Buying large quanities of horse manure

Fire

I'm looking to buy a dumpy bag (or more) of loose, fine horse manure for our garden group to divide. It's approx one tonne (£50 plus £18 delivery).  Aggregates etc might also be added to the order. There maybe about 20+ of us sharing the order, for small gardens. I have used Thompsons before for my own garden, and they are a good company, based fairly close, in Enfield. Fine manure seems best for a wide range of uses and for new gardeners who might be wigged out and confused by large clumps of poo. No doubt organic manure would be better as likely not to have wormers in.

-Does £50 a tonne seem like a decent price (for refined, seasoned manure, not straight out of a horse)?  We don't live near stables etc.  A big portion of that cost will be to cover their loading, labour and driving

- Is it best to buy manure that has been sterilised / steamed so that we don't import loads of weed seeds?  Are weed seeds / slug eggs etc a big concern?

- Are there other considerations?

- Are there good companies that deliver to north London, that you recommend?

Neighbours will bring their own bags and barrows to collect.

[We are trying to stay pretty local in sourcing companies.]

We are trying to minimise plastic use by having it delivered loose and re-using old bags.

I wouldn't feel so pernickety for myself, but organising a big delivery for lots of garden, I am concerned to not overlook potential screw ups  - and inadvertedly fill gardens with bindweed or Spanish slugs.

Your insights and very welcome. 

https://www.thompsonsofcrewshill.com/manures_and_mulches.html

@Allotment Boy

gjautos

gjautos

I got mine from a company called springbridge, in Uxbridge. I was very happy with the product, they deliver free. Though I have just spotted they have put their prices up. As I've commented previously, there does appear to be different size dumpy bags so check the measurements! 

Fire

Yes, I was looking at their site. I have a long list of questions to ask traders.   Thanks

Thompsons don't sell dumpy bags of peat-free compost, which is a shame. Compost mixes are so very hit and miss nationally, it's impossible to know what you are getting if not branded. Even with branding, it's still often pot luck.

🧐

gjautos

Took me ages to decide where to buy from! I read hundreds of reviews and asked dozens of people. Everyone had a different piece of advice😆. I would use springbridge again, as long as the prices don't keep going up. 

Fire

gjautos said:

Took me ages to decide where to buy from! I read hundreds of reviews and asked dozens of people. Everyone had a different piece of advice😆. I would use springbridge again, as long as the prices don't keep going up. 

Did you look at Thompsons at the time? They are closer to you...

gjautos

I did. They were significantly cheaper, but quoted £95 delivery to me. (Aylesbury) a friend of mine had used Thompsons but he lives closer so delivery was cheaper. He was happy with what he received.

Redwing

One ton is not going to go very far, especially if shared between 20 neighbours.  You'll probably get about half a wheelbarrow each ..........if that.  

Loxley

If you want really large quantities, it might be worth trying here.

Posy

It sounds like a reasonable price to me. I'm not sure about the organic/wormer issue. Almost all horses are wormed regularly, especially in a big yard, and these are often where manure is sourced. I get weed seeds in the muck I buy but they don't make much difference - there seem to be billions of my own, anyway.

gjautos

Loxley said:

If you want really large quantities, it might be worth trying here.

🤣🤣🤣

Fire

It's not happening for a while. When we have a final list of numbers, we'll work out quantity needed.