Planting used diapers

During the day one of my twins is potty trained and the other uses cloth diapers. During the night, they both need a diaper, and I have not found any cloth option that does not leak or leave them with a terrible ammonia rash. I use a compostable brand of diapers, and every so often when I gather enough used ones I bury them somewhere on the property. I don't put them near the well, and I haven't put them in food gardens so far. My question is, how long would it be after they were buried in a place before it would be a good idea to plant food plants there? Most don't have poop in them but some do. Obviously tubers would be different than blueberry bushes. I buried some in a place where I intend to plant food in the future. I am also thinking of adding a bag or two to a planned hugelkultur mound. The absorbent material in them is made from wood pulp.

Urine is considered sterile, but feces carries the risk of spreading disease. In essence, composting diapers is similar to some designs of composting toilets.

From http://greywateraction.org/content/about-composting-toilets "The Arbor Loo, pioneered by Peter Morgan, a simple composting toilet with a portable slab, seat, and shelter, is gaining popularity in Zimbabwe and throughout Africa. A shallow pit (three to five feet deep) is dug in the ground with a protective lining that prevents the pit from collapsing. A movable shelter is located on top of the pit. Wood ash and soil are added after each use to help the decomposition process. When the pit is three quarters full, the slab and shelter are moved and mounted over another shallow pit. The full pit is topped off with six inches of soil, a young tree is planted over the contents, and the cycle is repeated. Fruit trees, like citrus, peach, mango, avocado, mulberry, guava, and papaya trees have all grown vigorously atop Arbor Loos, fostering local food secuity."

That's just to say that it's been done before, but I'm not sure if enough research has been done (or could be done, since microbial growth changes depending upon heat and location) that will tell you how long to wait.

I suppose fruit and other trees are the way to go. By the time the trees are mature enough to produce, decomposition will have gone along a ways and food products will likely be above soil splash level.

I buried them in double paper bags under some henhouse straw and about 8 to 14 inches of soil.

I am very curious about how long these diapers take to decompose. More will be revealed.

If anyone has suggestions about what we could do that would be better than the compostibles I'd love to hear that too, especially because we are expecting again. It seems that for a time we will have three children under the age of three!

Personally I would keep trying to find cloth nappies that work overnight. In the UK there are companies that let you borrow different types so that you can find ones that work for you. Maybe there is something like this or if not perhaps you should suggest it to some of the places that sell cloth nappies. Payment for borrowing them is offset against any subsequent purchase.

if they say "compostable" why not bury them in a compost pile..you would get more aerobic action in a compost pile than burying them in the ground..it would seem..I think I would put down a layer of straw or hay ..used animal bedding maybe..and then put in the diapers and pile other compostables on top..mix in plenty of green like grass clippings in with the brown and diapers..scraps, leaves, etc..and turn it over every couple of weeks or months..then you should be able to spread it when it is finished compost around your plants..also if you have a wooded area..make a pile in the woods and use branches, leaves, etc..in it.

I wish I could find cloth for overnight. Anything we've tried that doesn't leak holds in ammonia which irritates their sensitive skin.

I have held off on putting them into the compost pile partly because of the poop and partly because of my skepticism about the compostable plastic. I haven't seen it degrade yet and my prejudice against plastics is maybe too strong.

Does anyone have experience with comparable plastics in any other situation?

Have you tried using lanolised wool wraps as I found them much better than the PUL ones for the ammonia issue.

I have tried the wool wraps, 3 or 4 but they always seem to leak. I haven't found any that fit well, so that is probably the trouble. They are so expensive that I hesitate to buy any more. Do you know a good brand? The compatibles aren't cheap either but they are very reliable. With twins sleep is precious and wet bed is to be avoided.

The best ones I have are unfortunately a UK make which you may not be able to get hold of. they are from www.puddlepants.co.uk they fitted great and never leaked.

Two years is the time period I've heard for poop safety. It sounds like what you're doing should be O.K., with the only concerns I have being that you might not remember where you've buried the "acorns" and you need to be sure that you're not contaminating your groundwater (that then drains into your well). If you have room, you might want to use dedicated plastic bins for all fecal material (you could continue to bury the non-poopy stuff) and just fill, date, and wait. Obviously, you don't want people getting into these containers during the two year waiting period!

Woody plants are a great idea. Look around on this forum for "poop beasts."

perhaps sprinkling or dusting spores of a mushroom species such as oysters or turkey tails, or a mychorizzial fungi that will assist the tree planted above it to maturity