. We are in what could be called a suburban environment, and our system works fine. When we empty the compost toilet, we put it into a holding bin where it ages for another year or two. Because of the wood shavings or sawdust we use, it doesn't smell, even when taking it out of the house, so there is nothing to attract attention. When we empty the holding bin and spread the compost on our trees and shrubs, it is beautiful stuff. I do wear bright yellow rubber gloves when doing this, so that might raise an eyebrow. But doing it early in the morning, or wearing clear latex gloves, would take care of that potential problem. They never need know.Ryan M Miller wrote:I wonder if anyone has tried to compost humanure in a suburban environment..
Tyler Ludens wrote:I don't want to purchase wood shavings for composting toilet, so I'd like to know if leaves and forest duff, of which I have plenty, is a good substitute. Is there a particular reason people use shavings, or is it just convenience and aesthetics? Are leaves not sufficiently absorbent?
Thanks for any insight.
Julie Reed wrote:Holy cow Diane! That’s some expensive gravel! From your numbers, that’s just over 40 yards. Maybe in your area it costs that much, but 3/4 minus is usually around $10/yd, which would be $400 for the gravel itself. I realize you have delivery, raking and compacting, but that’s still not much trucking (4 trips) and labor (1/2 day maybe?) for the additional $2600. Might be worth getting a second price?
Henry Jabel wrote:I vote for more gravel. Of all my customers the drives with 6" of gravel hardly needs any weeding, compared to others which need reweeding every month or so during the growing season. By the time you factor in your time and money buying and applying spray etc several times a year in the long run more gravel is really the sensible option.
Personally I find the flame weeding rather slow and while the vinegar does work it is less effective when it rains, which can happen almost any time in England!
Bryant RedHawk wrote:If you just want the gravel area to always be gravel, there is an option that even though it sounds really drastic, does work and the side effects do go away with applications of water (rain).
The material is easy to find at almost any hardware store, it is called muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid in the lab), the most common layman use of this acid is brick cleaning of excess mortar, it is a very low pH acid and the bottle concentration needs to be 1:1 diluted (acid into water not water into acid) if you use it on gravel drives for "weed" control.
By the way that goose grass will die and remain dead.
I have resorted to this particular acid two times on our gravel drive to kill the roots of sumac trees.
If you decide to try this, be sure to leave around a 1 foot margin on the drive, this helps keep the grass (or other plants) healthy since there is a buffer zone border.
Redhawk