The Key is in the Dung. Manure information:

HAH! Grinnin so Big here!

Sofer...tell ya what...bring me the canoe (mine is getting old) and I'll talk taynors into giving up the tumbler. Deal!? :>)

Oh, thank you Shoe for taking that one. I have to keep the garden-spume to a minimum.

Steve, what do you suppose the X-ray folks will do when they see (or smell) you suitcases? I have smuggled compost material out of Cafeterias and Restaurants as a hobby for many a year... I take folks' lunch materials, too. Who could resist something as great and grand as a banana peel? -And take Shoe's offer, eh?
K. James

Heheh...too funny, Kenton J!
Yeh...take Shoe's offer! Pwease!!!?

Do you sleep, Shoe?

Hah!..not very well, KJ!

I stay awake just to read your posts! :>)

You know, there is a bit of a Paradox going on then!

hah! well, there is a pair of docs that live down the road from me..but I reckon that is a different thing, eh?

What are ya'll doing up so late anyway? checking compost bins/earthworms, etc?

I was putting pictures/ plants in PF. That came after I unloaded some pictures. Which was supposed to precede sowing some tree seeds. Now I need to get to sleep -sans sowing- and be rested for Master Gardener's class.
I'm breakin' up that pair o' docs; they're too rowdy and keep the neighbors up.
Good night and Good Luck (-getting after Steve)
K. James

same here. Time to head up to the house.

Closing the Shoffice down til day break.

Sweet dreams to ya. Nite nite.
Good luck/info in your class tomorrow.

We gone. Buh-bye!

Gee Guys
now that you have given me so many great ideas for my tumbler, heck i think i will try a few, LOLOL "HELLO, Soferdig,"if you want something from someone , your not supposed to give them new ideas on how to use it!!!LOL. I don't know that tumbler is sounding pretty good right now to me?! LOl, I did hear another person who had one and dosn't like it Soferdig, but i can't remember wich thread it is.
If you put some worms in the tumbler, would it make them dizzy :))) LOL
JamesCo , you actually hijacked lunches in a cafateria???? LOL cracked me up LOL:)))
Ok Horseshoe , i will try again this yr, i do think i had to much kitchen scraps , MY DH threw away my leaves uuhhg.So i did have to go around and steal my nehgbors stuff, at midnight .
I tell you what Soferdig, you come to Michigan and i will let you look at my tumbler and i will even let you touch it.:)
sue

Sue you are magnamous in your vast kindness for one who covets your tumbler. If I could only just touch it I could be thrilled. ( You could thank me for all the great ideas). Any way I cannot ever go to far into Ohio because I am a MSU Spartan and we rarly visit the gettos. LOL
Though you aren't too close to Columbus.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH OUCH !!!!:)))))

So who won big game this yr ?soferdig
sue

There were NO big games at Michigan State this year. We don't even have much basketball this year. As a Spartan I'm used to not winning. So I never get too excited. Anyway we both get excited to see Michigan lose.

i just got to ask,can you use dog dung for you flower beds? i know it cant be used for veggies, you see murphy my 145lb great dane turns 50lbs of feed into 49lbs of fertilizer about every three weeks and id love to use it as nitogen source any comment? anyone?

LOL@bulbhound! I've been following this thread for a while and I'm certain you will be told that NO, you cannot use dog poop.

That said, I live in the high desert where fresh material for compost can be quite scarce and I have 3 dogs. Dung from any meat-eating mammal can carry bacteria, fungus, etc. that can harbor disease. My climate is hot and dry enough I use it, never had a problem with it. Granted I rake it into piles and let it rot pretty well before adding it to my main compost bins. I'm fairly certain I'll be crucified for saying that but my plants are okay with it so, so be it. I also use animal hair I vacuum up and any other once-living thing I get my hands on. I'm not advocating this practice, probably a bad idea for people in many climates....just saying I do it.

It's compost, not rocket science. Put in organic ingredients, add air and water: it WILL rot. Use your own common sense, experiment and see what works for you.

Good Question, Bulbhound;

No way.
It does not have anything in it that you want for the most part. The operative word is "Carnivore" and perhaps "Unnatural diet" as well. The fact is, that all of the orgainc material is so broken down it is of little use to the soil. It has more raw chemicals in it, and is completely unlike the broken up plant matter that is found from cattle.

My suggestion would be to dig some deep post-holes in with an auger or something and bury it deep, (mixed with leaves or straw or newspaper, perhaps even "diluted" with dirt and compost) where it can be used slowly by the soil without damaging anything. It is rich: good and bad, and rather salty. I would not add it to regular surface composts or soil amendments for you regular flower garden. It can also attract/repel other critters.

