I'm making a mini-eco-system, fertilizer ideas anyone?

Question

Im thinking horse doody in my backyard wont harm the insects, toads, worms, and other small creatures in this glass Bottle ecosystem. The bottle is very large, better than three gallons, maybe more than four. I might forget about putting a toad in there, since theyre used to roaming all around. But im defininetly going to buy some crickets from a petstore that would normally be going straight to their death and give them a new home, LOL. Anyways I am pretty sure that any chemical fertilizer I would use for keeping the grass and other small plants healthy would also kill some of these small insects, also i know i have found worms under piles of horse manure while collecing for makin my compost pile. So I am pretty sure its ok to use around these small insects, in case the grasses quit growing or start to wilt. Thanks.. Bye.

I think ur right about the heat killed manure, thats an idea i hadnt thought about for this situation, but had thought about for my new tomatoes and peppers i bought from the store.. How I heard of a good way to do this is pour over an equal amount of boiling water over the material (manure in this case) and that would kill all the bugs and I'm guessing the harmful levels of Nitrogen and whatnot in the manure. Thanks.

Answer 1

Your best bet for a nutrient source is to use fine mulch that you can get in a bag at the garden section of a department store or where they sell materials for potting plants. Manure will add too much bacteria and the nitrogen levels are too high - which causes everything to crash. Its also a good idea to have a small area where its mostly peat moss. Peat moss acts as a natural anti-biotic that will keep the toad from getting sick. It wouldn't hurt to mix a tiny amount of heat-killed manure in with the mulch, but you are better off with too little nutrients than too much.

Answer 2

Use the manure. The trick will be to keep the concentration in your eco-system consistent with what you would see naturally.