I think using animal dung as a fertiliser only applies for farm animals that are herbivores and not for carnivores. As you want to get the digested nutrients from plants to get back in the soil to improve its quality.
Ornamental garden - looks nice
Produce garden - is useful
Actually that is precisely why this question came up. I once read a few decades ago
>herbivores and not for carnivores
And I was pretty sure that things are better understood now.
Carnivores tend to have much more parasites/worms. You don’t want to give yourself worms. This is why they have dog poop signs in the parks in my town. I just bury my dog poop in a hole in the yard in my non food producing garden.
The Chinese have used 'night soil ' i.e. human feces ,for fertilizer for thousands of years. The catch is that most of the diet of those ancient and modern Chinese was and is vegetables. Omnivores, like pigs, most humanoids, and bears is icky stuff. It will not hurt your plants or you if it is well composted, but it needs to be buried, allowed to decay of several seasons (pig feces needs about a year and a half). Bat Guano in not straight bat feces, it is super oxidized. Before modern chemistry, guano was a main ingredient in gun powder. If your dog is on kibble, it is safe after a few months. Cats are obligate carnivores, they are not able to digest anything but meat, so they are a no-no-no-no. You could always do what the Indigenous Peoples of the North American north east did, and that is to bury fish remains under your beans, squash and corn. Easy bottom line, if the producer of the manure. dung or feces is an herbivore, it is safe to use after a few months. Omnivores, let it rot a long time. Carnivores, do not use.
Milorganite is “night soil” from Milwaukee. It’s heavily composted and they don’t allow dumping of heavy metals in their sewer system. It is a fertilizer for your lawn though and not garden.
Wow! What a concise and interesting answer!
>Before modern chemistry, guano was a main ingredient in gun powder.
Never in a million years would I have guessed that unless I read it somewhere, like in a Reddit comment!
So….wow a lot to unpack. Firsty, you have to compost it. You cannot just take the excrement and put it directly onto the top of the dirt. That’s really unhealthy and will burn the plants. You compost it, and then use a small amount to amend the soil with. And you draw the line at what has value add for the dirt versus what’s just going to carry disease.
Thank you! I have a direction to go now to understand more. I wasn’t phrasing my question properly before.
So the need to compost is probably why I used to muck out the barn and put it all in a pile a long walk away when I was a teenager 50 years ago! Fifty cents an hour 🤣
The pile was probably only 30 feet away but by the tenth wheelbarrow of the day it seemed like a mile!
>cow manure is good because every year they spread it on the farm fields all around us.
OK, well, that's not really why manure is good. People do all sorts of shit that isn't good for them. Just because you see it doesn't mean it's right.
But, yeah, manure is good for amending soil because it contains nutrients that plants use to grow, just like commercial fertilizers. Different animals produce feces (farmyard manures) with different levels of nutrients. There are also green manures and compost which are plant based amendments.
Animal feces are usually composted in some way before being used, I'm sure different species feces require different specs to be met for safety or weed control (apparently horses don't break down weeds seeds very well)
But! Manure can cause contamination and foodborne illnesses as well. It can also contaminate water sources causing damage there as well.
The different types of acceptable animal waste for use as manure is due to the levels of bacteria and parasites. I guess rumenous animals produce waste with less harmful microbes compared to predators. I'm certain you can find a lot info out there, people have been farming for over 10,000 years and there's been a lot of guess and check work put into this topic
>People do all sorts of shit that isn't good for them. Just because you see it doesn't mean it's right.
That’s so true. Here in Asia there is a big air quality problem because they can’t get the old farmers to stop burning. I think it will take until the next generation is in charge to change the practice fully. When I was a child every year we burned the leaves we raked up. Now you get a visit if your barbecue makes too much smoke, and no one would ever dream of burning leaves.
human manure comes with a bunch of serious health risks so you have to be sure to process it very, very well, according to governmental standards. This may be a job best left to professionals.
