Doesn't seem off-topic to me. What's wrong with a bulb gardener gettin' down 'n' dirty? After a long day in the bulb nursery, I'm usually pooped. Mr. Kelly M. Irvin 10850 Hodge Ln Gravette, AR 72736 USA 479-787-9958 USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 6a/b http://www.irvincentral.com/ Uli Urban wrote: > Dear Dennis and Dear All, > > > Very interesting what you write about horse manure and orchids. I feel > slightly off topic.... but still. I have never dared to use pure horse > manure on any plant and for sure never fresh. The mentioned wood/grass > cutting and horse manure compost is composted for at least one year > before I use it. (German winter slows down rotting) When starting with > fresh material the whole heap becomes steaming hot. The ripe compost is > always full of fungi mycelia but they seem to be of the beneficial > sort.... I always try to have a stock of this wonderful material but by > keeping it it decomposes further and becomes almost peat like but never > as wet or dense as peat. I had a sad failure using this compost with a > large Oncidium (not rare, it was one of the commercial yellow hybrids > but several years old)so I became careful. I "developed" this mix for > epiphytic cacti like Epiphyllums and Selenicereus and Schlumbergera and > they bave never performed better since. My two seedlings of Pamianthe > peruviana are also grown in this mix and I add a good portion of it to > my Amorphophallus and Lilium pots. Also Gesneriads like it...... I use > rain water exclusively for watering. So far I have never ever had the > problem of soil born disease or fungal infection using compost of high > organic content. > Having read your lines I will become more daring in using horse manure > components in other plants and orchids, too. > > Hope you do not mind the slightly off-topic way of this > contribution................. Uli > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > >