Re: [compost_tea] Sheep poop
Microbes HOLD nutrients and prevent leaching of soluble or water leachable
nutrients. So with good micobial growth in the compost, there will be no
leaching of any important minerals. So what do you need to be determining in
any material to know that nutrients won't be lost..........get the
microscope going.......
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-----Original message-----
From: Jeff Lowenfels <jeff_at_gardener.com>
To: "compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com" <compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Mon, May 23, 2011 18:46:54 GMT+00:00
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:
> Dennis,
>
> I also started with 3 to 4 year-old poops. I had a stackpile of poop
collected for 3 or 4 years as I did not know what to do with it until
someone suggested 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 bed 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 decomposition. I could tell decomposition was going on as it
was hot to touch. After three or four weeks when the heat was gone, I
introduced my initial batch of African Night Crawlers. After about six
months, my 3 to 4 years stockpile 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 farms.
>
> Don't worry about the nutrients being washed away. It's the decomposing
microbes your worms will need to be able to convert those materials into
excellent organic soil amendments called worm castings. Hope this helps.
>
> Ben
>
Received on Tue May 24 2011 - 11:12:47 EDT
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