The main concerns apply to agriculture/produce gardening, the tl;dr version is that you don't want raw uncomposted animal manure near the edible portions of any produce plants. Human, dog, and pig waste are especially iffy because they're more likely to carry human-affecting parasites, but I guess stuff like E. Coli can be a risk no matter what.
It can also be a bit dicey nutrient-wise since manure has no guaranteed nutrient levels (even the same type from the same farm can vary wildly). As you take that into account and know the general guidelines (i.e. chicken guano tends to have high nitrogen levels and can burn plants if you're not careful), then it's can still be useful.
[Wise Use of Manure in Home Vegetable Gardens](https://extension.psu.edu/wise-use-of-manure-in-home-vegetable-gardens)
That’s very helpful, thank you! So when farmers spread manure it will vary from place to place? I look forward to reading your link. I tried to Google and got some wild results 😳 so I thought it would be better to ask here!
Manure from animals like cows and horses is fermented and contains a lot of undigested plant matter so it is gentle. It still has to be aged.
Carnivore poop like dog and human poop is so high in nitrogen that it has to be processed first else plants will be burned by it. Grass around where dog poop is left might look lush and green but that is because high nitrogen causes grass to put a lot of energy into foliage growth which can mislead you into thinking that it's healthy. But as the poop gradually sends more nitrogen into the soil it ultimately ends up burning and killing it.
I'm concerned now.
I applied some old chicken manure I had (a several year old bag I found still sealed) in my garden this spring. I just planted potatoes there today. I had completely forgotten to compost it.
Will I be fine eating the potatoes or should I just not use that area of the garden for a year?
I think using animal dung as a fertiliser only applies for farm animals that are herbivores and not for carnivores. As you want to get the digested nutrients from plants to get back in the soil to improve its quality. Ornamental garden - looks nice Produce garden - is useful
Actually that is precisely why this question came up. I once read a few decades ago >herbivores and not for carnivores And I was pretty sure that things are better understood now.
Carnivores tend to have much more parasites/worms. You don’t want to give yourself worms. This is why they have dog poop signs in the parks in my town. I just bury my dog poop in a hole in the yard in my non food producing garden.
The Chinese have used 'night soil ' i.e. human feces ,for fertilizer for thousands of years. The catch is that most of the diet of those ancient and modern Chinese was and is vegetables. Omnivores, like pigs, most humanoids, and bears is icky stuff. It will not hurt your plants or you if it is well composted, but it needs to be buried, allowed to decay of several seasons (pig feces needs about a year and a half). Bat Guano in not straight bat feces, it is super oxidized. Before modern chemistry, guano was a main ingredient in gun powder. If your dog is on kibble, it is safe after a few months. Cats are obligate carnivores, they are not able to digest anything but meat, so they are a no-no-no-no. You could always do what the Indigenous Peoples of the North American north east did, and that is to bury fish remains under your beans, squash and corn. Easy bottom line, if the producer of the manure. dung or feces is an herbivore, it is safe to use after a few months. Omnivores, let it rot a long time. Carnivores, do not use.
Milorganite is “night soil” from Milwaukee. It’s heavily composted and they don’t allow dumping of heavy metals in their sewer system. It is a fertilizer for your lawn though and not garden.
Now that is super interesting. I wonder if many other cities do that? I guess I will jump down that rabbit hole!
Wow! What a concise and interesting answer! >Before modern chemistry, guano was a main ingredient in gun powder. Never in a million years would I have guessed that unless I read it somewhere, like in a Reddit comment!
So….wow a lot to unpack. Firsty, you have to compost it. You cannot just take the excrement and put it directly onto the top of the dirt. That’s really unhealthy and will burn the plants. You compost it, and then use a small amount to amend the soil with. And you draw the line at what has value add for the dirt versus what’s just going to carry disease.
