Shicken Chit is # UNO
Pig Shit is almost as good. It makes for some scrumpcious strawberries.
Manure Question
by betterdaze 26 Replies latest jw friends
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bikerchic
Since hubby and I are in midst of our first vegetable garden I've been interested in all things about gardening and saw this show a couple of nights ago on guano which is considered to be the best all around fertilizer for many reasons. I couldn't remember everything the show had to say about it so I looked it up and here is what it has to say about it from this site http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-guano.htm
Any excrement from birds, seals, or bats, with value to humans as fertilizer, may be referred to as guano. The term originated in Peru, to differentiate useless bird droppings from the nutrient-rich waste of cormorants, pelicans, and other sea birds. The word's usage has since been widened to include, especially, the mixture of remains and excrement of bats that collect on the floor of caves.
Hundreds of years ago, farmers in South America harvested the white piles of guano from shorelines and islands to use as crop fertilizer. After contact with Europe, the export of guano became economically beneficial for the Colonizers. Bat guano also has a long agricultural and economic history in Cuba. Even today, guano from bat caves in the United States, Asia, Cuba, and South America is marketed as the best organic fertilizer available.
The reason guano is an ideal fertilizer is its chemical make up. Because the guano exists deep inside caves, it's protected from sunlight and wind, and doesn't break down as quickly as other organic matter. Rich in nitrogen and phosphorous, it provides important chemicals for crops. It also has beneficial fungi and bacteria, which act as a natural fungicide to protect plants from disease.
Export of guano as a fertilizer remains a key resource for organic farming, especially in the United States. A farmer can request a certain color, species of bat, or place of origin, in addition to chemical composition. Bat guano is richer than fowl or seal guano, and more plentiful. It is also much richer than horse or cow manure.
Aside from agriculture, the entire ecology of bats' primary habitat, caves, depends on guano-covered ground. Many invertebrate cave dwellers utilize the guano as home and food. Bats eat insects, which balances their population. This habitat has been somewhat impacted by humans disrupting caves.
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betterdaze
Thanks everyone for responding on this lowliest of subjects.
I have access to both chicken and horse manure and it's looking like chicken wins... unless OUTLAW wants to send me some old Watchtowers to compost instead, LOL!
mrsjones, I first read about bat guano in "Life Above the Jungle Floor" (now out of print) and it appears bat guano keeps the South American rain forests going just fine. In fact it is crucial.
PEC, that's 2 for chicken shit.
Open mind, I heard that it could "burn" too, all bird shit is highly acidic, and that's part of why I'm asking.
dvw, thanks for mentioning phosphate content, and I SO appreciate your scientific method.
rebel8, Warlock has a PM. And I'm glad Mary's table made you tear up (in a good way) :–) Believe it or not, my mother used to make me take the hair from hairbrushes to put around roses... something about niacin content in human hair... she was big on organic gardening and we recycled everything, still do.
Mary, I love tables to explain facts. And you answered both my questions. For all my plants. Thanks so much!
Hortensia, I grew up listening to the rooster's call, they're not just mean, they're freakin' loud and annoying, especially on Sunday mornings!
Honesty, you seem to know your shit!
Valkyrie, I don't get snails in my garden... not even a wayward slug. Black snakes, now those I get, and when one slithered into my kitchen last September I GOT HIM.
nvr, (?) I don't understand your response. This is not a debate; it's about gardening know-how.
OUTLAW, are you suggesting Watchtower publications are not good for living things?
bikerchic, best wishes to you and hubby on your first garden, hope you've enjoyed yourselves as I have so far. And thanks for the bat guano info — it totally jives with what I read in the book I mentioned at the outset. The bat guano in Costa Rica was not protected in caves, but in hollow dead trees instead. This was the backbone of the entire jungle... everything from the tiniest bacteria up to and including mammals and the whole growth cycle of the rain forest was based on lowly bat guano. Amazing, really.
Thanks again to you all for your assistance.
~Sue -
rebel8
Sue: There are some people who advocate recycling human feces. Sounds like they advocate this to eliminate waste that has to be chemically processed, not because it makes your tomatoes grow better! ICK. I am *really* concerned about the environment but that is going.too.far. This is not Little House on the Prarie.
I'm off to buy supplies to make a composting bin today. I really don't know what I'm doing so this is an experiment! Next month I plan to build a solar food dehydrator.
Does anyone here compost & how well does it work? What do you do during the winter? We have freezing temps for 5-6 months per year; should I move the apparatus into the garage when it's winter?
nvr: "Which is better-Post-Mexican or Post-Indian?"
Ooooh, why oh why did I read this thread right after breakfast? -
nvrgnbk
Ooooh, why oh why did I read this thread right after breakfast?
Ooops, sorry rebel8. I was just following your lead.
Human feces is best. I compost mine all the time w/my banana peels and coffee grounds. It's a little tricky to poop in the compost bin in the yard w/o the neighbors seeing though.
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AllAlongTheWatchtower
rebel8: As a kid, I put in many hours working in the garden, my father was a big believer in gardening. Not only did we have our own produce, but it kept all us kids busy working (idle hands are the devil, ya know), and it was good practice for Armageddon when food wouldn't be in the grocery stores. I haven't touched a garden since. But to answer your question, composting isn't that hard. Nature does most of the work. Our bin was a converted hog pen, concrete floor with wooden plank sides, about 10' x 10', and maybe 5' tall? I dunno, might have been less than 5', I was small then, so everything seemed bigger-I just remember as a kid that I had to struggle to lift the slops bucket high enough to dump it in over the side.
Anyway, the biggest chore is seperating your trash...food scraps go in the compost; banana peels, potato skins if you peel them, anything and everything organic. (except for bones and such, which went to the cats), paper and plastic go in the regular trash. I remember getting yelled at once for throwing eggshells away in the wrong trash, and being told that eggshells were especially good, cause they had minerals and stuff in them, toss 'em right in. Also, whenever we mowed the grass, all the clippings went in the pile, too.
Don't worry about freezing temps, you definitely don't want compost in your garage, lol. Like I said before, mother nature does most of the work, you want the compost heap outside where it can decompose, it would be too sheltered from rain and the elements in your garage, and stinky besides. In fact, you want it as far from the house as possible, within reason. Which means, depending on the size of your property, it can be a hike to go dump stuff in it. (And when you're a kid, a full-tilt sprint returning to the pool of light from the back porch when you had to do the chore after dark, cause you just read Something Wicked This Way Comes or whatever other scary thing, lol.)
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