Composting Dog Poo

[fidgiegirl]

Anyone have personal experience with composting dog poo? Advice?

http://cityfarmer.org/petwaste.html

[peggy]

I've always heard you shouldn't use it on vegetables or fruits you will eat. I suppose it wouldn't harm ornamental, if composted. Maybe someone else will have better info.

[fidgiegirl]

I heard that, too. I am a little worried about odor, but then, I was worried about that with regular composting before doing it and knowing how.

[puglogic]

Carnivore feces are a whole different story, fidgie, and can bring along some pretty nasty pathogens if not composted at very high temperatures for a very long time. YMMV, but I don't even use ours on ornamentals, at least not on ornamentals where I might be digging with my hands ever. We have a pit in the backyard, downhill from the veggie garden, where we "digest" it, layering it with dry leaves or straw. But we never use it for anything. Some will disagree, but I have plenty of other sources of compost and don't need to run this risk.

[fidgiegirl]

Pug, is it a pretty efficient way of at least not having to stick it in the garbage? Does it take a long time to fill up/break down? We are on a small lot, so if I can never use it anywhere else or move it around, maybe we're better off skipping it. I also read you can feed it to worms, but any worm bin we would have would have to come inside for half the year . . . hmmmmm.

Any flushers among us? Trying to find an alternative to pickling it in plastic bags in the landfill . . .

[iris lily]

We've composted for more than 2 decades but we do not compost pet waste. The poo from any meat eating animal will not be composted here.

[Zemma]

Before we moved to the farm (where the dog poo is not a problem), I was about to set up a worm farm dedicated to dog poo only. Here is an article about how one woman did it - http://brisbanelocalfood.ning.com/profiles/blogs/what-to-do-with-dog-poo

You just have to watch out not to put in the poo after the dog has been wormed.

[Float On]

Something I've never had to think about having always lived on enough land to just allow dog and cat poo to compost naturally in the woods....I don't even really know where the two of them do their business. Chickens on the other hand...you have to watch where you step in the back yard.

[Wildflower]

We've been composting for years, but dog and cat waste in the compost we won't do....

[Gregg]

In parts of China the farmers build outhouses beside their fields then decorate them in ways that will attract passers-by who will grace them with a gift of fertilizer. I do not know if they use the gift directly or allow it to age.

Feces can be used on a garden if it is well composted. Put it in a pile with grass clippings or other higher nitrogen waste that will generate some heat when breaking down and it should be fine. If you're going to toss it in with fall leaves and other longer cycle, lower nitrogen items you will probably need a few years to complete the composting. The suggestion of many above that it can be used on ornamental beds (but still composted first) is very sensible, that way there really isn't a contamination risk either way.

[RosieTR]

I believe even human feces can be sufficiently composted to use on annual edibles but the devil is in the details. It needs to reach 180F or higher in all areas of the compost to kill pathogenic bacteria which is difficult to achieve for a home-based gardener. The safer and far easier alternative is to compost pet waste separately and use on ornamentals, grass and fruit trees. Fruit trees have a natural barrier that prevents pathogenic bacteria from entering the fruit from the branch; however you would need to either wash very well any fruit picked up from the ground or else discard any fruit from the ground. This all depends on your risk tolerance and idea of cleanliness, etc. Personally, knowing what I know about bacteria I would be comfortable with a well-composted poo compost being applied around fruit trees, followed by mulch and then washing the fruit picked up from the ground with soap and warm water. Especially if I were going to use the ground fruit for a cooked application like jam or pie, which would kill any pathogenic bacteria that managed to make it. I figure, I wash my hands with soap and hot water after I use the bathroom or deal with any pet waste and that's sufficient to prepare fresh food for myself. Other potential practices include sterilizing the poo compost in some sort of oven (solar, regular oven with maybe a dedicated pan/pot, or whatever you feel comfortable with). One thing to pay attention to is whether you do stacking, in which case you might have annuals growing near fruit trees and decide not to take this chance. The most susceptible annuals are ones eaten raw with no potential barrier from root to edible part, like spinach, green onion, etc. I would tend to think something like tomato would be less prone to problems since it's actually a fruit (though not a woody fruit shrub or tree) and of course something like potatoes or dried beans that are almost never eaten raw. I have not seen studies of whether people have actually gotten sick from dog compost applied to vegetables. Given that many people purposely or inadvertently allow their dogs to lick them in the face, kiss their dog on the mouth, etc which could pass any dog pathogen to the person directly, I wonder whether that could even be parsed out. OTOH, there are different flora in a dog's mouth than its lower intestine and the latter could cause illness in people. Anyway, hope that helps! I have thought of this too but haven't taken the step yet. I plan on doing a bunch of fruit tree planting so this might work really well.

[The Storyteller]

I believe even human feces can be sufficiently composted to use on annual edibles

Farmers have been doing it for thousands of years.

http://books.google.com/books?id=KFqAXwAACAAJ&dq=farmers+40+centuries&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KjNmT7a5I4yMsAK2-aS3Dw&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAQ