Impulse buy! Composted manure.

I had the use of a borrowed truck today and had the misfortune of driving by a horse stable with a "Garden Compost!" sign out front. Ahem. So I bought 2 buckets of it, near overloading a small pickup bed. I have already spread it over a new garden area. The manure did NOT smell like manure. It did not yet smell like earth.

My questions: If I was misled as to the source of and condition of the manure, how long until my plants show signs of trouble? Somebody recently posted the color of composted manure, I couldn't find that post! Grrr!

I have aged horse manure and it has no smell at all.

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:
My questions: If I was misled as to the source of and condition of the manure, how long until my plants show signs of trouble?

I think signs of healthy growth or signs of problems will make themselves apparent within 7 days. Many years ago I bought a few pickup truck loads of garden soil mix from a nursery that contained composted horse manure, and it smelled a little "horsey". My plants did fine and I had no troubles.

I picked up a truckload of composted manure from a trusted horse farm just last week. It doesn't have much of a smell at all.  Your garden is probably saying Thank you!