biosolids

[medicinewoman]

biosolids

Has anyone taken advantage of biosolids for use in your pasture and hay fields?
If so, what were the pros and cons of using it and did it do what you expected it to do?
MW

[cross_7]

i don't like the idea of being charged a sewage fee then they sell it back to me as fertilizer.
nope i'm smarter than that.
i cut out the middle man and just go crap in the pasture

[Banjo]

biosolids

Has anyone taken advantage of biosolids for use in your pasture and hay fields?
If so, what were the pros and cons of using it and did it do what you expected it to do?
MW

I have a friend who has a porta-john business and he puts it on his pasture fields. He thinks its great. He said it did have some non-biodegradable stuff in it ...if you get my meanin'. Also one of the municipalities here sell it or give it away too he said, but I think the State regulates how much you can put on. Idon't think I would want it anywhere I thought that I might potentially put a garden.

[James T]

For most people it's just psychological. It's human manure - - harmless. I have not ever used it but have observed eighteen wheeler loads being dumped at a ranch nearby (this is usually about 5:30 in the morning) where they load it into a spreader and distribute over the pastures. That pasture sure greens up after a rain! I don't know the chemical breakdown but I suspect its pretty weak all the way around but that might be why they spread so much of it on a weekly basis. I have no idea if the rancher pays for it or get it free. The place is about an hours drive from Houston, Texas.

[Banjo]

For most people it's just psychological. It's human manure - - harmless. I have not ever used it but have observed eighteen wheeler loads being dumped at a ranch nearby (this is usually about 5:30 in the morning) where they load it into a spreader and distribute over the pastures. That pasture sure greens up after a rain! I don't know the chemical breakdown but I suspect its pretty weak all the way around but that might be why they spread so much of it on a weekly basis. I have no idea if the rancher pays for it or get it free. The place is about an hours drive from Houston, Texas.

It's human manure - - harmless. quote.... I don't know about that. I don't know all of the processing that it goes thru....out on the pasture, lots of sunshine on it,I'm sure its ok. I wouldn't want anything straight from someone else's septic tank dumped on my garden. Not in this day and age.
My Dad told me about when he was in Korea in the 50's the people over there used it everywhere and they were told not to eat any of the vegetables because the diseases would come thru the vegetables, however, they could eat fruit from fruit trees with no problem, fruit trees didn't pass anything thru.

[James T]

For most people it's just psychological. It's human manure - - harmless. I have not ever used it but have observed eighteen wheeler loads being dumped at a ranch nearby (this is usually about 5:30 in the morning) where they load it into a spreader and distribute over the pastures. That pasture sure greens up after a rain! I don't know the chemical breakdown but I suspect its pretty weak all the way around but that might be why they spread so much of it on a weekly basis. I have no idea if the rancher pays for it or get it free. The place is about an hours drive from Houston, Texas.

It's human manure - - harmless. quote.... I don't know about that. I don't know all of the processing that it goes thru....out on the pasture, lots of sunshine on it,I'm sure its ok. I wouldn't want anything straight from someone else's septic tank dumped on my garden. Not in this day and age.
My Dad told me about when he was in Korea in the 50's the people over there used it everywhere and they were told not to eat any of the vegetables because the diseases would come thru the vegetables, however, they could eat fruit from fruit trees with no problem, fruit trees didn't pass anything thru.

Banjo, I guess the best way to feel secure with the idea is research 'sewage treatment" . I think you will find in most cases that treatment plants work to remove biological and chemical (and others) contaminants. I understand there is at least one country that takes the effluent and renders it back to drinking water. Once you can accept the process and what your getting for fertilizer, then it's just a matter of understanding what value it has to a pasture grass and acting accordingly.

[Banjo]

I guess coming from a treatment plant would be ok. I guess I would be concerned primarily with the stuff coming from the tanks of these guys out here pumping septic tanks and even that would probably be ok on the hayfield, but not on the vegetable garden.

[user1]

In the past I know some big companies bought up ranches in remote areas and then got contracts to dump sewage from NY and other areas. They didn't care if they ruined the land , what they got paid for disposal was a heck of a lot more than the ranches they bought. They claimed that it had some high metals(lead etc) etc in it.

In other words, it was pretty crappy fertilizer

[Bigfoot]

Back in the spring, there was a thread about this. It got me interested in checking into it. I called the local plant. They said they had given it away in the past, but it was such a public relations nightmare that they quit doing it almost immediatly. I think the quality of it would depend on the poop to water ratio.

[medicinewoman]

You’ll are confusing raw sewage with sewer sludge and sewer sludge with biosolids.

Raw sewage is what was under the old time outhouse and is found in septic tanks today.

Sewer sludge is the solid waste found at sewage treatment plants after it was collected through pipes and ground up with most of the water removed.

Biosolids is sewer sludge after it is processed to remove heavy metals and other contaminates and treated with lime in accordance with EPA regulations making it safe for use as a safe lime and fertilizer mixture.

In my area it is offered and applied free of charge.
Before it is applied a soil test is done on each field to determine the tons needed per acre.
The fields are flagged for a 50 foot setback of all property lines and watershed areas and it is applied with a spreader.

IMO as the old timers use to say: move the outhouse, plant a tree and jump back and watch it grow as it now looks like my 3rd cutting of hay will surpass the two previous cuttings combined and the pastures are growing at twice the rate they previously grew.
I am now seriously considering increasing my herd size.
My lime and fertilizer cost this year is $0 and probably will remain at $0 for a few more years.

Now for you environmentalist.
Sewage is here to stay as long as man remains on the planet, so what would you like to do with it?
1. Dump it in the ocean
2. Bury it in a land fill
or
3. Treat it and use it as fertilizer

I would strongly recommend you do a little research and check with your county agent to see if such a biosolids program is available in your area.

MW

[MShaffer]

Here is a link to the FAQ page for a product sold in Louisville, KY.

http://www.louisvillegreen.com/faq.htm

[Bigfoot]

You would need a bunch of that Louisville crap to get 300 pounds of nitrogen on an acre.

[greybeard]

Anyone with an aerobic waste water treatment plant for their home is spraying human waste onto their lawn and shrubs--I do. I would have no problem using human bio solids anywhere except I am on a watershed feeding the City of Houston's Lake Houston (Their drinking water). Not that I care too terribly much about those folks with sidewalks anyway, but da law is kinda touchy about such things. I might worry about e coli in my garden, but then again, I use cow poop every year--but not the green stuff.

I could be mistaken, but I believe our Navy uses a process to re-use liquid wasate for drinking water, as the pressures in the deep prevent too many interfaces with the outof hull environment. Certainly, reuse will be neccessary if we ever get into long manned space voyages.

[slick4591]

When the space shuttles were operating they recycled urine as drinking water.

http://www.space.com/6733-astronauts-dr ... brate.html

[Douglas]

Where are you located medicinewoman, roughly speaking.