GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Is it OK to put dog poop on a garden? Maybe

18-03-2003, 10:08 PM

wrote:

...It's *not* the same and and never should be used on a vegetable
garden...unless of course, you'd like a nice dose of ecoli
(a single gram of dog feces can contain 23 million coliform bacteria),
roundworm...[etc... snip]

I guess we're all doomed, since there's no way to keep the local
omnivores/carnivore (e.g. raccoons) population from defecating in our
gardens.

The above argument applies only to root crops and crops which have
contact with the soil. Bacteria/microorganisms do not travel through the
plants' vascular system to the fruit.

If the poop is properly composted, the bacteria/microorganisms do not
survive. The key word is "properly". It involves work, such as turning
your compost pile regularly to maintain a high temperature.

Just to start a parallel thread, the real problem with ecoli etc is the
overuse of bactericidal soaps etc. "In the old days" people would
occasionally get sick from such things but they weren't really bad and
people built up natural defenses/immunities. They have mutated in
response to our fight against nature so that they are now really bad.
Nostra Culpa.