Composting: A Tour of Techniques From Manure to Obscure

COmPoStInG “A TOuR Of TEcHnIqUeS

FRoM MAnUrE To OBsCuRe”Ben Capozzi 540•227•0221 bencapozzi@gmail.com

Ooh, that’s the stuff!

Enthusiasm > Experience

Advanced Master Gardener: Land Care

Steward Program

• Reduce Yard Waste(right plant, Right Place)

• Reuse Yard Waste(Mulch on site; chop & drop)

• Recycle Yard Waste(Wonderful, glorious Composting)

ACCORDING TO US EPA:• Yard waste accounts for 18% of refuse dumped into

landfills

• Food SCRAPS are another 19%*

• This rises as high as 50% during growing season

• 25% tree leaves and limbs

• 75% grass clippings

• 1/3 of all municipal landfills expected to reach capacity soon; new sites are difficult and EXPENSIVE to establish

* Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_waste#Landfills_and_greenhouse_gases

WhY TO COmPoSt

?

MOnEy• Hanover County MGs started a county-wide composting program

that extended the life of their land fill by 10+ years and kept waste management taxes down

• One of The USA’s biggest exports is soil, and we’re Maybe Not getting the best return for it.

• A yard of Halifax Topsoil = $35. ~70yards in an Acre = $2450. Can you make a compost tea to spray over an acre for less than $2450? (Yes!)

• Composting is not just top down—It helps feed soil life and those organisms do the heavy lifting of making good soils. They can even do it from down below, converting subsoil to top soil.

• Save by using what you’ve already got on hand. Compost is the best way I know of to make the right food available in the right form in the right place at the right time. Forget adding lime and sulphur and focus on feeding your soil life.

• Healthier plants from veggies to ornamentals.

$

FAmIly• It’s YOU friendly—if you’re

concerned about putting toxic chemicals in your yard or food garden, having compost on hand is AWESOME!

• you can make compost tea to improve the health of your plants.

• It’s cheap and natural and helps get the biology right in your soil.

• If your focus or even a part of your yard and garden is about food for you or your loved ones, there is no fresher food nor potentially more nutritious than what you pick outside your door. No loss or damage during transportation, you know the chemicals used on it (hopefully none), Where the water comes from, and the labor.

ENvIrOnMeNt• Keep organic matter out of the landfill; wastes

tucked into a plastic bag are taken out of the carbon cycle essentially forever.

• It takes 100s of years to make inches of topsoil. Composting makes soil.

• The amazing alluvial soils built up over millennia are not the result of chemical dumps of lime, calcium, or phosphorous from an agrochemical company. They’re the result of the natural breakdown of plant and animal bodies and things get sorted out just perfectly.

• It is not rocket science. Stuff WANTS to break down for gosh sake. Entropy is the order of the universe.

It’S ALl iN ThE SOilKEeP ThE PlAnTs hApPy aNd eVeRyBoDy eLsE Is hApPy

WHaT iS COmPoSt

?

WHaT Is COmPoStIng• “Composting is pretty simple. It’s taking any kind of

organic matter and stacking it up so that nature will take its course and between bacteria and fungi and insects it will break down.”

• It’s an AEROBIC process (with oxygen)

• Air flow is important: without it, things break down anaerobically causing stink, rot, and taking a long time to break down

~Jack Spirko

–Felder Rushing

There’s only two things you’ve got to know about

composting:

1) Stop throwing that stuff away,

2) and Pile it up over here.

The End

PLeAsE ThInK Of yOuR SoIl As a lIvInG SyStEm

• Dirt is inert. SOIL is ALIVE.

• Your Soil is teeming with life. (or it should be.)

• Some liken it to a “tummy”.

• If you get nothing else out of this, please start thinking of your soil as a living system.

SOuR

ce: u

SdA

NAtU

rAl r

EsOu

RcEs

cOn

SeRv

AtIo

N Se

RvIc

e

WHaT TO COmPoSt

?

GReEnS (NItRoGeN RiCh)

Grass clippings Vegetables

fruits Kitchen scraps

Eggs tea bags

coffee grounds weeds *

BRoWnS (CArBoN RiCh)

Leaves Straw/Hay

woody material bark

pine needles sawdust

paper corn stalks

MAnUrEs (LIgHtEr FLuId)

horse cow pig

chicken turkey rabbit goose goat fish

milorganite

aVoID: PEt wAsTe, MEaTs, OIls, PEts/ROaDkIll**

A FEw POiNtErs• More diverse is better

• make sure there’s no herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, or other-cides in your materials, including alLelopathogens.

