Comments on: Dog Boo in the Worm Bin? http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/dog-boo-in-the-worm-bin/ Red Wiggler Worms, European Nightcrawlers and loads of helpful Worm Composting Information Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:17:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Devlin http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/dog-boo-in-the-worm-bin/comment-page-1/#comment-24723 Devlin Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:15:38 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/dog-boo-in-the-worm-bin/#comment-24723 Hey Bentley, Me too. I use dog poo. I have 11 dogs, 10 shihtzu and 1 golden retriever. They eat and poo a lot! Yes the poo is stinky, especially if you mash it up, the smell gets stronger. One trick I have is to handle the poo with plastic bag as gloves. Another trick is to use worm tea on the dog poo. I always collect my dog poo into a rubbish bin lined with a plastic bag. I notice there will be flies going after the poo immediately. Then i spray some aerated worm tea. The flies are gone, and the smell is lesser too. Probably the good bacteria from the worm tea has out-compete with the bad ones, or create an antibiotic against them. Aniway thanks for your correspondence with me, though we are strangers from different sides of the globe! Devlin Hey Bentley,
Me too. I use dog poo. I have 11 dogs, 10 shihtzu and 1 golden retriever. They eat and poo a lot! Yes the poo is stinky, especially if you mash it up, the smell gets stronger.

One trick I have is to handle the poo with plastic bag as gloves.
Another trick is to use worm tea on the dog poo.

I always collect my dog poo into a rubbish bin lined with a plastic bag. I notice there will be flies going after the poo immediately. Then i spray some aerated worm tea. The flies are gone, and the smell is lesser too.

Probably the good bacteria from the worm tea has out-compete with the bad ones, or create an antibiotic against them.

Aniway thanks for your correspondence with me, though we are strangers from different sides of the globe!
Devlin

]]> By: Mark http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/dog-boo-in-the-worm-bin/comment-page-1/#comment-22549 Mark Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:07:56 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/dog-boo-in-the-worm-bin/#comment-22549 Hi Bentley, I had been putting some dog poo in one of my wormeries in a slightly half-hearted way - not wanting to add to landfill with plastic bags full of faeces. After reading this I set up a wormery in an old waste-bin and have added quite a bit of the material (we are a 2 dog household!). Now, I was covering it all up with shredded wet cardboard, and I didn't think it any smell was detectable. However, my wife (who has a freakishly good sense of smell) says she could smell it, so I have had to abandon the experiment. I am a bit fed up about this. I am wondering about going down the home-made doggy septic tank route. My wife also mentioned that she didn't want to weed flower-bed that had composted dog poo on them (I'd mentioned that I'd use the vermicompost for non-food plants). Unfortunately, my wife is not the sort of person who will listen to reason when it comes to things like this so there's no point trying to explain that the worms will destroy the pathogens. Anyway ... just thought I'd let you know of my attempt! mark Hi Bentley,
I had been putting some dog poo in one of my wormeries in a slightly half-hearted way – not wanting to add to landfill with plastic bags full of faeces. After reading this I set up a wormery in an old waste-bin and have added quite a bit of the material (we are a 2 dog household!). Now, I was covering it all up with shredded wet cardboard, and I didn’t think it any smell was detectable. However, my wife (who has a freakishly good sense of smell) says she could smell it, so I have had to abandon the experiment. I am a bit fed up about this. I am wondering about going down the home-made doggy septic tank route. My wife also mentioned that she didn’t want to weed flower-bed that had composted dog poo on them (I’d mentioned that I’d use the vermicompost for non-food plants). Unfortunately, my wife is not the sort of person who will listen to reason when it comes to things like this so there’s no point trying to explain that the worms will destroy the pathogens.

