I've apparently become known as the "Rabbit Lady" on the Square Foot Gardening forum. I guess it's all those times I've told people that they can put rabbit manure straight into their gardens like I do, without composting it, and it can count as one of their composts and is a powerful source of nutrients.

Anyway...

One of the posters on there posted a picture of "100% pure dried and sifted rabbit manure". You can click to enlarge it. I don't know, I've seen dried bunny berries, and they just look like smaller versions of the non-dried stuff. I don't know what sifting does to manure, or what its purpose really is, but I wouldn't think it would break up the manure.

What do you think of this stuff? http://squarefoot.creatingforum.com/t78 ... looks-like

Looks like the stuff that gets stepped on and ground into powder at my place.

I have a garden that is peat free and pure rabbit manure, and another one that is a mix of manure and peat moss, and after a year they look identical however the peat free one looked more like that picture sooner then the one with peat. So I probably would say depending on how fresh it is that it is peat free

Thank y'all so much!!!

yea it looks like 100% to me

Darn your silly Rabbit loving hide-- I went, looked, and joined!!!

I just got a lead on some peat and was planning on mixing it with the rabbit poo (since we have very close neighbors and I have to smother the ammonia smell immediately.)

Why would you want to be peat free for your garden?

Social consciousness--Peat is a non-renewable resource. It takes longer to make it in nature than we are using it up. It is great for your garden, but the question is what died so you petunias can grow big...Still, if I were being offered it for free, I doubt I would turn it down!

Ah, gotcha. Ok, I will probably still use this batch. Not free, but VERY cheap and I have to have something to throw over the rabbit poo. The fuel used to harvest and/or ship the hay I would otherwise use is non-renewable, too! Not to mention the fertilizers, etc. ::sigh:: Can't win for losing.

Looks 100% to me. I hand ground up rabbit poop and planted some seeds in it, without soaking first. In 4 days I had sprouts just over 1" tall.

For me, and others using the Square Foot Gardening method, peat moss is actually 1/3 of the mix in the garden. The problem is that a lot of composts and manures contain added peat without stating the fact. This throws the balance of the mix, causing you to have too few nutrients and too much peat, which can cause a crust on the top of your mix.

The mix is 1/3 peat, 1/3 coarse vermiculite, and 1/3 compost blended from at least 5 different sources. Rabbit manure, of course, can be added as one of the composts without being composted first.

I know that peat is being used faster than it is being formed... it is a bit of a quandary. It is used in the garden to keep the mix friable and to help with water retention, while allowing excess water to drain. The use of the peat moss and vermiculite allows the use of much less water, which is another concern for conservation's sake. It also enables the production of large amounts of food in a small space, contributing to self-sufficiency and decreased dependence on oil and factory farming.

Also, it is a one-time investment for each garden built. Once it's in there, you never need to buy it again. Same with the vermiculite. The only thing you add periodically is more compost, which is very renewable!

Coir, or coconut fiber, is being investigated as a potential substitute for peat moss. It would need to be cut up pretty small, though, if I'm not mistaken, rather than left in long strands. I understand it is supposed to have pretty much the same properties as peat moss if you mix it into the garden, yet is quite renewable.

I haven't seen it available in an affordable form, though. Just little boutique bags of long-fiber coir, or expensive mats of the stuff. No way I can build a garden with it.

I found some coir blocks-- the fibers are short-- look up worm bedding-- I actually found a supplier while looking up vermiculture supplies-- a block expands to like 9 cubic feet! If I find the link, I'll post it...

Oooooooooooooooooo... thank you! Will go look it up...

I was thinking of getting into vermiculture too.

yep I saw that over there too I run my rabbit manure through a shredder then it looks kinda like the photo,but I mix my own MM for the sqf garden too.