• Do NOT use Dog or Cat Manure (if the compost is for food crops)

• Do NOT waste time, money, or other resources on exotic ingredients like cocoa hulls or lama droppings or something trendy. Work with what you’ve got.

COmPoStInG BLaCk WAlNut?“The presence of juglone is highly concentrated immediately under the leaf canopy of black walnuts, both from the tree roots and the accumulation of dead and dying debris. Decaying roots from a dead black walnut tree can still contain juglone for many years. The leaves containing juglone may be composted where the juglone will break down in several weeks from the presence of bacteria, air and water. If you want to test the toxicity of composted walnut leaves, plant tomato seedlings in it. Tomatoes are highly sensitive to juglone and will quickly die in its presence.” Read more: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1186/#ixzz3IX51y6pI”

–GEoFf LAwTon

“IF It hAs lIvEd bEfOre, It cAn lIvE AgAin.”

HOw TO COmPoSt

?

–FRaNk (Or PAt) REiLly

“COmPoSt hApPeNs.”

COmPoStInG STePs1. Pile up a mixture of yard wastes by

alternating layers of mostly carbon materials (browns) with layers of mostly nitrogen materials (greens). Do this until you are out of materials. When it stops looking like the stuff you put in the pile and more like crumbly soil, it’s done.

2. End of steps.

COmPoStInG tIpS - LEvEl 1

1. keep the pile moist — rain, garden hose, rain barrel. But not sopping wet.

2. turn it every few days. Especially if smelly.

3. It goes faster with smaller pieces. Chip, chop, or shred.

COmPoStInG tIpS - LEvEl 21. Cover the pile with a tarp to keep moisture in AND

out.

2. turn the pile to keep things aerobic and fluffy. you don’t want compaction or anaerobic conditions.

3. If you smell Ammonia, Vinegar, Sour Milk, Vomit—anything unpleasant your compost is going anaerobic too quickly and losing nutrients. And possibly being a nuisance. Turn the pile.

4. You may want to inoculate a new pile with good soil.

COmPoStInG tIpS - LEvEl 3Annuals prefer bacteria-dominated soils

Perennials prefer fungal-dominated soils

1. More acidic conditions for annuals = bacteria. feed their compost with molasses or Kelp.

2. Less acidic conditions for perennials = fungi. feed their compost with woody materials.

You may Lean slightly one way or the other. know that

1. There will always be exceptions, But

2. Healthy soil sorts all that pH stuff out.

CArBoN To NItRoGeN RAtIos

25-30:1 by volume

“Getting the right ratio isn’t required; it just makes things go faster.” ~Frank Reilly

CArBoN To NItRoGeN RAtIos• Wide C:N ratio, 100 parts Carbon to 1 part Nitrogen -

dried grass trimmings, leaves, straw—those are foods for growing fungi more than other things

• Narrower C:N ratio, 30 parts C to 1 part N - food scraps, green grass—food mostly for bacteria

• Very narrow C:N ratio, 10 parts C to 1 part N - fresh manure, legumes, meat—“party foods” for microbes to grow really fast and generate high temperatures

~Dr. Elaine Ingham, SoilFoodWeb

OdOr aS InDiCaTor

• If it smells like rotten eggs—you’re making hydrogen sulfide and have gone anaerobic.

• If it smells like Ammonia—You’re going Anaerobic; turn the pile.

~Dr. Elaine Ingham, SoilFoodWeb

LIgHtNiNg FAsT COmPoSt(By Composting Standards)

BErKlEy MEtHoD Of 18 DAy COmPoSt• Cubic Meter of Material (armpit high)

• Activator - Comfrey, Nettles, Dead animal, Innoculum from other compost

• Need a compost thermometer

• Good, long-handled, 3-5 tine pitchfork

• Water until it leaks

• Cover with branches, then a tarp

• Mix, and then turn on Days

• 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16

• It’s done when it no longer looks like the stuff that went into it and more like soil

THiRdTHiRdtURd

(GReEns)

(BRoWns)

(MAnUre)

WHeRe TO COmPoSt

?

