Is Dog Poop Good Fertilizer for Flowers, Trees, Plants, and Lawns?

If you are searching for a way to use the dog poop as fertilizer in your garden or lawn but at the same time you are wondering “is dog poop good fertilizer for flowers or vegetables?”.

I am going to show you how dog poop works on the growth of flowering plants or vegetable gardens or is it a good thing for your flowers and your lawns.

In short, you would come to know the optimized way to get the full advantage from dog poop on nonfood plants i.e shrubs, flowers, etc.

Let’s get started.

How does dog poop react to plants?

Due to many disturbing reasons for using dog poop in the garden, many gardeners don’t like to add dog poop as fertilizer to their plants. And the reason for their dislike is very authentic.

As we know that the high nitrogenous fertilizer application leads to the burning of plant roots and unlike cow dung, the amount of nitrogen or protein is very high in dog poop which could lead to the roots burning.

The addition of dog poop to the soil increases the nitrogenous contents of the soil and the plants growing in that soil will encourage leafy herbaceous growth at the expense of flowers and fruits.

The adding of dog poop to the garden soil would become a headache for you due to its smell and its effects on the fruits produced in that garden that will lead you to many health risks.

Dog poop adding to the garden, especially fruits or vegetables, has many risks to human health. Some are discussed below that would help you to understand why professional gardeners don’t like dog poop.

1. Nitrogen levels

Most people are wondering why the plants thrive in cow manure but in dog poop. Here is the answer to that question.

The main reason for that mystery is the amount of nitrogen content in the dog poop.

The manures from the cows do have a balanced nutrient composition as they are herbivores and have totally opposite feeding habits to the dogs.

But in dogs’ cases, they are carnivores so the dog poop is high in nitrogen/protein contents and this marks the major difficulty to apply the poop to plants that could cause injury to the plant’s health.

The main question arouse here is why the excess of nitrogen is a danger for plants?

According to the study conducted by “University of Illinois Extension Gardeners Manual”, the excess nitrogen causes the burning of leaves, roots and prevents the plants from producing normal flowers and seeds.

This statement supports the fact of the danger of nitrogen on the health of plants.

After this study, it is clear that the nitrogen contents more than the requirement of the plant could lead to injury to roots which will ultimately lead to the death of the plant.

2. Human health risk

By reading the above heading don’t get me wrong that keeping a dog in the house is a danger for plants or gardens. Nor am I saying that the dog poop at home would cause the plants to die.

But dog poop is a health risk for human health if it is applied directly to the vegetables or fruit plants as the poop will leave an effect on the fruits by plants.

The question that arose here is that if dog poop is applied to plants how would it be a health risk for humans?

Normally, it seems that the dog contains the organic nutrients that would be helpful for the plant’s growth but the fact is totally against this argument.

If you really value your health then never give a try to add dog poop to the food crops.

Dog poop affects human health this way that it contains parasitic pathogens that are harmful to human beings.

The eggs of Toxocara canis are the type of roundworms that are the main parasites in the poop and these roundworms do affect human health in a very bad way.

The surprising thing here to be noted is that 90 percent of the young puppies have these worms so their poop does also have these worms.

Whenever these worm eggs reach the food products by any means, they will find a way to the human host.

So that is the reason why gardeners are discouraged to use dog poop in growing crops.

Why is dog poop discouraged as fertilizer for flowers?

The flowering plant’s growth feed cycle includes more potassium and phosphorus than nitrogen for flowering. But in the case of the dog poop that composition is totally against it.

The nitrogen does only promotes the green foliage growth and suppresses the flowering by not the availability of potassium.

But the dog poop can be used as fertilizer for some plants like shrubs and flowers after proper composting.

Here the composting of dog poop is well discussed below:

Tips To Help You To Create Dog Poop Compost

After reading the scary things of adding dog poop in the garden, is it still encouraged to get benefits from dog poop?

If YES, then here are some useful tips to follow,

Let’s start,

As previously described, dog poop is not good for food crops even after composting it has the same lethal effects for vegetables and fruits.

Then where the dog poop compost can be used?

Dog poop compost can be used for non-food crops or non-food gardens. It includes all types of nonfruit trees, shrubs, and flower gardens.

These are some steps to make compost of dog poop. Follow these steps carefully.

Step#1 – Get your supplies ready

• Firstly get a plastic garbage can
• Make sure that can has a removable lid
• The size of garbage can depend on the amount of compost you are going to prepare
• Try to get the garbage can that is able to reach the bottom area will be a good option if you are going to harvest poop when the time comes

Step#2 –Cut and drill your can

• You will have an electric or manual drill and a keyhole saw.
• With the help of saw cut the bottom part of the can and drill holes on the sides of the can
• These holes help the proper drainage of compost

Step#3 – Bury the can

• Dig a hole enough to put the garbage can in it
• After digging put the can into the hole along with some blocks
• The hole should be big enough to bury the can such a way that only the top of the can is visible on the ground
• Now put some pebbles or large stones on the lid to prevent others from opening it

Step#4 – Introduce dog poop and septic starter

• Now start adding the dog poop in the garbage can
• After adding dog poop add septic tank starter as well
• The septic starter will take at least 48 hours to start
• Keep adding dog poop whenever you want but always add a layer of septic starter on each layer

So, the compost is ready. It can be applied now to any non-foody plant.

What if my garden has dog feces problems? How should you handle such cases?

Most people seem to be complaining about this problem. It is a common problem for many people in the areas where the gardens are open to reaching dogs and they litter your garden with feces.

If any such thing happens then immediately get rid of waste and don’t let them decay there.

Final Verdict

Now again back to the main question, is dog poop good fertilizer for flowers?

After proper composting, the dog poop compost can be applied to any nonfood gardens that include flowering plants as well.

But one thing to be taken care of is that keep an eye to add potassium and phosphorus nutrients to flowers as well when it shows symptoms.

Always hygiene yourself by washing your hands to avoid being affected.