Animal corpse rot fertilizer?

theberzh

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I have a 100 gallon water catch container on the side of the house.
I just noticed that a mole climbed up and fell in and drown.
The little guy had been there floating around for a little while, perhaps a week or two.
I'm very sure of this because the water has a faint odor of rotten corps.
Does anyone know what kind of bacteria colonizes the water when an animal dies in there?
Does anyone know whether this water is still good to use for watering my vegetables?
Does anyone know if this water might be beneficial for watering my vegetables?
I mulch weeds in water such as dock, comfrey, and old dandelion leaves to make a fertilizer tea all the time and it smells just as bad, however it's different.
If there is a bad bacteria in the mole water, is there a plant I can mulch with the water to make a tea sort of like comfrey tea to neutralize the bacteria?
I'm very reluctant to dump 100 gallons of water.
I have already tried it out on a few tobacco plants and they seem to be doing pretty good after a few days.
 

flowerbug

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yes it will smell, and it will smell when you use it on the plants, but a mole in a barrel or half barrel of water isn't likely to be a problem other than the smell. what may help it smell less (besides what i write at the end) would be to mix some straw and some dirt in the water, that will provide bacteria and other organisms and the straw will provide some food for the ones you'd like to encourage. filter it before letting it run out into the hoses as you don't want to plug up anything.

otherwise, just let it drain into a trench and bury the trench and that will reduce the smell.

if you really don't want it to smell more, remove the mole and bury it before doing any of the above.
 

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