 |
||
 |
||
 | ||
|
1.1.4 Compost Secrets | |
|
| ||
| ||
|
||
|
||
| ||
|
1.1.4 Compost Secrets | |
|
| ||
| ||
|
|
1.+ and - qualifier : Examples : +always -never
If you prepend a word with + that word is required to be on the page.
If you prepend a word with - that word is required to not be on the page.
2.* wildcard : Examples : *owned or gift*
If a query word starts or ends with a * all words on a page which end or start the same way
as that query word will match.
3.? wildcard : Examples : a?sorb, a?sor?tion or gift?
If a query word contains a ? any character will match that position.
All of these techniques can be combined: +alway* -ne??r*
Click here to return to the discussion on maximising crop yield, quality and profit using HIBRIXTM products.
1.1.4 COMPOST SECRETS
Compost is preferably fed with HIBRIX MICROBIAFOODTM [10 to 40 litres per tonne compost] to ensure the micobes are well-nutritioned - Click on Site Map and select Section 1.1.2.1.
Furthermore 20 to 80 kg zeolites/clays per tonne can retain valuable major, minor and trace elements from simple leaching [polluting the water table], for slow release access by plants when they need it. This can save, in particular over 50% of the nitrogen usually lost from compost(*).
(*)Familiar with the ammoniacal smell of high protein compost while it is maturing ? Alan Lefcourt and John Meisinger of the ARS Animal and Natural Resources Institute in Beltsville, Md found that adding 6.25 percent zeolite to manure slurry by wet weight reduced ammonia loss by 55 percent.
A "best" product might also contain rock dust [mainly slow release potassium], and some amazing results have been claimed and in some instances proven(**) by the application of & Bongo drums, crystal "radiation", pyramid power etc, and/or Shaman's chanting as they stir over the pots using twigs selected by species, shape & harvested by phase of the moon and with occasional reversals, to be in tune with the Forces of the Cosmos etc. (**)
Men Of The Trees Western Australia
Compost may not only be used directly for mulching, but also for the innoculation of microbe-rich brews for innoculation of lifeless soils or soils colonized by inappropriate soil life such as vascular-choking funghi or root-eating nematodes.
This can allow one to multiply your stock of beneficial soil microbes to treat larger soil areas than which you can prepare compost for(*).
(*)The Kevin Heitman story notes that he has treated his entire 20,000 acre [7200 Hectare] wheat property with his selected home brewed soil tea.
Much of the material below is from the guru of soil microbes : Dr Elaine Ingraham. To really sing along with compost, read her site(**)(which offers testing services so you know what the life components in your soil are); get her book : Compost Tea Brewing Manual.
Note too, that innoculating your compost with soil tea grown from a healthy local patch, as did Kevin Heitman, or imported for that purpose [rather than rely on pot luck], could also prove a very effective strategy.
(**)Refer to "publications", in Soil Foodweb Incorporated: Soil Microbiology, Soil Ecology, Farming, Orchards, Golf/Turf, Nursery/Landscape, Forestry, Lawn and Garden. "The Laboratory Measuring the Life in Your Soil"
Characteristics of a Healthy Soil Foodweb, Per Gram of Soil:
Good compost will have on the order of a 1,000 million bacteria per teaspoon (109 bacteria per teaspoon). Most of these individuals are beneficial to plant growth, and do not cause disease.
600 million bacterial individuals, 15,000 to 20,000 species
150 to 300 meters of fungal biomass, 5,000 to 10,000 species
Fungi produce humic acids, and thus a significant humic acid component should be present. If an extract of the compost is made, a rich dark brown color should occur. If the color is light or tan in color, few humic acids have been produced, only fulvic acids, indicating mostly bacterial activity.
Mycorrhizal fungi do not grow in compost. The heating process kills most of the spores, and those remaining are not usually viable. It is usually of some benefit to add an inoculum of mycorrhizal spores to compost. The food resources present in compost may cause mycorrhizal spores to germinate after a few days (72 hours for example). If the germinated spores do not find active roots within 24 to 48 hours of germination, they die. Therefore, spores should be added to compost just before planting.
10,000 protozoa
Protozoa go through boom and bust growth cycles in compost, depending on the temperature and on the presence of their bacterial prey. As the compost heats, the protozoa encyst to escape the high temperature. When the compost cools, the protozoa excyst and become active again. As compost moves into the maturation phase, protozoa may reach 100,000 to 1,000,000 per teaspoon. Mature compost should only contain 10,000 to 50,000 protozoa.
Flagellates and amoebae do not tolerate anaerobic conditions and will be killed by lack of oxygen. If the compost becomes anaerobic at any time, flagellates and amoebae will be lost. They are good indicators of this aspect of good compost.
