Compost dog poop in a deep hole?

18 years ago

I buy expensive dog food than throw the excrement in the Garbage, the city composts it in a landfill , no benefit for centuries!

I hope to work out a way to compost dog poop. Thinking of drilling a 10 diameter inch hole 40 inches deep and putting the stuff in along with some vegetable garbage and some worms. The manure should keep the temperature up and the food should allow worms to thrive. The ground could freeze down to 42 inches here.

I always had good luck by digging a deep hole and filling it with vegatation under the spot a tree was planted.

Also I am interested in a few chickens that I can feed the best food besides grain: flaxseed and cod liver oil. Which site would be appropriate for that venture.

Lorenzo

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Comments (5)

ShenValleyJoe
18 years ago
This thread on the subject contnued for almost one and a half years.

Here is a link that might be useful: Anybody compost dog poop?
petbakery
18 years ago
Here's how I compost all of the poop (I also use premium dog food) from my eleven dogs:

About 5 feet away from my ornamental trees (to avoid hitting too many large tree roots), I dig a hole approximately 12 inches deep and 12 inches wide. That is big enough to hold all of the poop for approximately a week. I don't add anything else (have a separate compost pile for everything else). Once the hole is full, I cover it back over with the original soil so it resembles a large mound and dig a new hole about 2 feet away.

As the poop breaks down, the mound will sink on its own without any additional work from you. The tree also appreciates the nutrients. Best of all, the worms and other composting helpers will follow the trail of poop from hole to hole around the tree. By the time you get all the way around (provided it's a good sized tree), the original hole site will be fully composted and ready for refilling.

Just one word of caution: Make sure to do this around ornamental trees and bushes only. There are many who believe that composting dog poop around fruit trees can cause contamination of the fruit, even if your dogs are perfectly healthy. It's just not worth the risk either way.

Happy composting! :)
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Having spent a decent number of years in places where bilharzia (worms that enter the skin, grow, and then finally leave, picked up by wading in or drinking contaminated water), Onchocerciasis (aka 'River Blindness', from fly bites), Falciparum malaria from mosquito bites), those little worms that dig under your toenails (forget the name) , 'bot' flies, the ones where the eggs stay on wet laundry, so you have to iron everything or else you have a worm larvae burrowing and growing along the bikini line, then Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness, from the tsetse fly; they sure love it when you go in the shade). I honestly wouldn't worry about domestic poop from your domestic dog, I mean unless you just let him devour stray, stumbling and obviously sick rodents and 3 week old road kill for his main source of nutrition. Where I live now, I have about a half cubic yard (bit of poetic license) of raccoon poop, in the summer, all over the place. Its disgusting. Like owning 34 German Shepherds on laxitives. This stuff I am pretty wary of, and depending on location, I either take a shovel and toss it over the fence into the pasture beyond, or bury it in-situ. I have become allergic to furry pets, so I can't keep dogs anymore. That limitation does not stop me from offering advice (obviously).
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A person needs to compost what they feel comfortable with. If you are not comfortable with poo in your pile, don't use it. If you are looking for a way to dispose of pet waste and you feel comfortable composting pet waste, then go ahead and compost it. And understand that poo could be a potential vector for a disease or parasites. If you are comfortable with your piles ability to heat up to kill pathogens and you are diligent about proper hygene (washing your food and hands) then go ahead and compost poo. I do find this comment on a compost forum a bit confusing. "The post about the leggionaires disease also tells me that it is important to keep as much bacteria out of the soil as possible." I think the post about leggionaires disease was to remind people to use proper hygene and precautions when handling the compost. Trying to keep bacteria out of soil is contrary to what composting is all about. As we are adding organic matter to increase microbial activity in the soil.
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This is somewhat like how i used to get rid of the poo from a 160 pound half ST. Barnard half Newfoundland dog i used to have. Sherman was a very big eater, and pooper too. The difference in the methods was i made the hole a little deeper (2 feet), and planted a 2 1/2 foot long plastic pipe on top of the rocks. Any pipe 8 inches or larger will work. The bottom foot of the pipe underground had large holes drilled in it. Then i poured more rocks around the outside of the pipe until 6" below ground level. The top 6 inches was filled in with soil. The advantage of the pipe is you can slip a end cap on the pipe and not worry about smells or stepping into the hole. I bought a 10' stick of pipe, that made 4 of the potty holes. Then located them around the place so I didn't have to hull the poo too far. I didn't have to worry about the holes filling up too quickly. With 4 holes it always seemed that the holes had a lot in them but they never got full. So i never had to clean them out. Something i probably would have had to do with only one hole. BTW: one of the potty holes was planted near a berry bush. It got 3 times as large as the other bushes planted at the same time. Had better berries too.
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I am going to add my 2 cents here re: dog waste - I live in SoCal (near the beach) and there is a huge problem with contaminating our ground water (and then the beaches - ocean) when dog waste is not disposed of properly. It adds e.coli, other bacteria, viruses, and parasites - and in some cases so much that the beaches have to be closed. I think composting it (with worms) is a fabulous idea and one that helps this situation. Those areas where the waste is just buried - or even left on the ground - and not combined with other things (worms etc) to compost the wastes are actually adding concentrated matter to the area and thus not really solving the problem. Pet waste (uncomposted) - contaminates our ground water - and eventually rivers, lakes, and the ocean. It also decreases the oxygen supply in the water - and kills fish. There is also an issue of accelerated algae and weed growth. So I commend you all for composting dog/pet waste instead of adding to the problem.
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novemberguest
18 years ago
PetBakery, your system sounds temptingly simple. Do you think it would work with cat wastes too? An indoor cat generates not only poop, but clumps of pee too (in the scoopable litter). Would the urine hurt the trees, do you think, or repel the worms?
Also, do you cover the hole with anything temporarily before refilling it with earth?
Priswell
18 years ago
An indoor cat generates not only poop, but clumps of pee too

Use wood stove pellets for cat litter, and everything is biodegradable.
petbakery
18 years ago
For a cat, I would take a look at the information on the litter bag first and make sure it would benefit your yard instead of hurting it. For example: If you have clay-packed soil like I do, I certainly wouldn't recommend burying a clay-based litter into it. Other than that, you should be fine.

I don't cover the hole with anything as it's filling. The dogs leave it alone (although I've heard of some dogs getting a taste for feces. ick). Even in the middle of summer, I didn't have many bug problems. The only modification I make in the summer is to dig the hole a bit shallower so it fills up quicker. With this many dogs though, filling it up quickly isn't exactly a problem. ;)

I've also been known to dump rotten apples and such found around the yard in with the poo. The native worms seem to like the system.

My latest idea: I'm going to concentrate all the "contributions" over the winter in a specific area that's never grown grass well and try sowing pumpkin seeds there in the spring (ornamental only, not for eating). I figure the pumpkins will enjoy all the rich nutrients and I'll be ready for next Halloween.

Compost dog poop in a deep hole?

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ShenValleyJoe

petbakery

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