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Wisconsin

I have found 2 big farming operations that are making high-grade compost. They take all their farm “wastes” (primarily manure but also straw and other plant residue) and they very carefully and scientifically compost it. They mix the components to achieve an ideal carbon to nitrogen ratio of about 30 to 1 as I recall. (For example, manure is about 15/1, straw is 20/1, leaves are 40-60/1, grass clippings are 20/1, sawdust is 500/1.)

They then pile it in small, maneuverable piles or rows. They monitor the temperature carefully, maintaining it in the 130-140 degree range (warm enough for composting but not too hot to destroy organisms). They maintain proper moisture levels (moist but not too wet). They turn it regularly (based on temp). When the composting process starts to slow down (drop in temps), they move it into bigger piles to more slowly complete the curing. In other words, they put considerable time and effort into this. They have also studied this carefully and have it planned carefully. They test their product regularly.

Here is the punch line. I have done soil tests on 2 of these “super composts” after the composting is completed and they are off the charts. The “% Organic Matter” is 52% and 63%. The CEC is 55 and 67. This stuff looks and feels like black gold. All the other nutrient levels are high. The Ca/Phos/K ratios are not perfectly balanced but this would be the only abnormality on testing and this can be corrected with soil amendments. (see next post)

12/8/2003 9:47:24 PM

Wisconsin

In the past, I have brought in loads of manure and filled my pits and planting areas and then let it compost “by chance.” The best soil tests I have ever had were % Organic Matters of 15% and CEC’s of 30 or so. Not even close despite the fact that I started with the same material.

Maybe instead of throwing our manures and leaves on the garden and tilling them in we should instead be piling it up and “composting” it properly in the fall and winter. Maybe the best “composters” would have a big advantage in the spring. Food for thought.

12/8/2003 9:48:13 PM

Nova Scotia

i agree with you. all those who add so much in the fall i beleive lose most of it's good by spring with the exception of lime

12/8/2003 10:15:11 PM

where'd you find this place jim? anywhere around us? LOL sure would beat my little compost bin!

12/8/2003 11:00:30 PM

Key West, FL

Well 15% OM and a CEC of 30 is very good! Once you mix all that stuff you're going to get from this guy in with your soil of course its not going to be 63% OM and 67 CEC, I'm not even sure if this would be desirable. It sounds like great stuff though! I would use it, I bet with all the work they put into it they charge a pretty penny for it? I just like the free stuff. I don't agree with the part that it all goes to waste when we put it on in the fall, it just gets mixed in.

12/8/2003 11:23:20 PM

Deer Park WA

Jim,

Composting is always recommended before incorperation into the patch, it not only makes the nutrients readily availabe to the plant, it also kills off a lot of disease and weed seeds. Trouble is most folks in the city don't have space for a whopping compost pile that would generate enough compost to make much of a difference. When we lived in the City and had fresh manure composting the neighbours complained, I just stirred the pile to keep it airobic and gave the neighbours the finger! It's to late for me to rework the patch anyway as the cover crop is comming up!

12/8/2003 11:30:27 PM

Wisconsin

Now I am getting emails from people in the midwest trying to figure out where they can buy this stuff. It was not my point at all to try to get people to search for the magic compost.

The farmers that I found that are doing this are not selling it but are using it on their own fields. They believe that they are losing much of the value of their manure by just spreading it on their fields and plowing it in (like most of us do). I think that they are definitely onto something based on these soil tests.

By the way, fresh manure will have an odor and you couldn't use it in a city. The one thing that surprised me though about these composting operations was that with the proper carbon/nitrogen ratio, the compost piles have very little odor. It also composts very fast (weeks not months). This is another advantage.

From now on, I am going to get cheap (or free) manure and compost it properly in the fall right in my garden space. Then in the spring I will spread it out and till it in when it is prepared properly. It appears to me that this is an advantage. I am going to do a few more before and after tests to test this theory.

12/9/2003 12:00:41 PM

Montoursville, PA

When manures and leaves are added to the patch with other possible boosters like molasses and fish the biological side of the patch goes into full steam ahead and better ballances the total.

When adding just finished compost you are possibly depriving the patch the opportunity to be alive and working even more on its own living community of biological factors.

This is not to devalue the addition of compost in the finished state. A nice trade off might be to offer the patch half made compost for the best of both worlds.

One does not grow in compost. Compost ammends and makes better the total even after natural biological action has taken place all year long. My thinking is that compost is the finest additive other than the casts left by the lowly earthworm.

I'm just cranking on you a little. Think this through. There is some truth in here somewhere.

12/10/2003 7:59:20 PM