unconventional fertilizer

Slowtreme – posted 18 June 2001 19:53

Can dog poop be mixed in to top soil and used as a fertilizer before seeding a new lawn? I have a dog, he makes a ton I gotta turn the ground anyway. So what do you think?

Or is cow manure used because they eat grass?

[Note: This message has been edited by seed]

seed – posted 25 June 2001 12:01

Slowtreme, from a health standpoint, if you would feel uncomfortable spreading human poop in your backyard, you should treat dog poop with a similar level of concern. Both can contain gobs of bacteria that can be harmful.

Any fecal matter should be properly composted, e.g., heat treated, prior to horticultural use. Besides the human health concern, uncomposted manure may not have the nutritional and physical properties to be a growing medium for plants. It’s still breaking down. There may be high amounts of salt, too much nitrogen, too poor aeration, etc. Same thing for cow manure. Once it has been properly composted under the right temperature and moisture, and with other sources of organic matter such as yard trimmings, etc., it can be used in compost for soil amendment.

Do you need soil amendment for growing turfgrass? Yes, possibly, if it’s a heavy loam type soil, organic amendments will help soil structure. If it’s sand, probably not, in my opinion, because fine soil amendment particles can plug up the pores.

Another reason to start the properly managed compost area is that you dog won’t stop pooping, so you will need to deal with the disposal problem periodically.

Phil

[This message has been edited by seed (edited 25 June 2001).]

[This message has been edited by seed (edited 25 June 2001).]