I need composting help!

[gtaus]

With the coming shortage on fertilizer,..

What coming shortage of fertilizer is there to worry about?

I make more compost in the chicken run than I can ever use. I have not used any store bought fertilizer for many years. Last time I was in the Fleet store's garden section, they had all kinds of fertilizer bags for sale. I'm not opposed to using fertilizer, it's just that I get good results using my homemade chicken run compost.

 

[Sally PB]

I don't think many people use human waste as fertilizer, but I'm sure some do

A couple years ago, I saved my pee, diluted it, and used it on my tomatoes. Last year I didn't, and the plants didn't do as well. I plan to do it again this year. It's a good nitrogen source, and I'll need it for that reason. I'm going to be putting a load of wood chips on my heavy soil garden. In the short term, that can take a lot of nitrogen to break down, robbing it from the plants.

I also buried some very dry rotted pieces of apple trunk in that garden. They got a good watering with some rain, and I'll be hitting them with some pee-water too.

Here's one (of many-many) links about using urine.
https://www.epicgardening.com/urine-as-fertilizer/

What coming shortage of fertilizer is there to worry about?

This has been mentioned on other threads, mostly talking about commercial fertilizers impacting commercial food/grain production.

 

[Ascholten]

What coming shortage of fertilizer is there to worry about?

If you listen to the news, there is a huge fertilizer shortage, which is going to decimate our food supplies, and our store shelves. Take it for whatever you wish.

My point is, THAT does not have to affect us, because we are making our own fertilizers.
As some people have commented, the thought of using human wastes, or even animal wastes, is kind of cringy to them. Many have spoken out concerning that saying that there is nothing wrong with it IF, you do it PROPERLY.

We have plenty of natural fertilizers, and bio mass at our disposals as long as we are not lazy and willing to do a little bit of work on our part to actually USE IT.

Like you said, WHAT shortages? WE already know how to fix that problem.

Aaron

 

[Ascholten]

A couple years ago, I saved my pee,

You know, ONE study I would like to see done, is. If you use fresh pee, it's pretty homogenous. If you let it set a week in a jar, pail, whatever. it breaks down a bit, it gets some white curdy glop on the bottom.

Not sure what that is, as again, I have not been able to find any research on stalepiss.com, but am curious. Is that bottom conglomeration, more fertile for the plants, or is it a waste product of the whole process really? In other words, lets say I poured off the liquid on top, and just saved the curds. Kind of like when making cheese Are those curds like really super fertilized, super strong, or, not very nutrient carrying and I should just use the top liquid? Or are they equally beneficial, and those are one group of nutrients that are needed, and the liquid is another group?

Does aging it make it better than fresh, as aged, some additional chemical stuff happens, to possibly break down some components into something more usable by plants?

Really curious.

Aaron

 

[Sally PB]

Really curious.

Now I am too!

I do know that as it sat, it started to smell. Then stink. Then REEK!

I do have a better, more accessible water source by that garden now, so I'll be mixing and using more often this year.

 

[Ascholten]

Now I am too!

I do know that as it sat, it started to smell. Then stink. Then REEK!

I do have a better, more accessible water source by that garden now, so I'll be mixing and using more often this year.

Keep it capped up, ie a gallon jug with a cap, ie a washed out GOOD ! Bleach bottle will work. (well for you a funnel too ) It will stink a bit but being contained I think limits what can react with it and cause issues.

i just did a little more poking around and came across an article about drying it with Magnaneese Oxide . a lot of tech chatter but very interesting.

Aaron

 

[Ascholten]

This article I have been reading is talking about using Alkaline to dehydrate urine, to the point where it is a solid that you can put on crops. This is geared more towards the big guys who have farms, and transporting a tanker truck full of pee, would be expensive .vs. the same nutriend benefit send in a 50 lb bag.

In our case, since we are using it right where we are,the need to dry, really is not needed IMO. It talks about how it will evaporate out, and lose a lot of the N component if it sits around, or as it stews in pipes etc, but if we are keeping it capped in plastic jugs, or dumping it right on a compost pile, I don't think that is much of an issue anymore. Especially considering they are using bran? or bio char as an additive to the dehydrant processes I can see the ammonia or nitrogen compounds pretty quickly binding with the stuff in the compost and doing its thing rather than evaporating off.

INteresting stuff.

Aaron

 

[sandburRanch]

Check with your county extension service for information for greens that can be grown in your area in early fall until the snow flies and early spring after the snow melts until the lawn clippings can be used for greens . Avoid wood shavings of any kind , even mixed with duck poop . Earth worm ranches ( growers ) can be an excellent source for composting .

 

[Ascholten]

What's wrong with wood shavings? You don't want processed or treated lumber of course but mulched trees work wonders, and the worms love them too. I find it a great aggregate for my composts.

Aaron

 

[gtaus]

I'm going to be putting a load of wood chips on my heavy soil garden. In the short term, that can take a lot of nitrogen to break down, robbing it from the plants.

I know there is a lot of concern about wood chips robbing nitrogen from the soil for the decomposition process. A year or so ago I watched a video on the subject, and their conclusion was that if you used wood chips as mulch, the only area affected by loss of nitrogen was the immediate few mm's of topsoil that touch the wood chips. Since gardeners are more concerned about the nitrogen down at the level of root growth, that magic 6-8 inches, there was no loss of nitrogen.

If you till wood chips into the soil, then that is another issue and you would see nitrogen loss wherever and however deep the wood chips were tilled into the ground.

After my plants are well established and growing well, I would use wood chips as mulch without hesitation. Having said that, I now use chicken run compost mulch instead because I have so much. I think the compost mulch is even better because when it rains, all that good stuff in the compost drains down into the soil to feed the plants.

[the coming shortage of fertilizer] has been mentioned on other threads, mostly talking about commercial fertilizers impacting commercial food/grain production.

I have heard about the increase in price of fertilizer, but not so much about a shortage.

If you listen to the news, there is a huge fertilizer shortage, which is going to decimate our food supplies, and our store shelves. Take it for whatever you wish.

I listen to the news everyday, but I guess the type of news I listen to has not been too concerned about the fertilizer issue. I mainly watch national and international news, not so much local news and issues that might affect our local farmers.

My point is, THAT does not have to affect us, because we are making our own fertilizers.

Agree with you on that. I make so much chicken run compost that I give some of it away free to my neighbors who also garden.

Like you said, WHAT shortages? WE already know how to fix that problem.

I literally have $100's and $100's of dollars worth of black gold compost sitting in my chicken run ready to harvest. I cannot remember the last year I ever bought commercial fertilizer or compost, but it was well before I got my chickens. Even before I got my chickens, I had started making compost at home and used that instead of store bought products.

Does aging [urine] make it better than fresh, as aged, some additional chemical stuff happens, to possibly break down some components into something more usable by plants?

OK, so I have been online reading up about this human urine issue. What seems to be the consensus is that human urine is not sterile, it contains a small amount of bacteria. If you bottle up urine and let it sit for a few days, the bacteria will multiply and grow. That is not good.

Not to be gross, but if you have to drink urine for survival, it is recommended you drink your urine as soon as possible to prevent the small amount of bacteria in your urine to grow in your container. Now that's a bit of knowledge that I never, ever, hope to use!