h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've always known that manure was good but your contribution has helped me understand why and also to see how different manures are. Excellent!
Now I've got to look at compost as I haven't got the hang of that yet.

You don't mention human manure. I believe that Mahatma Ghandi recommended the Indian people to use their own on the land.

I was under the impression that the human body sucked too much of the goodness out of our own waste to be useful to anything else. Not that I've made a study of this, you understand...

Apparently when the row was going on between dry and water closets (WC) the dry closet was actually the better bet (environmentally) - but water closets won. So now we have huge sewer systems and we reclaim the waste at the sewage plants and then put some of it onto the land. It seems like a long process to me!

Hello!
Perhaps I should pull together the notes I have on composting loos for an entry? I feel that might spark some good discussion in PR It needs it: dead as a dodo at the moment

Yes, you can use human manure, but there are a lot of pathogens in it which have to be got rid of before you can apply it to crops. But remember (well, probably not ) that the 'Night Soil Men' used to empty the outside loos in cities in the 19th Century, then the soil was spread on the market gardens in countryside round London, Glasgow etc etc etc. What goes round, comes round

Yes, I think that I'll go and look into my notes Thanks for the inspiration guys


Fb

hi all of you would you beliene it there are manure gas plants that supply gas directly to the kitchen stoves through attached rubber tubes and in some colonies human manure is used to light up the street lights

Hello flyingtwinkle

Where? where? I want to know more Where can I find out more?


Fb

Hello frenchbean, (have you had your dose today, beans need a lot of manure to thrive!) To answer your question about "where ?" Well surely it must be in Sh*t Street that lamps are powered by gas from human waste.
A more serious back to topic Q is, fishmeal is also used on some plants. Is this another real manure or is it dried fish? I remember a neighbour using it on his garden when I was a kid, and it POOED

Fishmeal is made from dried and ground fish A huge amount of the international catch is sent to fishmeal plants and is used on fields by farmers and sold in garden centres. I don't use it, on the principle that I don't need to import something from the sea onto my land when I have compost and horse manure which do the job better in my opinion. Fishmeal doesn't condition the soil, it just gives the plants one helluva kick up the backside.

Fb

frenchbean in my own house we had a manure gas plant for over 50 years we had buffaloes and cows Their dung was used .by throwing it in a manurewell .watering it .liquid manure was used to make the land fertile .Gas for cooking about lighting up street lights i heard it on a tv channel last year

Where are you flyingtwinkle? I've seen programmes on the TV about India having gas powered cooking from cow manure but you're the first person I've come across who actually uses it.

I remember reading in a gardening book that if you are potty training a tot tip the contents of the potty (liquid) onto the compost. The nitrogen is very valuable.

Just thought an entry on the use of manure in gardens and on allotment site needed a reminder of the problem of contaminated manure that has caused problems across the UK.

If you want to read more try this posting on our blog http://glallotments.blogspot.com/2008/10/thinking-of-obtaining-manure.html

But just do take care when obtaining your manure supply!

That's very worrying. I hope your crops recover.