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I feel like you can tell the real gardeners from the suburbanites. Poop on the garden is good. My dogs have 3 acres and they poop in the field. A hard rain washes it down into the soil. The dirt itself is made of many things that have decomposed-leaf mold, worm castings, bark, dead weeds and microscopic poops of all kinds of things. Poop has minerals that build the nutrient value in the soil they cover. Green manure is nitrogen rich. Why do you think farmers spread animal poop on their fields? To build the mineral value of the soil so that plants will grow stronger and healthier. Soil becomes nutrient deficient when it is not enriched with green manure and/or animal waste.
There is a vast difference between horse and cow manure and dog poop.
Saying dog poop is safe in use for raising crops for human consumption only means those saying it have absolutely no idea what they are talking about and none of them spread dog poop on fields they use to grow crops for human consumption. When asked, they all dance around the challenge.
There are very strict laws as to when manure can be used and allowing dogs to poop in fields used to grow food eaten by humans is illegal. Farmers have to wait months after laying down manure before planting food crops.
I have yet to see anyone say they will eat food grown in soil fertilized with dog poop and/or feed it to their friends.
Its real simple, do it and then let everyone here know about it. Lets see who is willing.
Saying dog poop is safe in use for raising crops for human consumption only means those saying it have absolutely no idea what they are talking about and none of them spread dog poop on fields they use to grow crops for human consumption. When asked, they all dance around the challenge.
I didn't see anything about dog poop in any of these links.
Sludge from wastewater treatment plants can't be used because of the chemicals used to treat it, not the feces itself.
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There are very strict laws as to when manure can be used and allowing dogs to poop in fields used to grow food eaten by humans is illegal. Farmers have to wait months after laying down manure before planting food crops.
I assume you're referring to the article in the first link. If so you are misreading it. These aren't laws, they are rules that farmers are required to follow in order to be certified organic, which is a very, very small percentage of all farming operations. You can spread manure any time you want, however it works best if it's spread in the fall so the nutrients have time to work their way into the soil before planting.
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I have yet to see anyone say they will eat food grown in soil fertilized with dog poop and/or feed it to their friends.
When I had a garden the dogs used to crap there all the time. It was also where I would toss the turds they would occasionally leave on or next to the sidewalk. It didn't stop me from eating that produce.
Luckily I have metal fencing, but over the road in the flats they have a communal garden thats treated like a dogs toilet..owners stand with a dog on a lead allowing them to crap all over it.. disgusting.
Any actual scientists on this thread, or should we all just keep spreading rumors, fears, and false information?
Submariner, you are right in some respects, but "manure" from carnivorous animals (including people) attracts different decomposers than manure from animals with a plant-based diet -- which includes cows, horses, chickens, etc.
It is true that animals with meat-based or omnivorous diets -- people, dogs, cats, coyotes, etc. -- release wastes that attract parasites, bacteria, viruses, and things we don't want to consume. E coli, listeria, etc. can be contracted from produce and meat exposed to "night soil" (feces from carnivores).
But....if this were a general and widespread problem in this country, the millions and millions of dog and cat owners who practice lax pet hygiene would have been wiped out by diseases and infections, right? It's just not realistic to be paranoid, and over-zealous cleaning of pet areas can result in contamination by chemicals that you don't want in your air, soil or water.
In my house, I use natural cat litter. I've started to empty the box in the compost. Not spread directly on soil used in the garden, even for ornamental plants. That fecal matter needs a chance to properly decompose. The dog has an outdoor fenced area. I will occasionally turn the soil out there, and it gets a good layer of leaves every year. Also, once or twice a month I spread ashes from my wood stove on 'dog potty' areas. Wood ash adsorbs odors, and is a natural cleanser. (works on skunk odor too!)
Science! It's the best!
One pet peeve of mine is seeing dog owners walking their dog on the beach and leaving the poop on the sand!!! I often carry extra bags with me, and will even run to catch up with an offending owner and hand them a bag. If I don't have bags, I will say "You're going to go back and pick that up, aren't you?"
(hey Submariner, waving at you from the Maine board!)
There are folks who would pay $100 for me to drop 6 yards of fresh manure in their yard.
Right. You can't find anyone willing to pay you anything to drop 6 yards of dog poop in their yard.
Finally we get down to real BS.
Anyone reading this forum ever see an ad for selling dog poop? Anyone ever hear of anyone wanting to buy any?
With the millions of dogs owned in this country, funny how no one wants to buy any to fertilize their gardens or farms.
Anyone bother to understand the manure fertilizing schedule for growing food crops? Are the dogs adhering to that schedule? How did you manage to accomplish that? Generally, you don't fertilize with manure within 120 days of harvest do you? I wonder how you trained fido to deal with that schedule.
But this wasn't about your back forty was it? It also wasn't about your county lot either. It was about the topic in general and that includes high density communities where dogs probably number almost equal to people.
Somewhere the understanding between domestic and wild and herbivore and carnivore was forgotten.
I could point out the obvious, that strange things happen to those who eat dog poop fertilized food crops but what the heck, it is ...obvious at this point.
Last edited by Mack Knife; 06-06-2013 at 04:21 PM..
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