Anyway … just thought I’d let you know of my attempt!
mark

]]> By: Lee in Iowa http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/dog-boo-in-the-worm-bin/comment-page-1/#comment-21250 Lee in Iowa Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:45:12 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/dog-boo-in-the-worm-bin/#comment-21250 Gosh, I almost hate to admit this: I use dog poo in all my compost. Never had any problems with it. (It's all from my own dogs; maybe I've gotten immune to any germs they have.) My indoor worms love it. I suppose the outdoor, "free-range" worms must, as well, because it always disappears very quickly. Indoors, it's the first thing my worms go after. Maybe I haven't had problems because I'm a bit of a girly-girl and wear gardening gloves? But even tho dog poo isn't a "hot" manure to activate an outdoor compost heap, it adds greatly to your soil's "tilth" and anyone in my neighborhood would tell you, I'm the uber-gardener. My flowers and herbs and veggies and fruit GROW. 25 years of gardening and no resulting illnesses to report. Now I DON'T use cat poo. There you have the potential of histoplasmosis, which can damage a developing human baby, giving the Mom flu-like symptoms. (Moms-to-be, you shouldn't ever even TOUCH your cat box; time for hubby to do that chore.) But dog poo? Oh yeah! Gosh, I almost hate to admit this: I use dog poo in all my compost. Never had any problems with it. (It’s all from my own dogs; maybe I’ve gotten immune to any germs they have.) My indoor worms love it. I suppose the outdoor, “free-range” worms must, as well, because it always disappears very quickly. Indoors, it’s the first thing my worms go after. Maybe I haven’t had problems because I’m a bit of a girly-girl and wear gardening gloves?

But even tho dog poo isn’t a “hot” manure to activate an outdoor compost heap, it adds greatly to your soil’s “tilth” and anyone in my neighborhood would tell you, I’m the uber-gardener. My flowers and herbs and veggies and fruit GROW. 25 years of gardening and no resulting illnesses to report.

Now I DON’T use cat poo. There you have the potential of histoplasmosis, which can damage a developing human baby, giving the Mom flu-like symptoms. (Moms-to-be, you shouldn’t ever even TOUCH your cat box; time for hubby to do that chore.)

But dog poo? Oh yeah!

]]> By: Bentley http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/dog-boo-in-the-worm-bin/comment-page-1/#comment-6004 Bentley Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:25:48 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/dog-boo-in-the-worm-bin/#comment-6004 Hi Alison, You are absolutely right - there has been some research to indicate the potential for vermicomposting for destroying pathogens (although I hadn't heard about them killing e-coli when passing close to them). I think for me the problem lies in the fact that fresh dog waste would be continually added to the system, so that at any one time there a decent amount of unprocessed material. One other thing I didn't mention was the fact that it likely wouldn't be a fun system to work with. Even with lots of bedding I suspect the odour would be pretty bad at times. B Hi Alison,
You are absolutely right – there has been some research to indicate the potential for vermicomposting for destroying pathogens (although I hadn’t heard about them killing e-coli when passing close to them). I think for me the problem lies in the fact that fresh dog waste would be continually added to the system, so that at any one time there a decent amount of unprocessed material. One other thing I didn’t mention was the fact that it likely wouldn’t be a fun system to work with. Even with lots of bedding I suspect the odour would be pretty bad at times.

B

]]> By: Alison http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/dog-boo-in-the-worm-bin/comment-page-1/#comment-5999 Alison Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:01:51 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/dog-boo-in-the-worm-bin/#comment-5999 Hi Bentley and Alberto, I read somewhere that E-coli is killed if it goes through a worm and also any e-coli that a worm passes close to is also killed.I will try and find where I read it as it was a really good article.If E-coli can be killed this way maybe the other nasties can be as well.It is always good to be careful where these nasties are present or could be present. Hi Bentley and Alberto, I read somewhere that E-coli is killed if it goes through a worm and also any e-coli that a worm passes close to is also killed.I will try and find where I read it as it was a really good article.If E-coli can be killed this way maybe the other nasties can be as well.It is always good to be careful where these nasties are present or could be present.

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