Re: [compost_tea] Sheep poop

From: Jeff Lowenfels <jeff_at_gardener.com>
Date: Mon, 23 May 2011 20:51:33 -0800

Not sure where it came from!

J

Plant A Row For The Hungry...and read "TEAMING WITH MICROBES: THE ORGANIC G=
ARDENER'S GUIDE TO THE SOIL FOOD WEB."

On May 23, 2011, at 8:16 PM, "Stephen Steyn" <ssteyn_at_wcaccess.co.za> wrote:

> Jeff:
>
> How has this post of yours contributed to the discussion. Or are you simp=
ly touting your book again?
>
> SS
>
>
>
>
>
> From: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com [mailto:compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com] On=
 Behalf Of Jeff Lowenfels
> Sent: 23 May 2011 20:48
> To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Sheep poop
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Plant A Row For The Hungry...and read "TEAMING WITH MICROBES: THE ORGANIC=
 GARDENER'S GUIDE TO THE SOIL FOOD WEB."
>
>
> On May 23, 2011, at 8:46 AM, Ben Rara <barfarm05_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
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> Dennis,
>
>
>
> I also started with 3 to 4 year-old poops. I had a stackpile of poop coll=
ected for 3 or 4 years as I did not know what to do with it until someone s=
uggested that I feed it to worms to produce worm castings for fertilizers. =
That's when I started vermicomposting. I started first with a small worm be=
d of about 1 1/2 meters by maybe 3 meters, about 20 inches deep. Filled it =
up with old, dry goat and sheep poop(3 to 4 years old). Watered it till it =
was soaking wet. Covered it with tarpoulin to initiate thermophylic decomp=
osition. I could tell decomposition was going on as it was hot to touch. Af=
ter three or four weeks when the heat was gone, I introduced my initial bat=
ch of African Night Crawlers. After about six months, my 3 to 4 years stock=
pile of goat and sheep poop were all gone and converted into wormcastings. =
Now, my herd of goat and sheep can no longer cope with supplying substrate =
for my worms, I have to outsource other animal manure from neighboring farm=
s.
>
>
>
> Don't worry about the nutrients being washed away. It's the decomposing m=
icrobes your worms will need to be able to convert those materials into exc=
ellent organic soil amendments called worm castings. Hope this helps.
>
>
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> Ben
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>
>


Received on Tue May 24 2011 - 04:37:53 EDT

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