Xil

[url=http://www.yahooka.com/forum/nursery/160262-onto-my-3rd-grow.html]This thread[/thread] reminded me of a question I've had for quite a while. I can't grow in my current living situation (apartment mates wouldn't approve and I won't do it without the consent of people I live with), so it's not really urgent, just something that's been bugging me for when i do grow.

I've always heard bat poo is a great fertilizer, and when I do grow I plan on going 100% organic, and us much non-store bought/local materials as possible (as a matter of principle, not economy). A friend of mine with a bit of property has a tarp hanging up in a small cave in his property, and although this was not his intention, it is FILLED with quite a bit of bat shit. He has no use for this and just empties it out when it looks like its sagging low enough to possibly burst. I'd love to use this because it goes along with my organic/free/local grow philosophy.

My question is whether or not this is safe. Does it need to be treated, cured, or anything else? Does it's usefulness depend on the type of bat or diet? I think i remember someone telling me that fresh shit can burn plants, but I don't know how this applies to bat shit, or what fresh implies...

thanks for your knowledge

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farmergiles

Awesome, compost it!

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Cultivate a stoic calmness

SageTree

I'm divided between a 'quicker than the fire dept in putting out fires.... or a quick drawl, shoot 'em dead analogy.....


niiiice response time man.....



Batshit crazy,
SageTree

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Xil

Thanks man, good to know you have to compost it. To use it indoors after this could I/would i have to pasteurize it in the oven?

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Sugar420

oh no that would ruin it!
the point of composting is to let lots and lots of microorganisms grow, reproduce and start chelating and whatever else they do to make the nutrients avalible to the plants in the form that they like best; but also, the plant and the microorganisms work together. you deff want them alive and interacting with the roots of the plant in a symbiotic way. this is real organic activity
after composting there shouldnt be any strong odor -if there is, it is a sign that either composting isnt finished or things have gone wrong. but as long as there is plenty of oxygen avalible then theres not much to go wrong in a process that just happens naturally.

Xil

Good to know, i've heard of the microhoard before, should have thought of that. how do you take the soil inside without taking in a host of harmful pests and insects?

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Sugar420

what harmful pests and insects are you afraid of?
if you live in some obscure part of australia that is infested with poisionous spiders and furious stinging centipedes that leap out of potted plants at you, then i can see a reason for concern.

otherwise, i think that a philosophy of growing your own 100% organic as a matter of principle could/should be connected with the awareness that all living things on this planet are so interconnected that we cant afford anymore to think of any living organism so dismissivly as "harmful pests and insects". This kind of thinking is so pervasive that millions of gallons of petrolieum products are sprayed onto commercial crops. millions of dollars are spent on this activity not because of any scientific reason, but because of the philosophy that if you want to grow a crop of something then you must not allow any other living thing to exist in the same area.

even tho we can easily recognize that this way of growing is not sustainable, it is difficult to drop that mindset because even our language has a kind of utilitarian hard line when it comes to agriculture, like there is no mistake about what is a weed, or a pest, or vermin. im really high and i dont know where im going with this.

tl;dr if you are gonna act like a hippie then you must live like a hippy and this means accepting a few bugs. but dont worry cuz its groovy.

farmergiles

I think bat poo is pretty kosher being largely made of digested insects (or fruit or blood or whatever bats eat lol). So no worries.

If someone was using composted cow or horse manure they might want to make sure the composting process worked well to eliminate seeds or pests that had survived- because the ruminants (is a horse a ruminant?) have a herbaceous diet where those seeds and pests are present in the first place.

But if the composting process works properly then all that is taken care of anyway.

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Pharm Girl

I saw a reference to guano being used in the making of ....;Mascara; (maybelline)....over in the UK I think.

Here's a bunch of info I found....

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......A message for ALL from the Deer Tribe...~

It is a great journey —
but you must do the walking
and have the willingness to change
and make the leap into
the next level of human evolution.

Become an inquisitive free thinking
individual that takes
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Fuck the Monkeys