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/ultimate-compost-bin

3-BIn SYsTeMs

(GOoGlE It)

“THe COuCh”Held a lot, tough to turn, only place to put stuff

“THe COuCh”Held a lot, tough to turn, only place to put stuff

WIrE SIlOsEasy open, close, turn from one to the next,

Extras for storage

WIrE SIlOsEasy open, close, turn from one to the next,

Extras for storage

COmPoSt TEa• Can be done at home scale

• Can be done farm scale

• $6 aquarium aerator, 5 Gallon Bucket, & Pantyhose

• brew for no more than 24 hrs

• Dilute 1:50

• Throw in a little flour to feed fungi

• Molasses to feed Bacteria

• Kelp Extract for everyone

COmPoSt & SOiL ADdItIvEs

• Kelp extract for compost tea.

• Molasses for compost & Compost tea

• (laying out a new garden bed? Add some molasses

and cardboard. You can get dried molasses flakes for

gardeners.)

COmPoStInG WoRmS (REd WRiGgLeRs—EIsEnIa FOeTiDa)

• Poop factories • Perfect for kitchen

scraps—coffee, greens, veggies, fruits

• avoid meats and oils • Citrus and onions tough

to break down (purée!) • 90 Days to good castings • Be sure to add some grit • Earthworms don’t do

well in containers—solitary creatures

EArThWoRms• If you're concerned about toxins from

previous pesticide and herbicide use, grow earthworms. In their digestive systems are the beneficial protozoa that will break down pesticide material. Psuedomonas—pesticide decomposers in earth worm guts. Bacillus species. Protozoa species. Earthworm castings (earthworm manure) is good stuff. Human pathogens at the front end of the earthworm are broken down after going through the earthworm. They do not survive passage through the earthworm digestive system.

• Earthworms are predators, not decomposers.

BAtHtUb WOrM FArm(Excellent for weeds!)

WOrM TOwEr

DO I HAvE MAgGoTs?!?!

NOpe! HErMeTiA IlLuCeNs! AkA BLaCk SOlDiEr FLiEs. cOnGrAtUlAtIoNS!

• Not maggots. Different genus and species.

• Sanitary. Harmless. Adults have no functioning mouths, extremely docile, don’t fly around much to land on your food. Actually prevent houseflies and blowflies from placing their eggs in the same space.

• Voracious eaters, Breaking down high-nutrient waste well, whereas earthworms better at breaking down high-cellulose materials.

• Excellent fodder for poultry, fish, pigs, turtles, even dogs. Nutri-packets! 40-30-30.

• They will self-harvest!

• NOT a worm competitor, though things can get wet. If so, Add dry bedding.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/verm/msg0401113220154.html

BioPods™

BlAcKsOlDiErFlYbLog.Com

HUgElKuLtUrTHe ULtImAtE RAiSeD (Or SUnKen) GArDeN BEd

BEnEfItS AnD SUch• It’s pretty much just buried wood.

• Grow a typical garden with less irrigation and/or NO fertilization.

• Use up rotting wood, twigs, branches and even whole trees that would otherwise go to the dump or be burned.

• Fill with dirt, kitchen scraps, manure, leaf litter, et al. Water well.

• Can be flush with the ground, although raised garden beds are more typical.

• Can start small, and be added to later; can always be small - although bigger is better.

• The wood doesn't have to be old to be used. Fresh is fine.

• No chipper/shredder and no tilling.

• Get’s easier every year, and does benefit from “curing” before planting.

• NOT for trees (That’s swales) because settling will occur.

HEaTiNg wItH COmPoStJEaN PAin, BEn FAlk, aNd WHoLe SYsTeMs DEsIgn

COmBuStIon-FReE HOt WAtEr

• Compost mounds • Wood chips & horse

manure • Heat exchanger buried

inside mound • Well water from 40º to

145º • 18 months of use • Grows soil to boot! • Multiple functions

from single elements

BEn FAlk, WHoLe SYsTeMs REsEaRcH FArM VErMoNt, uSA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Z003uBn9Q

www.wholesystemdesigns.com

COmPoStInG “A TOuR Of TEcHnIqUeS

FRoM MAnUrE To OBsCuRe”Ben Capozzi 540•227•0221 bencapozzi@gmail.com

HApPy COmPoStIng!I’M OfF To cOlLeCt fReE CaRbOn!