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RE: [compost_tea] Using my own compost, not a good option ? ?



It would be helpful if we discussed how to make "good" compost.  Most folks 
don't understand the biology of composting.  Take a look at past issues of 
the Compost Corner in Organic Gardening magazine.  You'll see that a common 
and accepted way to compost is to let the pile over the winter (without 
turning) and voila, you have compost the next spring.

Yesterday, Dr. E. pointed us to an interesting Web site 
(http://www.magicsoil.com/) where they are making AERATED compost on a 
commercial basis using a big machine running around the clock to blow air 
into the compost.  Their research shows that unless the oxygen levels in 
the compost are above 15 percent, the compost is anerobic and not very 
good. AND, turning the compost every day isn't enough to get oxygen levels 
anywhere near this.

This is discouraging to me as a home composter.  How do we make "good" 
compost without rushing out to buy an air blower and running it 24/7?  (I 
can't imagine what my neighbors would think!)  The answer from John 
Crockett, a.k.a. Dr. Mike Robe of Mother Nature's Farms, Inc. was:

Grainger has a number of tiny squirrel cage [air] blowers of different 
sizes, that will do it.  IF you get a single 10' length of PVC pipe, and a 
cap for the tail end... and drill holes in that part which is going to be 
under your compost (excluding a distance from the edge equal to the height 
of the pile... then your tiny blower has to be fitted to the other end.  We 
get into valves to control flow rate, and I don't see a need for you to do 
that, unless you are going to go for optimizing turn around time....
    as you saw on our website, many of the byproducts of anaerobic bacteria 
are phyto-toxic.  I learned that the hard way, about 8 yrs go.

I don't think this is very practical for the home composter.  So that 
leaves us looking for a way to produce "good compost."  It's pretty 
discouraging to think that the compost I make is probably loaded with 
anerobic critters, some of which are quite unhealthy.

One of my goals in learning about "actively aerated compost tea" is to 
share what I've learned with the masses of organic gardeners who know 
nothing about it.  To do this, I need to find a simple, inexpensive way to 
make and apply AACT.  It's going to be a hard sell when you tell folks the 
compost they make is bad and they can't use it, and they must spend $150 on 
a machine and then keep buying "tested compost" and other "tested 
ingredients" in order to make a product that is "good."  They'll probably 
keep right on making (and using) that anerobic tea in the bucket that was 
good enough for Grandma...

Okay, I'm rambling...

Paulette



-----Original Message-----
From:	Jeff Lowenfels [SMTP:jeff@gardener.com]
Sent:	Thursday, May 08, 2003 8:03 PM
To:	compost_tea@yahoogroups.com
Subject:	Re: [compost_tea] Using my own compost, not a good option ? ?

Hey Mike,

I think Tom is correct, it can be very frustrating to manage everything at 
once and the idea that you have to buy a certain brewer or compost can be 
frustrating too.You might feel better if you knew that even though I have 
unlimited supply to what some would say is the world's very best compost, I 
STILL MAKE MY OWN COMPOST AND TRY IT IN TEAS ALL THE TIME! And even though 
I know that The KIS, Evans, Bob and BItti-0's give great results and have 
all of them and use them all, I STILL FOOL AROUND WITH MY OWN HOMEMADES.

Of course you should use your own compost. And if you can make a machine 
that works, go for it, too!

However, I do have to say there is something to having known, tested 
equipment and compost. Not only do you know you are not wasting time, but 
you don't have to go to the considerable expense repeating tests and doing 
tests to get your machine/compost/vermicompost etc to the point where it 
works! It isn't cheap. And, it gives you a standard from which to deviate 
as you learn more about teas and do go off on your own.

We don't talk about composting on this site because we are not a composting 
site. We do talk compost. We don't spend much time because many of us adopt 
the idea that if you say the word compost you mean one thing: properly made 
compost.

Finally, we know of several folks in Agriculture that are embracing compost 
teas. And I would hope by the time the Methyl Bromide ban rolls around, 
many more will be!

I hope all that salmon you and Tom are eating comes from Alaska rivers and 
is not farmed.....

Cheers,

Jeff

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