# Hair as fertilizer? (Not for orchids)



## The Orchid Boy (Oct 10, 2012)

Has anyone tried using human hair as fertlizer for outdoor plants? They say it takes a really long time to decompose, but when it does decompose, your plants really take off. You're supposed to put hair in the bottom of the hole that you plants something in. Haven't tried this yet.


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## NYEric (Oct 10, 2012)

Um.... Are you crazy!?


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## gonewild (Oct 10, 2012)

It works best as fertilizer when there is a body attached.


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## nikv (Oct 10, 2012)

NYEric, just go to your barber or hair stylist. I'm sure he/she has plenty to give away. :wink:

Of course, I'm not sure what all the hair product would do to the plants.


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## eggshells (Oct 10, 2012)

gonewild said:


> It works best as fertilizer when there is a body attached.



This! Thanks for the laugh gonewild.


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## Clark (Oct 10, 2012)

Never heard of this method.
Composted manure is what we go with here for the garden.

Besides, I'm balding...


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## Eric Muehlbauer (Oct 10, 2012)

I had heard once that it's good to put hair in the compost....


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## SlipperFan (Oct 10, 2012)

I use a bag of hair to keep the rabbits from slipping through the gate to my garden, and I've added it to compost to loosen it, but I've never heard of it as fertilizer. Fish yes, hair no.


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## The Orchid Boy (Oct 10, 2012)

I thought that you'd all find it interesting.... or disturbing.  I've heard that it really help spring bulbs. I really do want to try this sometime.


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## biothanasis (Oct 11, 2012)

Interesting.... fertiliser...! But I do not know if it is ok to use since it decomposes very slowly. Perhaps the hair should be treateed first and then applied as a fert....!!!?


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## NYEric (Oct 11, 2012)

_Just say, "NO!". _- Nancy Reagan


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## gonewild (Oct 11, 2012)

The Orchid Boy said:


> Has anyone tried using human hair as fertlizer for outdoor plants? They say it takes a really long time to decompose, but when it does decompose, your plants really take off. You're supposed to put hair in the bottom of the hole that you plants something in. Haven't tried this yet.



Most likely someone that puts hair in the whole with a newly planted plant would not be a person that would also use chemical fertilizers.

They probably see a sudden improvement of growth and assume it is caused by the hair but in reality it is just that the plant has finally established itself and is growing normally.


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## gonewild (Oct 11, 2012)

The Orchid Boy said:


> I thought that you'd all find it interesting.... or disturbing.  I've heard that it really help spring bulbs. I really do want to try this sometime.



If it takes a really long time to break down how could it really help spring bulbs?
Bulbs grow very fast.


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## jtrmd (Oct 11, 2012)

gonewild said:


> It works best as fertilizer when there is a body attached.



Hair as fertilizer sounds about as bad as a women who used to run an Azalea farm here in Southern MD telling me used Tampons were great for Roses,and she has been using them for years.To this day I picture her hanging them on there like xmas tree ornaments?


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## NYEric (Oct 11, 2012)

Ewwwww!


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## gonewild (Oct 11, 2012)

Christmas will never be the same now.


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## jtrmd (Oct 11, 2012)

gonewild said:


> Christmas will never be the same now.




HAHAHAHA!Sorry about that


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## The Orchid Boy (Oct 11, 2012)

What you're supposed to do is put a little under the root ball of a plant and after a long time it decomposes and the plant is supposed to really take off.


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## gonewild (Oct 11, 2012)

The Orchid Boy said:


> What you're supposed to do is put a little under the root ball of a plant and after a long time it decomposes and the plant is supposed to really take off.



Yeah but after a "long time" the roots under the root ball are not the roots that are taking up nutrients. by that time the plant has feeder roots doing the work out away from the old root ball. The fact that time has passed and the plant has established an efficient root system is why the growth really takes off not because of the hair.


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## cnycharles (Oct 11, 2012)

if it takes something a really long time to break down, it won't break down all at once, just a little at a time. nothing organic will all of a sudden after a long period of time, just go blooey and decompose to the point where a plant would take off. ... at least I don't know of any circumstance where it would happen that way, though there are lots of crazy things in the world I've never heard of


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## The Orchid Boy (Oct 11, 2012)

You guys are probably right about the plant becoming established. But I know that I heard there were some good nutrients in decomposed hair that aren't found as easily in other things. 

The more I think about decomposed hair, the more disgusting it seems...


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## Ruth (Oct 12, 2012)

How long does it take for hair to decompose?


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## gonewild (Oct 12, 2012)

Ruth said:


> How long does it take for hair to decompose?



I don't know, mine just fell out. 
Never did decompose. 
Just laid there.
:sob:


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## Dido (Oct 12, 2012)

I can sell you breastle meal so much you want


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## Rick (Oct 13, 2012)

The Orchid Boy said:


> You guys are probably right about the plant becoming established. But I know that I heard there were some good nutrients in decomposed hair that aren't found as easily in other things.
> 
> The more I think about decomposed hair, the more disgusting it seems...



I didn't think hair was much different than finger nails. Pretty inert, 99% carbon fiber. I guess the folicles can end up with trace amounts of whatever you are smoking or otherwise ingesting, since they use hair for drug and toxicity testing.

http://www.texascollaborative.org/hildasustaita/module files/topic3.htm

I was wrong its only about 45% carbon. However the protein making up hair is Keratin (same as finger nails). So it's not an easily degraded material. But leaves/sticks/wood, are mostly cellulose which are about as good for mulching with.

Actually I have a compot of callosum seedlings that I set up in a mix of shredded fall leaves, sand, charcoal, and sponge rock. They doing just fine, and I haven't fertilized them at all since setting the up almost a year ago.


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## cnycharles (Oct 13, 2012)

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/01/15/hair-fertilizer.html

it seems that there can be delayed benefit for using hair as a fertilizer. it does take time to break down, but then can benefit a crop after a certain period of time


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## SlipperFan (Oct 13, 2012)

Interesting thought -- all that hair going into fertilizer instead of landfills.


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## Candace (Oct 13, 2012)

I cut both my son's and husbands hair by one our clivias. We've just hosed it into the plant for a few years. Honestly, it doesn't look any different than the others.


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