[SF Republican]

I thought fetilizer went into the plant not on to it.

[hispanarepublicana]

Fertilizer goes on the soil. It's normally applied before planting, and then during the season once or twice. Here in the U.S., there is no human waste used for fertilizing, with the exception of a field worker who doesn't want to trot (no pun) to the port-o-potty at the end of the row.

[tiki]

You would never actually put manure on the plant on purpose but if it wasn't carefully aged and then incorporated into the soil it could be splashed or blown up into the plant and stay there. I'm sure you've washed celery and seen all the mud and dirt on the bottom, if that soil contained manure, human or animal there is a chance that a pathogen is present.

Manure will clean itself of pathogens if it is handled correctly, it heats up like you wouldn't believe and the bacteria is killed naturally. If I used manure I wouldn't use any that wasn't over a year old.

If you want to get technical we do put some fertilizers and minerals on the plant rather than into the soil but we don't use manure, we use commercial products.