Pig Poop

Here are some suggestions for putting that pig poop you have so much of to good use by making your own fertilizer and going green.

Some say that you can't or shouldn't put fresh manure on plants as it is too strong. We have never had a problem with putting fresh pig berries in the veggie garden here at Pigs4Ever, but want to offer you some other suggestions.

The first is manure tea. You just soak some pig berries with water for a few hours, then pour away. Another way of making it is to let it air dry in a card board box for 24-36 hours before grinding, the ammonia goes away.  Grind to the consistency of peat moss or loose tea then bag. The tea infusion or elixir seems to work very well. Don't over dry the little things because then it is like chopping golf balls in the food processor and doesn't work.

Take the poop and put it into a big burlap sack. Tie it and hang from a stick stretched across a trash can full of water. It is sort of like a tea bag! After a week you start using (and replacing) the water on your plants.

Another suggests letting it age for 4-6 weeks then diluting with equal parts of water and apply to plants. Then add the contents of the bag to your compost pile.

Someone from Minnesota scoops up their pigberries all winter then heaps them in the  garden. So the berries are frozen, not composting. First thing in the spring till the whole mess into the garden...hay, old previously frozen berries and fresh berries. Works like a charm! Great tomatoes...plus interesting things that have survived the passage through the pigger gastrointestinal tract...last year we had some really nice acorn squash, compliments of the pigs.

My pigs have planted & fertilized their own watermelon all in one step. Another friends pigs have done the same with pumpkins.

 I could be wrong but I haven't found the poop "burning" my plants even though it isn't broken down into compost.  It breaks down naturally on the surface (it is a slower process).  I also put berries in my flower beds and at the base of some of my plants and trees.

If you want to use pig poop on new plants then you may want to use pig poop that is aged or has been composted as it may burn the young roots. How you use pig poop on established plants seems to vary depending on where you live. Here in Fla. I find that it breaks down fairly quickly. So it is put directly around the plants. In Idaho we did compost it before tilling it into the veggie garden.

Good luck and have fun.