Yard Art Pet Poo Composter

[jerojath]

Just wondering if anyone has used the Yard Art Pet Poo Composter and what you think of it?

Would rather not spend $179 if it's no good!

Thoughts?

DETAILS HERE!

:)

WEBSITE HERE!

Edited April 8, 2015 by jerojath

[Simply Grand]

I thought I'd read that dog poo isn't good as compost....but I can't remember where I read that or why it isn't good, so that's not very helpful

[jerojath]

I thought I'd read that dog poo isn't good as compost....but I can't remember where I read that or why it isn't good, so that's not very helpful

I've heard the same thing, hence my reluctance to just go and buy it!

I've heard that worms won't work with dog poo because it is mostly meat-waste.

Mind you, I haven't heard these points from overly reliable sources, so hoping someone here may use one! :laugh:

[Stressmagnet]

OMG though. If it was any good...

[Steve]

I thought I'd read that dog poo isn't good as compost....but I can't remember where I read that or why it isn't good, so that's not very helpful

I've heard the same thing, hence my reluctance to just go and buy it!

I've heard that worms won't work with dog poo because it is mostly meat-waste.

Mind you, I haven't heard these points from overly reliable sources, so hoping someone here may use one! :laugh:

These work well - we used one similar years ago if you only have a couple of dogs they are great

We use worm farms for our dog poo which were designed for us by someone who knew what he was doing about 10 years ago

You just cant have only dog poo in them and have to use other combustible material in a fairly high ratio - we also add enzymes - cant put poo in them if you have used wormers either.

[westiemum]

You can achieve the same result much more simply and cheaply using a hole digger from Bunnings ( about $75 last time I looked ) and compost. Found this on the net but this is what I did until the demolition team moved to pull the house down and it worked well. No smell or nasties. And after I deposited the poo I just put a layer of compost over the top . When I filled that hole I just moved onto the next one. Hope it helps.

So does post-hole composting.In post hole composting, the material to be composted is put so deep down that u can even put in pet poo, weeds and weed seeds and most invasives. No garden weeds, weed seeds, or plant matter have propagated from this method as of yet. I've used it on dog and cat poo, thistles, kudzu, loosestrife, etc. just fine. But I wouldn't use any of the truly serious pest plants. No bamboo, no poison ivy or devils walking stick, no Comfrey or mature Rumex crispus (curly dock), no bindweed, no deep rooted plant that is known to grow from root cuttings.

Using an auger posthole digger, go down until below topsoil, fill hole about half full with ditch lilies, kitchen compost, dryer lint, bones and/or scales from animals you ate, random garden wastes, prunings, pet fur, human hair, maybe a little manure (or pet poo)- anything organically non dangerous to plants and animals. Then fill hole with topsoil and tamp. Becomes a worm paradise, even breaks up hardpan and significantly improves soil in time. When u finally reach the last place u haven't dug a posthole, the first location will probably be composted entirely. U can also pre-dig a series of holes ahead of time to be ready for the next batch of compost materials (such as ditch lilies) to be dropped in. The top of the compost material deposit should always be over a foot down from the surface.

This is simple and easy.

Method courtesy of Folian Don1942, who with his almost 70 years of gardening has had strong motivation and plenty of time to find such solutions. :)

Edited April 8, 2015 by westiemum

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

probably not a good idea to put the dog poo in the garden / compost when you've given the wormer the day before. Ie that will kill the worms in the garden as well as the dog gut. Same as horse poop from freshly wormed horses.

Theoretically if you have a heathy parasite free dog the poop can be composted into the garden. My mum likes to do this but she doesn't have dogs at her place daily. I find it just too horrible.

That bin is erm - huge?!. I've seen simpler systems. You'd probably want to layer the poop up with other stuff like dirt, grass clippings, leaves, etc same as ordinary compost.

My ordinary compost is not like the commercial composters that my green waste goes to. If I put the dog poop into a compostable bag - I could put that into the commercial compost and that would be good (except worming day).

But the compostable compost bags decompose in the poop bucket faster than the green bin gets emptied. And I'm not interested in double handling the poop.

[jerojath]

Thanks for the input. I'm still undecided....

I imagine adding garden lime would assist in breaking down the waste, but wonder if the lime would have an adverse affect on the worms?

