I use sand in my duck yard (8" thick). About once a month, I need to clean the top 1 inch of sand b/c it gets clogged with duck manure (especially near the water/feeding stations). This is done the following way:
1. Shovel top layer of sand into a large dump utility cart (1/3 to 1/2 full)
2. Fill cart with water to near top
3. Rake sand to remove muck from sand
4. Dump water and repeat (basically 6 - 9 rinses cleans off duck poo)
5. Fill cleaned sand with water and disinfect for 30 minutes while raking with non-toxic non-chlorinated bleach
6. Rinse sand three more times
7. Place sand back in yard and sprinkle Sweet PDZ into sand and rake
I've read that with "duck manure tea" there's no need to compost (unlike if you use solid duck poo straight which needs to be composted 6 months before use).
During my first experience with this method, I added the sand rinses to my fruit trees (which are about 5-7 years old). Saw no issues with any of the trees and they seem to be doing fine.
The traditional way of making duck poo tea is to put the duck poo into a bag (pillow case), fill up a 35 gallon trash can and let it steep for seven days. This allows the poo locked into the bedding to dissolve into the water.
With the rinse technique I've noted above, I can readily get all the poo off the sand and into the water very quickly.
I'm hesitant to use this tea on my vegetable garden though. I know enough that manure tea should not be used on edible leaf veggies (lettuce/kale/spinach, etc.), but was thinking of diluting the tea to a light color, filtering it and then adding it to my ferticulture system. My system uses drip emitters, so the tea would go straight to the roots rather than be sprayed onto the plants themselves.
Does anyone see any issue with this notion?
smithmal
1. Shovel top layer of sand into a large dump utility cart (1/3 to 1/2 full)
2. Fill cart with water to near top
3. Rake sand to remove muck from sand
4. Dump water and repeat (basically 6 - 9 rinses cleans off duck poo)
5. Fill cleaned sand with water and disinfect for 30 minutes while raking with non-toxic non-chlorinated bleach
6. Rinse sand three more times
7. Place sand back in yard and sprinkle Sweet PDZ into sand and rake
I've read that with "duck manure tea" there's no need to compost (unlike if you use solid duck poo straight which needs to be composted 6 months before use).
During my first experience with this method, I added the sand rinses to my fruit trees (which are about 5-7 years old). Saw no issues with any of the trees and they seem to be doing fine.
The traditional way of making duck poo tea is to put the duck poo into a bag (pillow case), fill up a 35 gallon trash can and let it steep for seven days. This allows the poo locked into the bedding to dissolve into the water.
With the rinse technique I've noted above, I can readily get all the poo off the sand and into the water very quickly.
I'm hesitant to use this tea on my vegetable garden though. I know enough that manure tea should not be used on edible leaf veggies (lettuce/kale/spinach, etc.), but was thinking of diluting the tea to a light color, filtering it and then adding it to my ferticulture system. My system uses drip emitters, so the tea would go straight to the roots rather than be sprayed onto the plants themselves.
Does anyone see any issue with this notion?
smithmal
