[compost_tea] Re: Compost, Vermicompost, Etc.

From: Kirk Leonard <kirk_at_oregonatural.com>
Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 15:26:26 -0700

What a great message from Mary Applehof! Thanks for sending, Jeff. I have
no problem with the expression "vermicompost" though, since "pure worm
castings" is an oxymoron, it seems to me. Worms live in but don't eat
carbon materials, not to mention recalcitrant carbons, so there will always
be something more than castings in vermicompost, and vice versa. I think
the worms in my beds push straw on top for protection, actually, never
intending
for it to be consumed...

The best compost ain't easy to make, but thank goodness mother nature
supports lots of good mulches, and worms to inhabit appropriate places.
Mulching ground may be more important than applying compost, actually, to
the extent that prevailing plants and ground organisms get to do the
decomposing, but where you cultivate intensively should you compost at least
annually?

Someone recently said their soil had 1.5% soil organic matter. That's
threadbare! Mulch, add compost, turn in plants as soon as possible. Tea
works best with higher OM soil, I believe. Organisms in tea depend on
organic matter in soil to generate food for plants. If there's not enough
OM, you're basically just adding nutrients. Mulches and compost provide
essential fiber (carbon) content for replacing harvest losses and building
soil tilth. Foliar applications of tea involve a different set of dynamics,
largely to compete in greater numbers for leaf space, which is a brilliant
biological breakthrough understanding, it seems to me.

In my experience, vermicompost is a great source of both microbial and
nutrient content for plants, plus auxins. All three are also characteristic
of compost but are more dependent on how the compost is made. Pound for
pound, vermicompost will usually contain more of these, but compost has
more carbon content and continuing value. Ideally, both is best, used
appropriately.

It's easier to make good vermicompost in small quantities than it is to
make compost, an important difference. Composting requires at least a cubic
yard at a time to cook enough to be good, plus containment and aeration
attention also. I think a critical mass for open pile compost is closer to
2-3 yards at a time. That's a lot of material at one time. Vermicompost can
be made cups at a time and requires no cooking or turning - the worms keep
the pile aerated and biologically sound - unless it's too dry or
waterlogged, and the worms will let you know. They will either not
flourish, congregate on the surface, or disappear out the bottom (...or over
the sides, or through vent holes...If they don't like what you're doing they
will run...:-)

I must insert a tweak here to the extent that I think Jeff has correctly
perceived that vermicompost is the principal competition for Alaska Humus,
and has thus brought up "ODTS" as a vermicompost issue, which is a stretch.
The biggest organic dust problem I ever experienced, not being a farmer but
working on a farm that produces some 30,000 yards of compost and
vermicompost a year for several years, was plain old desert wind dust, never
compost or vermicompost. If your compost or vermicompost is that dry you
can wet it and Voila! there will be no dust, hmm?.:-)

Individual home composting is a challenge, unless you have a bunch of acres
or animal manures and a steady carbon supply, and you work on it (turning,
turning, turning...). If you want the best compost and a steady source of
sufficient feedstock maybe you should band together with some neighbors to
make it. The best compost ain't easy. We should recognize good compost
makers and buy material from them! AH, too, for sure. I would still like
to hear how AH was formed.:-)

Since we're into pumping air here, aerating some compost to get the best
stuff for tea seems a good idea, too. Aerating compost works to make it
better and simple solar methods can heat the air, too, even pump it to some
extent. Worms generally take care of air in worm beds.

Vermicomposting is do-able anywhere on any scale, unlike composting. Worms
ensure no ecoli because the worms will convert it and other pathogens, early
on, if they are present. If I recall correctly, one of the things Bruce
Eastman pointed out was that vermicomposting reduced pathogen levels both
more and more quickly than thermal composting. But good composting
eliminates pathogens readily on a larger scale, too. We've been
over-sensitized to ecoli by USDA - another USDA-NOP ruse, it
seems - but it's good that we are aware of it. Most ecoli are actually
beneficial, eh?

I apologize for putting so much "political" stuff on you guys recently, but
I am simply outraged that any national organic program wouldn't support and
encourage compost tea. Someone tell me when USDA supports compost tea
outright and I'll be there to celebrate. Press releases won't do, much as I
appreciate Tom Piatkowski's efforts. Except for the nearly-nefarious
"National List" USDA produced, they do not certify products, only
certifiers... When CT is on that list I among others will be ecstatic, I'm
sure...

As a vermicompost supplier I don't recommend vermicompost as an exclusive
tea base in a media-contained system. Good castings are too dense to
support air and water movement in making an aerated tea with a media
container, so there needs to be some chunky stuff in the mix for porosity.
If the vermicompost is loose in the water, probably no problem. I agree
with Tom J on the virtues of vermicompost. If you design your tea set up
for vermicompost you'll likely get good results, and it is easier to make
consistently for tea quantities.

Conjecture: As for fungal content, since worms seem to consume fungi
readily, my take is that unless your worm food going in is highly fungal and
your retention time short, vermicompost for fungal content isn't assured.
Seems better to pre-grow fungi in your compost tea media, or add
post-aeration nutrients. Castings/vermicompost absent worms should be an
excellent base for fungal activation, too, seems to me.

I also want to assert that basic home compost tests are absolutely solid.
If the compost you're using smells, looks and feels good, it's likely not to
do any harm, however. Mulching is always a good use. Save the best for
tea? As for compost vs tea use, my take is to use local compost at least
once a year, mulch continuously, and use tea as often as you can. Fruits
want more where I live, flowers less, vegies are in between, don't know
about grains or tubers... but there was some good news from Mary on tubers,
hmm? Sounds like Matt will be able to tell us more soon, too.

Compost or mulching or plants turned in are essential physical components of
healthy soils, and in concert with compost teas for plants and soil, an
absolutely wonderful, organic, natural dynamo, imo.

Go AACT! And all other compost teas, too. My grandmother, by the way,
introduced me to forest duff in a stirred nutrient tea way before I knew
what to call either of them...and given how much we stirred it I'm pretty
sure it was aerobic, if not aerated, too.

-- Kirk

> Message: 6
> Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 11:12:03 -0700
> From: George and Paulette Mouchet <geomouchet_at_QNET.COM>
> Subject: makin' compost, was Using my own compost, not a good option ? ?

> Thanks, Mike.

> From what (I think) I've learned from this list, vermicompost is an
> excellent source of compost for AACT. Everyone says it's a great source
of
> beneficial fungi. I don't remember anyone mentioning potential problems
> with anaerobic microbes or bad critters like E. Coli.

> Somehow the lack of oxygen issue that makes poor quality regular compost
> doesn't seem to be an issue with vermicompost. If this is true, then the
> solution to using "good" compost is to use only vermicompost in the AACT
> and not regular compost.

> Anyone have any thoughts?

> And while were at it, WHY would vermicompost not have the problems of
regular compost?

Because worms are little aerators and beneficial microbe amplifiers.
Composting is a passive conversion process, often subject to anaerobic
conditions (gravity & water) and vermicomposting is a conversion process
worms actively manage real well. Hmm?.:-)





























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Received on Fri May 16 2003 - 23:46:18 EDT

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