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Human Shit is good Fertiliser

T

Teddybrae

Righto you Purists. Here we go. Heads out of the clouds now ...

I began a thread asking about number of compost worms per pot. There wasn't much response so I bought a kilo of worms for each pot and put a few kilos of partly composted human shit on top of the new worms. I know they love this stuff from another garden and sure enough when I looked last evening the new worms are moving into the shit (which smelled great, by the way!).

Now when I posted this news there appeared cautionary advice and expressions of disgust ... except from my new friend St Phatty!

Of course I had interfaced with my own shit during the Oral stage of childhood development but I can't remember that ... so I want to tell all you squeaky-clean-Dettol-hand-wash-users about my later experiences with Human Shit.

It began when I was five. Mother had gone to hospital to have a breakdown and so we kids went to her Brother's place somewhere in the Scots wilds.
Our Uncle and his Wife were older and there was not much for us to do. Me, I explored the farm and countryside around. My biggest surprise was finding the Midden. The Midden was a walled area. The wall was just high enough for a five year old on tiptoe to look over. And the sight was amazing indeed!

The shit behind the wall was all sorts. Cattle, pig, and human. It was spring so the Byre had been mucked out and the Midden was full. There was a heavy buzzing in the air.

There was brown shit, yellow shit, green shit and there ... peeking out from clumps of hay off the floor of the Byre ... someone had tipped the shit can, and the one before it and the one before that. It was mostly yellowish so stood out from the animal crap. It's shape was different too. Due to human anus shape I guess. And bowel ...

I was very familiar with the shit can because I visited it at least once a day, sometimes more. We had a flush toilet where I usually lived but I rather liked its smell. Rich. Almost like horse shit, but not so. (I guess smell depends on diet.)

Think of that: a daily experience of other peoples' shit inches below one's backside. I squatted of course.

Once in the Midden, altogether with the animal shit, the smell was fantastic. HMMM! I am recalling it right now!
(Odours go straight to the brain without being categorised by reason ... so my recall is perfect! YUM!)

But now I 'm getting off -course.

What St Phatty said in my worm post mirrors my ancestors experience. I would not be here without their shit and their animals shit on the ground they tilled and reaped.

Human shit is very good fertiliser. The shit I use is as pure as organic eaters can get their shit. We understand about health issues so one else shits in our toilet.

PS: you Aztec charcoal soil guys avoid the actuality that Aztec soils blackness was caused equally by human shit!
 

Lester Beans

Frequent Flyer
Veteran
Night soil as the Koreans refer to it. Might also be why they are full of parasites, worms, and diseases. Rule of thumb, don't use the excrement from anything that eats meat.
 

Gypsy Nirvana

Recalcitrant Reprobate -
Administrator
Veteran
If Matt Daemon can do it on Mars then..............

....and if you think shit is so bad, then show your dog a freshly 'laid' diaper/nappy - and see how that goes.

Seriously - much of the world still uses human excrement as a fertilizer, and it works for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmV_zyBJ3Z8

Transforming Human Poop Into Eco-Friendly Fertilizer | Best Job Ever
 
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-BRR-

Member
This can only be the seed for a human shit only grow competition. We should include our diets for reference.
 

Klompen

Active member
I am a big fan of human urine as a fertilizer, but I must say that I draw a line with human feces other than for use with ornamentals. If you want to check out one large-scale use of human feces(and other stuff) for fertilizer, check out Milorganite. I really don't see a point of using human feces on consumable plants when you can get feces from so many other sources so easily.
 

Dog Star

Active member
Veteran
Shit of dog,cats and humans are not quality manure for fertilizing plants...

thats utter stupidity and dont knowing a substance on manures..


Shit of cows are best,then goes horse and sheep manure.. this ones are most quality
and they come from animals that eat grass mostly.. Lester is right when he says dont
use manure from carnivores..


Cow shit is actually art of manure and gives best smelly veggies and weed with
incredible bacteria content that transforms Earth soil in best medium that will
feed plants.. it even have bacteria that will enlarge your serotonine levels so
you will feel better while gardening,its a Mycobacterium vaccae..
beneficial bactery for happiness and feeling good..


Human shit is a manure to avoid.. just mine 5 cents..
 

St. Phatty

Active member
There's a reason that human excrement smells bad to humans,
and good to flies.

Considering the logistics of dealing with 50# of human excrement
vs. 50# of steer manure ...

If one wants to use human excretions as a fertilizer, I suggest #1.

I might have to repeat the test, but ... I planted about 20 bare root roses, one next to the back door.

When I was working out doors, I would go #1 on the rose plant next to the back door.

Which is now HUUUGE, 7 feet tall, multiple main stems, etc.

City of SF applies economies of scale to the matter & the sewage department donated a bunch of 'treated bio-solids' to Parks & Recreation.

Not sure how many takers there were.
 

St. Phatty

Active member
Well, since the subject is #2

I am learning HOW IMPORTANT it is to empty the kitty litter every day.

Cat urine is like molecular acid.

I walk it to a spot 50 yards from the house and dump it.

Then the Chickens show up & pick through everything.

Someday, I will learn the answer to the question -
did the chickens eat the cat droppings ?

Until then, it will remain shrouded in mystery, like life's other eternal questions ... "Did Melania ever cheat on Donald ?"


