Old Harry Dodson Recipe

[Shirley Sherriffs]

I wonder if there is place today for an old recipe Harry Dodson showed on The Victorian Garden.

He took a sackful of cowpats in an old hessian sack and like a teabag immersed it in a tank of water. The resulting opaque gungy green liquid looked horrible but he said it did the brassicas a world of good.

We all use stuff like comfrey and manure(mixing it into the soil) but can such a mixture as his above actually transfer harmful bacteria into what we will eventually eat?

[Snadger]

As far as I know, plants don't absorb bacteria, only nutrients? A plant doesn't mind whether it gets it's sustainance organically or inorganically as long as the right mix of nutrients are available!

Organic matter in the form of animal manure has been used for eons without adverse effects, as far as I know!

[ann-the-nan]

Ols Harry Dodson Recipe

Sounds logical to me. When I was at school, eons ago, we were taught that the chinese used human manure. I don't know how true that was, and I haven't got round to trying it. Anywayup, there are enough Chinese to make it a profitable venture.

[bluemoon]

Sounds logical to me. When I was at school, eons ago, we were taught that the chinese used human manure. I don't know how true that was, and I haven't got round to trying it. Anywayup, there are enough Chinese to make it a profitable venture.

Don't know about the Chinese, but number 1 daughter hasn't eaten rice since she drove past a paddy field in India!
As Snadger says, the bacteria won't go into the veg, but might linger on it. Lettuces are notorious for harbouring the 0157:H7 strain of E. coli, which can be deadly for children and those with repressed immune systems. Unfortunately this particular strain is found in cattle manure. Personally I'd avoid using the liquid on crops which aren't going to be cooked to within an inch of their lives. Though I do use well rotted manure dug into the soil.

[stupot]

The ways plants inport water and nutrients doesn't allow bacteria into the plant. As bluemoon says bacteria could only linger on the surface of the veggies and as these bacteria are designed to live in a gut of an animal very few would survive... A good wash would finish the rest!!

[Fat Bob]

I thought we used human waste as fertiliser in this country? Don't the sewage works treat it then give it free to farmers?

I used to work in the countryside and at 4am you would see plain white tankers with green hoses going over the hedges into fields. The smell was pretty bad too - nothing like pig manure.

I may have dreamt all this.