Dog Poop Composter

[navajo]

Good day all!

I have 2 big dogs and don't want to add their waste to my compost bin for the garden but have seen some composters for pet waste online. I don't have that much money to buy something for this but was wondering...

The pet waste composters offered online work by adding some "ingredient" occasionally. Does anyone know what this is and if I can do it myself?

I was thinking about burrying a 5 gallon bucket with a bunch of drilled holes in the yard with a tight fitting lid and dumping the poop in there every few days, but would I need some kind of enzyme or bacteria for it to work?

Thanks for looking.

Tom

[Kisal]

As with almost everything, there are instructions online for your project!

I Googled make a homemade dog waste disposal.

I found How to Build Your Own Pet Waste Composter.

I have no idea whether this design will work or not, or whether it will be able to process the output of 2 large dogs. Having owned Komondors and Newfoundlands, always in pairs, I understand what you're dealing with!

Do note the caveat that these things, even the ones you buy ready made, tend not to work well in heavy clay soil.

[rainbowgardener]

This was Helpful Gardener (Scott)'s suggestion:


Dig a post hole like four feet deep; line with chimney liner or such. add a foot of gravel at bottom for sump, throw in animal poop. Add EM or bokashi. Cover hole with lid. That was in this thread:
http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... 538#106538

Here's another thread about composting animal waste:

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... aste#61021

down in the middle of the page "rot" has a nice post about how he composts dog "gifts" (his term )

[hendi_alex]

The digesting enzyme (or whatever it is called) is sold at Lowes and other big box stores for a modest price. We have a doggy dooly and it works very well. Prior to that I just dug a hole about two feet deep and one foot diameter and would alternate dog droppings with a little soil. Never noticed any odor and a hole would last at least a year. Only consideration I had was placement, putting the hole where no one is likely to be gardening or handling the soil for many years. We are in sand which works much better than a dense soil like clay. If in clay I would build one of the septic arrangements like is described above with a liner, gravel, and cover.

One thing that I did consider but never acted on, was simply adding an access to my septic line, between the house and the septic tank. Dog droppings could be added there, and would be washed down with the next water flow from the house. Project would cost very little if done by the individual.

[rot]

..
The Joe Jenkins composting method for humanure works fine for me.

My latest bin has gone fungal and I've topped it at least three time this year and I'm about to top it again. It looks like I can top it once a month with about 6 cu ft of feed stock in about a cu yd volume which is about the rate I need to digest for what is produced. I'm thinking about seeing just how long I can keep feeding it. It's a year and half now and I'd like to get to two years.

4 big dogs.

4 pallets pushed together. Window screen to mitigate rodent invasions. 6 inches of browns on the bottom. I build up the exterior walls with grass clippings mixed with some easy digesting browns that are handy. Fill up the center with the stuff stored in buckets with shredded paper (saw dust would be far better but I can't get that stuff) for cover. After adding to the center, I cover with browns, grass clippings, coffee grounds, leaves. Add water and it makes its own sauce.

After 6 months or so the volume will start reducing so you can go another 6 months adding and reducing before topping. Once mine went fungal, the volume reduction increased. It sits on pavers and worms make their way in. If I don't let it dry out, it's worm city.

Let sit for about a year and you won't find a spec of cereal. Previously, in under a cu yd bins, I'd feed for six months and let sit for 12. I was cycling through 4 bins. I made a larger one and right this moment I have just one more smaller bin in waiting. If I can feed the smaller one for a little more than a year, I can maintain just a two bin system in under a 16 sq ft foot print.

If I water once a day after adding about 6 cu ft of feed stock, I get about 130 to 140 F for days. I can count on 120 F still by the end of the week. The worms and the fungi do the rest of the remediation for me.

Some work involved but if a lazy slob like myself can make it work, it can't be too onerous.

http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html#

to sense
..

[rot]

..
I miscalculated. Should be under 30 sq ft for the two bins digesting away. About a 25 sq ft foot print I figure.

w/apologies
..

[navajo]

Sorry to do the old "drive by posting"!

It's been a crazy week!

But as always, you folks have given me more info to think about and strategies to try.

The dogs in question are a St Bernard and a German Shepherd. So there is a LOT of "material" that needs to be done away with.

Not sure I want to dig a 4 ft hole to bury it though as we are on a well. Yes, I know in the big scheme of things, a 4 foot difference in where the poop lies isn't much, it just seems yucky to me!

Back to the old drawing board!