20-30 nematodes : Bacterial-Feeding, Fungal-Feeding and Predatory
Like protozoa, nematodes don't like heat or anaerobic conditions. Many of the beneficials and all of the root-feeding nematodes will be killed by the heating process. But a reasonable number of the beneficial nematodes should survive the heating process to wake-up when the temperature drops below 135 F. The beneficials then begin to grow, and given the presence of huge numbers of bacteria and fungi, reach high numbers in a few weeks. It is important, however, to know the time-since-135 F, since if temperature drops rapidly, only a few beneficial nematodes could be expected, as their life-cycles are a minimum two-weeks in duration.
Good compost will contain 30 to a hundred beneficial (bacterial-feeding, fungal-feeding and predatory) nematodes per gram of material. Really great compost may contain several hundred beneficial nematodes per teaspoon.
There should be no detectable root-feeding nematodes present in good compost. If they are found, it indicates that parts of the compost did not remain above 135 F for the entire composting cycle time. In general, roots feeders appear to be more sensitive to temperature than beneficial nematodes, especially when they are not protected by the presence of live roots. If any root-feeding nematode eggs survive the heat cycle and hatch during compost maturation, they should be consumed by predatory nematodes, but nematode-trapping fungi, by microarthropods, and fungal nematode parasites. If perchance they are not, the lack of live roots in the compost should cause them to succumb.
200,000 arthropods per square meter
However, the organisms in compost should match the needs of the plant.
Bacteria-dominated compost is also best for applying to the soil before growing vegetables, herbs, turf, lawns, and row crops.
There are several reasons:
1. Bacteria produce "slime layers" around their bodies, which they use to glue themselves to surfaces.
This prevents them being washed out of the soil, so they retain nutrients in the soi l.
But this slime layer is most often made of alkaline materials, which may cause soil to become more alkaline.
2. Bacteria are eaten by protozoa and bacterial-feeding nematodes, releasing ammonium into the soil.
In alkaline conditions, maintained by the slime layers and secondary metabolites that bacteria produce, nitrifying bacteria thrive and convert ammonium to nitrate quite rapidly.
Nitrate is the preferred form of N for most row crops, grasses and vegetable crops.
Thus, these plants grow best in bacterial-dominated soils.
Fungi-dominated compost is good for mulching around berries and fruit trees.
Trees, shrubs and many perennial plants do best in fungal dominated soil, for the following reasons:
1. Fungi make organic acids as their waste products.
2. Fungi are eaten by fungal-feeding nematodes, a few species of large amoebae, and fungal-feeding microarthropods.
Fungal-predators release N in the form of ammonium.
Because fungi maintain soil pH on the acidic size, and indeed, beneficial fungi appear to buffer soil pH between a pH of 5.5 and 6.5, nitrifying bacteria are excluded from the foodweb.
While there are a few species of nitrifying fungi which are found in unique places (the oak savannas of California, for example), the majority of N in fungal dominated soils are present as ammonium, not nitrate.
Trees, shrubs and many perennial plants, as demonstrated by J. Stark and also by Marschener, grow more efficiently when using ammonium, instead of nitrate.
The "pool" of inorganic N in healthy forests is dominated by ammonium, while the inorganic N pool in grasslands is dominated by nitrate.
However research has shown that a foliar spray of bacteria-dominated compost tea is extremely useful to prevent the foliar diseases that plague most gardens.
Thus, most of us need only be concerned with making a bacteria-dominated compost tea.
Thus for the best growth of different plants, there needs to be recognition that the organisms in the soil will set conditions that select for maximum or optimal plant growth. This is not to say that plants can't grow in sub-optimal conditions, but it does suggest that plant growth will be stressed in these conditions, and that disease will be a greater factor in stressed plants.
But probably the most generally useful compost would have balanced bacterial and fungal biomass, since then the plant would select for dominance of the microorganisms most beneficial to it. As broad a diversity of both bacteria and fungi would also be beneficial, regardless of what system into which the compost will be placed.
For bacteria to dominate, compost should be made from a preponderance of green materials. You need a mix of 25 percent high-nitrogen ingredients, 45 percent green ingredients, and 30 percent woody material. High-nitrogen materials include
For bacterial compost, start with:
(*)If the manure is stinky, wet, or runny, reduce the amount of manure used. It is quite likely that this manure will be high in salts and will result in phytotoxicity. Use only 10% manure and increase the percent green and woody materials.
For fungal compost, start with:
If your compost heated too fast, you have too much juicy, N-rich green stuff. Reduce its volume in the next batch by perhaps 10%.
If pile #2 doesn't heat enough, increase the amount of juicy, N-rich stuff by 5%.
Too hot again? Add more straw.
Keep adjusting until you can make a pile that needs little turning, but gets to temperature and stays there for 15 days, then comes down to ambient, and gives no further heating even when turned.
Once one has a beneficial compost to use as a compost tea inoculant; one can brew this up using HIBRIX MICROBIAFOODTM as set out in Soil [and related Beneficial Microbial] Teas.
Frank Pownall : Sales & Marketing
FAX : +61 8 6380 1499 TEL : +61 418 364 880 EMAIL : frank@plantsfood.com
David Martin Menne : Technical Support
FAX : +61 8 9389 5647 TEL : +61 500 54 65 32 EMAIL : david@plantsfood.com