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

garden lime

Depends on the PH of your soil to start with.

I'm on Mitcham Clay which has a PH that turns the soil test kit purple (eg 8 or 9 bloody alkaline already) so I'm not putting lime anywhere near it.

Sometimes I put ammonium sulphate in the hopes of making the dirt a bit more acid. eg a neutral pH of 7 or just under would be good.

Compost can be either acid or alkaline - eg mushroom compost is often extremely alkaline but other compost can be quite acid (get the soil test kit out again - one $30 kit will many many tests).

[dwynwen]

I have never had any success with composting of any kind.

That bin is certainly more attractive than any others I've seen though.

[dwynwen]

Got me thinking ... I have been considering a bokashi bucket for kitchen scraps ...They do a pet "system" too

Worms haven't worked for me .... Maybe microbes will.

I have two large dogs who do most of their pooping on walks - i'm not undoing baggies ... No way.

But this might work for the few they do at home.

[Stressmagnet]

I'm weirdly fascinated by that.

[Loving my Oldies]

I can't believe these things are on the market and I've never really understood the problem people have with disposing of dog poos. These contraptions are Just another very clever way to part people from their money and I can only assume, from the proliferation of designs, that they are successful :laugh:

If you have a garden, just dig the poo into the garden.

If you have a compost heap - ditto.

Even if you live in a flat or apartment, there must be gardens of some sort around the complex.

Poo is biodegradable - put it in the ground.

For my kitchen scraps, I have a little plastic bin with a lid and all my compostable scraps go into that. It never smells, I never use any of the products that are on the market. It just gets emptied into the compost heap every couple of days and rinsed with the hose.

[Loving my Oldies]

Got me thinking ... I have been considering a bokashi bucket for kitchen scraps ...They do a pet "system" too

Worms haven't worked for me .... Maybe microbes will.

I have two large dogs who do most of their pooping on walks - i'm not undoing baggies ... No way.

But this might work for the few they do at home.

I am experimenting with so called biodegradable bags and putting them into the compost heap. If they don't degrade, I will be making a claim on the company for false advertising :laugh: :laugh:

[hippo]

I tried using a post hole digger and filling it with poo. Really should have put other stuff in there, though. My ground was quite hard, so all that happened was when it rained, it filled up with poo water and never really went down. Smelled a bit in summer. Moved house and wonder what the new occupiers think of that strange PVC pipe in the ground with brown liquid?

[Loving my Oldies]

I tried using a post hole digger and filling it with poo. Really should have put other stuff in there, though. My ground was quite hard, so all that happened was when it rained, it filled up with poo water and never really went down. Smelled a bit in summer. Moved house and wonder what the new occupiers think of that strange PVC pipe in the ground with brown liquid?

Well for a start, you didn't need the PVC pipe as that would have left only the size of the circle for the earth to work.

Just dig a hole and if you think that isn't going to be enough, then rake in leaves and garden litter. And if you still think that won't work, get a bag of garden soil and sprinkle some over every time you give the hole a deposit. :laugh:

[westiemum]

Yep thats the way to do it DDD!

[Loving my Oldies]

Yep thats the way to do it DDD!

I'm a pooxpert :laugh: :laugh:

[Maddy]

If you have sandy soil, they probably work well enough. If you have clay soil, you will end up with a hellacious pit of ungodly stench.

I bought a similar one (and dropped the extra cash for a bottle of the enzyme tablets for it, which are supposed to make it work better) and yeeeeeeeeeah. There are no words to describe the depth and ferocity of the smell of poo that has sat in a wet hole in the ground for a few months, fermenting and growing more powerful, like some kind of subterranean monster that feeds on poo.

Out of curiosity, I also tried with a bucket and more enzyme tablets (the instructions said it would turn poo into something you could just tip over your lawn or whatever) and that was possibly worse. My dogs are raw fed so their poo is pretty benign but in the bucket.. it was like.. raw human sewerage, if you added rotten eggs, a few dead animals and then seasoned it liberally with some old steamed cabbage. The sort of thing you'd need to file for government approval to dispose of because it smelled so toxic.

[Loving my Oldies]

I hope you related your experience to the company, Maddy? As I say, these contraptions are just a way of getting people parted from their money.