I take Energy seriously. Amassing a pound of fertilizer takes energy.

Eventually, energy will become expensive enough that people will realize that when they throw away their excrement, they are throwing away fertilizer as well as energy.

I think women will have to lead the charge, to make it "cool".


Until then ... this is probably not a good subject for a first date.
 

therevverend

Well-known member
Veteran
The proper term here is biosolids. Biosolids makes great fertilizer but I'd rather leave it to the professionals. Here's what the EPA has to say about it.

https://www.epa.gov/biosolids/frequent-questions-about-biosolids

I know a grower who has a couple little dogs. Their shit goes in his compost with everything else. Grows nice big green plants, no one's gotten sick from smoking it. During planting season my cat can't wait to take a big dump in my sandy soil I've prepared for transplanting vegetables. Last year he took out a few seedlings I've got to keep an eye on him. Can't blame him though with all the manure I work into it must smell right.

Here's some more on biosolids.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...ory.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3879346acd74

It's becoming more common but still only makes up a small % of the fertilizers farmers use.
 

Crusader Rabbit

Active member
Veteran
....and if you think shit is so bad, then show your dog a freshly 'laid' diaper/nappy - and see how that goes.


One theory of the domestication of dogs, is that they originally followed us around and stayed close because they like to eat human shit. Helps keep the babies clean without diapers!

Danish arctic explorer, Peter Freuchen, told of eskimos dealing with their dogs while doing a #2. Normally it required two people to successfully pinch a loaf. The defecator squatted while their helper kept the hungry dogs at bay with a whip. The morning that a group moved to a new camp was a real treat. Each and every person enjoyed the pleasure of privately taking a shit in a soon to be abandoned igloo, without the company of a pack of frenzied huskies fighting for access to their bunghole.


There's a reason that human excrement smells bad to humans,
and good to flies.

Your nose knows!
 

Gypsy Nirvana

Recalcitrant Reprobate -
Administrator
Veteran
Ha-Ha!....made me laugh Rabbit..


I used to have a whole pack of dogs when I lived out on the beach in Palawan around 8 years ago - and at the time my daughter was 2 and we had a new baby son too - so there was plenty of regular baby-shit about, and the dogs would treat it as if it was some sort of delicacy - like humans would caviar - They would even fight viciously over a soiled diaper/nappy. And none of them died from baby-poo poisoning...lol

To a dog, maybe our poo is like truffles to a French chef?

One theory of the domestication of dogs, is that they originally followed us around and stayed close because they like to eat human shit. Helps keep the babies clean without diapers!

Danish arctic explorer, Peter Freuchen, told of eskimos dealing with their dogs while doing a #2. Normally it required two people to successfully pinch a loaf. The defecator squatted while their helper kept the hungry dogs at bay with a whip. The morning that a group moved to a new camp was a real treat. Each and every person enjoyed the pleasure of privately taking a shit in a soon to be abandoned igloo, without the company of a pack of frenzied huskies fighting for access to their bunghole.




Your nose knows!
 

St. Phatty

Active member
And that's why I refer to ICMag members as the "Brain Trust".

Since handling #2 is no fun -
it makes sense to minimize handling.

Therefore it would be logical to have a rolling privy, with a roof.
And a garden plot with a bunch of holes dug, ahead of time.
So that house residents can excrete into "today's hole in the ground", then roll the privy on to the next hole.

Taking care not to trip and fall face-first into one of yesterday's holes.

I think eventually IKEA will catch on to this.
They will have rolling garden privies at IKEA.


Are we SURE we want to be talking about this ?

What if this thread becomes longer than the Frosty Bud thread ?


The US Army has put some thought into the subject -
https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/fol.htm

70+ page analysis -
https://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a304361.pdf
 

Crusader Rabbit

Active member
Veteran
To a dog, maybe our poo is like truffles to a French chef?


I think baby shit must taste special. Maybe because it is milk based? I regularly walk a dog who likes to eat shit. He was worse as a puppy but you still have to keep an eye on him. But when he gets onto a pasture that's held calves, it's hopeless. He's like a kid in a candy store.


But then again, if I catch a glimpse of a piece of toilet paper sticking out from under a rock I've got to shadow this animal. And of course afterwards he'll want to give ya a big sloppy kiss.


Parasitic worms; what goes around, comes around.
 

MrBungle

Active member
I'll stick with raw salts.... and won't ever knowingly smoke human shit weed.... If I have smoked it in the past it was due to ignorance... :puke:

This might be a reason to pass on "organic" dispensary weed too...


Who determines what is organically grown pot and not organically grown pot in a dispensary?


Are they monitoring the growers and what they use to grow?


I'd definitely want to know if they used human excrement to grow the weed I might be purchasing...


Yet another reason I'm glad I grow my own!!
 

Microbeman

The Logical Gardener
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Several years back I drafted a design for a self contained toilet for complete digestion of feces by composting worms. I'm just waiting for the right time to hit the patent office. When humans realize it is better to handle their own waste instead of passing it off to.....out of sight, out of mind.:)
 

hyposomniac

Active member
If it's brown, flush it down.

I once had a job wiping ass for disabled folks. Not great.
I don't have a dog because of how gross dogshit is.
And if I saw my dog eat shit, I would have to throw him down a well.
 

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