Re: [compost_tea] Re: compost application

From: Frank L Teuton <fteuton_at_sympatico.ca>
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 00:11:27 -0500



> >
> > 2 tons of compost, 4,000 pounds, about four to five cubic yards
> depending on
> > the compost. 100 to 125 cubic feet. About a pound of compost every
> 40 square
> > feet or so.

Ooops, make that every 10 square feet or so...


> >
> > Doing it by hand with a yard cart, I would divide the acre up into
> 12 equal
> > sectors, fill the cart up 12 times, and put each cartload into one
> of the
> > sectors, using my eyeball's away! measuring method. Fork or shovel
> depending
> > on the character of the compost.
> > Best done in the evening before a gentle rain.
> >
>
> <><<><><><><><><><This would be a good enuf reason to mechanize(pay
> the big bucks for equipment other than a spade) so many acres could
> be covered just before the gentle rain. Dennis

If you have many acres, yes....I just wanted to show that it wasn't
impossible to do it by hand, and indeed, I have done it with compost on
lawns like this many times.

>
>
>
>
> > With a tractor and a manure spreader, we would use the lowest of
> our four
> > PTO speeds.
>
> <><><><><><><><>I have only 540 rpm. What kind of tractor has 4 pto
> speeds? Dennis

Ours is a gray market Kubota 35 HP, which has 4 PTO speeds, creeper geers,
and a sunshiny personality...;-) May not be available stateside.

>
>
> In our situation we would band the compost into the growing beds
> > rather than broadcast it, and we modified an old manure spreader
> (taking off
> > the beaters, making a wall with an opening below for the compost to
> be
> > pushed off by the chain bars) to simply apply a band of compost on
> our beds.
> >
> >
> Hello Frank, Did you add bars cause it seems in the old pto
> spreaders (and ground driven ones too)the bars are about 18" apart
> and somewhat unevenly spaced as well. How thick a layer do you get
> banding the beds this way? Dennnis

Our usual application rate is about 1/2 inch, running the tractor at 3-1-2
(third range, first gear, second PTO speed) By running the tractor slower
and the PTO faster we can apply more, and vice versa for less.

Our usual practice then is to incorporate with the evil rototiller (sorry
Elaine).

Frank Teuton



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Received on Thu Nov 20 2003 - 00:50:47 EST

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