure each city has such a program. It is realatively cheap ( 3-5 yd3/ ~$100) I would presume that it would break down faster and one would be able to get more OM into the soil fatser vs. using the slowly degrading wood pellets