THE POOP!!!
By Montana Grant

Posted: March 8, 2021

Pet poop is surfacing as our snows melt away. Sadly, this Winter’s poop will not quickly dissolve. You have a couple of best choices. You can pick it up or pick it up! There is no magic spray.

If you add pet poop to your garden or mulch, you risk spreading parasitic worms and diseases. Pet poop could be loaded with several parasitic worms or harmful diseases that can spread to humans. The contamination will occur form bare feet, airborne, insects, or consumption.

Pet poop can be composted and mulched, just not in your vegetable garden. The mulched compost must be heated to 165 degrees for 5-6 days to kill all harmful bacteria. It is best used on shrubs and non-edible plants.

Ideally, you need to do your Poop Patrol, us a wide bladed shovel and a hand trowel. Do not mow it into your lawn. Gather it up and deal with it. Putting it into a landfill is not the best idea. Do not dump it into a river or throw it over the fence. It takes a year to break down. During that time, you will potentially infect and contaminate your property and watershed.

To be environmentally correct, make a backyard Honey Hole! You can purchase commercial compost digesters but a homemade one works well. Take a large 30 gallon plus plastic trash can or container. Dig a hole that is deep enough to fit the unit. You only need a few inches of the container to rise above the ground. The Honey Hole can also be a foot or so deeper than the tub’s bottom. This gap allows for air to help breakdown the waste more quickly. As the waste digests, it will fall into the pit and absorb into the earth.

Cut holes in the container’s sides and bottom. Use a hole saw, maybe 1 3/4 inch in diameter. You want the worms and insects to be able to gain access. The lid can be made of metal or wood. Design a hinged door with a handle that you can manipulate with your toes. This way, you can use your foot to open and close the lid when dumping the poop.

Using enzymes or composting chemicals, you can constantly allow the poop to breakdown and feed into the ground. Place the Honey Hole in a remote, sunny corner of the yard, at least 40 feet away from your vegetable garden. This will serve as a buffer. You will need to add some water and chemical routinely.

Chemicals come in pellets, bags, powders, and sacks. Try using a Donolytic lime to eliminate odors and break down the waste. Pelletized Lime works best. Add some sawdust or wood chips from your shop to add carbon into the digester. With routine care, the digester will never fill. You pet waste will be odorless, and safely removed from your lawn. Oh, and never do a Poop Patrol in bare feet!

Flush the waste away and keep your yard healthy!

Montana Grant

For more Montana Grant, find him doing Poop Patrol at www.montanagrantfishing.com.

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