(And a well-chosen breed, indeed. Have you any pictures of Murphy for us?)
K. James

I cross-posted, Dana. Good to meet someone in a halfway similar climate! hot and Dry, all the way. You and I can have serious salt problems, Carnivore doo is just such a buildup, but I admit to burying it at the bottom of compost pits to leach out and let the worms deal with the remnants.

I love the way you said "once-living thing ". That is grand, really grand. I like it, a good definition of potential material. I guess, though, that it needs to be more recently living, eh? Apparently, feathers and hair have a ton (suprising, yes) of nitrogen. Big protein molecules, I suppose.

I just thouht: raking it into a pile could be beneficial by letting salts & such wash away before it is added.
But, in the end, there are the major thought to be given to pathogens and even heavy metals.

What to do with the doo?
K. James

i was afraid you all would say that and it was the so called salts and chemicals that had me concerned because my flower beds all [raised
]because i live on the martian plateau have some very expensive bulbs so i was proceeding with caution,also that is what ive been doing was dung drilling with my power auger but with pure ga clay its like nuclear waste in the salt mine it aint going nowhere its to bad we cant get dog food analized. murphy having a bloodline clean back to the stone age eats only pedagree brand feed anything else, and i mean anything else... and i got to call the hazmat team in ... she 10 yaers old and still looks good but arthritis is becoming a problem i got to have a hot lamp on her at night in the winter or she cant get up to go and when she has to go she goin! and then shell bark untill i come down to clean her up and the bed! spolied,,,,,just like the wife. ill put up a pic tomorrow for the quick response.thanks again.

Kind of what I do with the doo. I (still) have quite a few areas on the property that are "below level" for one reason or another, one or two that are actually more or less open pits. I rake doggie droppings right into them and put them on ignore until I get desperate for something to throw in my bins. Or throw soil over them from a neighbouring area and make a new, albeit shallower, pit.

The first rule to remember around here is: I am LAZY. I will do everything the easy way, I will not do anything which requires a great amount of labour. I'm one-half step from hunter-gatherer status. I only dig huge holes to plant things in because I find picking rocks out of soil for 4 to 6 hours at a time relaxing and conducive to reflection and bird watching and because I find plants and the animals who eat them more rewarding than...most other things. Poop is biodegradable, if you are patient enough. No, I wouldn't use it right on top of anything immediately.

Can relate to only the best foods for the dog. Mine eat Canidae or regular "human" food like you or I would eat. I'm sure they have genetic histories going back to the dawn of dog-kind, unfortunately none of it is recorded. My eldest is somewhere between 12 and 16 years old, who knows. Youngest is around 8, none have arthritis thus far. The oldest is kinda senile and liable to do strange things sometimes, try to treat him like I would hope to be treated if I ever get that batty. Oh, that I am already that batty is an arguable point.

I only know the flavor being a veterinarian not the chemical composition. Definitly it has nitrogen so I feel that it assists carbon break down. I rake it into the yard with a broom and occasionaly add it to my compost much like Blood meal. Mostly I mix it with a sugar concetrate and look at it under a microscope. HaHa

OMG Soferdig, we are defying proper composting protocol. Puhleeze, no one tell Homeland Security :).

Now, since you are a vet.....how old DO dogs live to be???????

Never old enough. It varies with the breed.

Ok
"i m not the brightest bear in the woods here," but Dana what is Canidea ? are you refereing to a raw diet? or just table scraps, just curiuos. Not trying to turn this into a pet thread hahaha.
Dog poop in compost ? i don't think so, that is one poop i don't like to touch !:) or cat. I put mine in a bag wrap it tight in a biodegradable bag and let the garbage workers handle it.The bags i get are from Gardeners supply, i m looking into a CA company to see if they c arry them.
I guess maybe depending on what your dog eats , might defer if you use it in the yard or not. I wouln't use it if you feed your dog O'l Roy from Walmart ,yuk.
Soferdig can you put dog poop in a tumbler ?? hahha
Mutts live the longest, :)
Jamesco do i need to get a soil sample for my garden , DH thinks i should, to see if i m lacking in something or have to high PH or to Low?
thanks
sue

wow did i start a subtopic or did i. we can call it the third rail of composting,LOL i took a few moments to fulfil my promise so here she is i felt kinda bad she was resting in the sun it took five minutes for her to get up, i could see what she was thinking? and i have to get back to planting canas and the lillys i just purchased.

I always feel sorry for people with big ,big dogs when it comes to the clean up department :) LOL
sue

Ixnay on the 'Ol Roy from Wally-World, Canidae is a high quality dog food (one of several on the market) available through some feed suppliers or direct from the company. And I meant RAW foods, not table scraps :).