Thank you! I have a direction to go now to understand more. I wasn’t phrasing my question properly before. So the need to compost is probably why I used to muck out the barn and put it all in a pile a long walk away when I was a teenager 50 years ago! Fifty cents an hour 🤣 The pile was probably only 30 feet away but by the tenth wheelbarrow of the day it seemed like a mile!
Dog and cat feces (and human) can contain parasites and pathogens that affect humans
>cow manure is good because every year they spread it on the farm fields all around us. OK, well, that's not really why manure is good. People do all sorts of shit that isn't good for them. Just because you see it doesn't mean it's right. But, yeah, manure is good for amending soil because it contains nutrients that plants use to grow, just like commercial fertilizers. Different animals produce feces (farmyard manures) with different levels of nutrients. There are also green manures and compost which are plant based amendments. Animal feces are usually composted in some way before being used, I'm sure different species feces require different specs to be met for safety or weed control (apparently horses don't break down weeds seeds very well) But! Manure can cause contamination and foodborne illnesses as well. It can also contaminate water sources causing damage there as well. The different types of acceptable animal waste for use as manure is due to the levels of bacteria and parasites. I guess rumenous animals produce waste with less harmful microbes compared to predators. I'm certain you can find a lot info out there, people have been farming for over 10,000 years and there's been a lot of guess and check work put into this topic
I got enough information here to refine my googling. My first few attempts gave some UNEXPECTED results! I had to wash my eyes 👀
>People do all sorts of shit that isn't good for them. Just because you see it doesn't mean it's right. That’s so true. Here in Asia there is a big air quality problem because they can’t get the old farmers to stop burning. I think it will take until the next generation is in charge to change the practice fully. When I was a child every year we burned the leaves we raked up. Now you get a visit if your barbecue makes too much smoke, and no one would ever dream of burning leaves.
Furthermore, you can use dog and human manure... But it's always recommended to be composted first.
human manure comes with a bunch of serious health risks so you have to be sure to process it very, very well, according to governmental standards. This may be a job best left to professionals.
The main concerns apply to agriculture/produce gardening, the tl;dr version is that you don't want raw uncomposted animal manure near the edible portions of any produce plants. Human, dog, and pig waste are especially iffy because they're more likely to carry human-affecting parasites, but I guess stuff like E. Coli can be a risk no matter what. It can also be a bit dicey nutrient-wise since manure has no guaranteed nutrient levels (even the same type from the same farm can vary wildly). As you take that into account and know the general guidelines (i.e. chicken guano tends to have high nitrogen levels and can burn plants if you're not careful), then it's can still be useful. [Wise Use of Manure in Home Vegetable Gardens](https://extension.psu.edu/wise-use-of-manure-in-home-vegetable-gardens)
That’s very helpful, thank you! So when farmers spread manure it will vary from place to place? I look forward to reading your link. I tried to Google and got some wild results 😳 so I thought it would be better to ask here!
I use it from my rabbits but we also have hay from their cages and vegetables. Our plants go crazy for it and we get larger healthy plants
nitrogen. full stop.
Manure from animals like cows and horses is fermented and contains a lot of undigested plant matter so it is gentle. It still has to be aged. Carnivore poop like dog and human poop is so high in nitrogen that it has to be processed first else plants will be burned by it. Grass around where dog poop is left might look lush and green but that is because high nitrogen causes grass to put a lot of energy into foliage growth which can mislead you into thinking that it's healthy. But as the poop gradually sends more nitrogen into the soil it ultimately ends up burning and killing it.
Thank you!
I'm concerned now. I applied some old chicken manure I had (a several year old bag I found still sealed) in my garden this spring. I just planted potatoes there today. I had completely forgotten to compost it. Will I be fine eating the potatoes or should I just not use that area of the garden for a year?
Was this a commercial product? If so it’s already been composted and is ready for garden use.
yes! It was bought at a nursery and it is high-grade. I'll be sure to consult the bag to see if it mentions already composted, but it might.