Yeah, my animal-doo solutions would probably not be practical for smaller properties where you couldn't set it aside in an area for an extended period of time.

BTW, did you know used kitty litter makes a fabulous rabbit repellent?

cute pochie!!! :)
I hope you didn't think i was insulting you, not my intention:) was just curious what your brand of dog food is, i am always up for getting to know dog foods i have never heard of.
People think i m crazy when i tell them my dog eats RAW,
Bulbhound your dog is cute , she realy dosn't look like she wants to get up out of her spot.LOL
I herd great danes are great couch potatos?
best wishes
sue

It was about time we stopped talking gardens and get on to more homely and heartwarming companions on this aging thread.

I've noticed that my doglet (Chiweiner) produces a great deal more "surplus" than my miniature black Schnauzer. Strange creature is that.

Soil testing is a great and Glorious thing, Taynors. You will likely discover an overabundance of certain nutrients, and therefore will not need to buy certain fertilizers. If you have a lab do your test(not a Labrador, now) -and labs are better at it than we common gardeners, but the results look like the numbers version of alphabet soup, then send me the results and I can tell you what they mean; or I can send you the printout on how to read them and interpret your needs.

K. James

The dogs that I am owned by. Although rather blurry, this is one of the best pictures of their personalities:

Kenton hey I think your dogs are cute. I am wondering why dogs need access to the tea pot I see sitting on the floor behind them. They must have picked up your tendencies to tea.
by the way cheap dog foods are better for the garden because they utilize primarily cheerios (wheat, corn) for their main ingredient. Much better for the soil than meat.

What a hoot...

Thanks Kenton
those are sure cuuuute pochies , i love the small dogs, i had a small dog , but she passed away.:( so we have a big dog now, since DH is always traveling i felt i would be safer if we had a large dog LOLOLOL yeeeaaaah sure. A big Chicken dog.LOL, If you came to robb my house and you had a red ball , he is alll over you. Like Marmaduke the great dane comic strip.:)
If i could only get him to bark ferociously at the solicitors that come to my door.LOL I would be happy.
Soon as the ground isn't hard as rock i will take some in to be tested.( soil, not the dog) ,
Cutie ,cutie dogs you all have there.
That is sure one nice lawn you have soferdig, how do you keep it so green with two dogs? I have the famous yellow spot lawn.:0
So here is my pooch Broc, thinks he is a snow dog LOL.
sue

Handsome.

what a hunk! Do you guys know that only female dogs cause urine scald on lawns? I just found that out 2 years ago . Well it is good to be home in Montana. I go sign papers on our horse ranch tomorrow. Oh boy. More acres to landscape.

Beacause the male's urine is more often a spray, which is not as concentrated to burn like famles. Sorry, but we all have to hear the gritty details to understand things, eh? -Which explains the exceptions.

Congrats and Enjoy the acrage, Steve.

I had heard that (about female dog urine) but wasn't positive it was true, guess it is!

Lovely dogs all.

Hah! How funny. Welp, methinks the female dog urine is more detrimental cus the females tend to squat, placing their "liquid deposit" directly in one place whereas the males love to aim(!), and like to lift their leg and spray an upright object (tree, car tire, fire hydrant, etc) and the "deposit" then runs down said object, not necessarily in a puddle!

Now, about us male humans...welp, 'nuff said! :>)

Soferdig, congrats on your horse farm. Sounds like lots of manure coming your way. I'm jealous!

I had not read this thread;, makes very interesting reading. I have several compost piles going all the time. If I can find the photo I will send it along. Also have one tumbler composter. Have used it for 10 years now. I don't put large pieces in it. Mostly leaves, shreds from my BCS powered shredder, already composted manure, and kitchen scraps, no meat etc.

The ground here is frozen solid. Have had pretty cold weather most of Feb. Lots of years I have planted peas, both ornamental and edible on Wash. birthday. Not this year.

I installed Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 a couple of weeks ago and have a problem with photos eversince. I had Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 installed a couple of years ago. Now Elements want to be my primary?? and gets in the way. Anyway I will try to send the photo of my compost piles. They do not get turned by me at least, very often.

DonnaS

Now if heaven doesn't look like that, I'm not going to know what to do.

So true, Kenton , so true
Thanks for the comploments on Broc , i do think he is very handsome. He will mature , i will be doing some shutzhund in the spring with him.
Ok so if it is the females runie ,why do i have yellow, I wonder ? Broc lifts his leg only when we are walking in unkown terrritory, at home he leans forward.
Gotta goooo my Dh just walked in the door, yeah!!!!!!!!!!! he has been in Fl for 6 months.
sue