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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] bulk compost, peat, etc.

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  • From: Paul Bucciaglia <pbucciaglia AT yahoo.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] bulk compost, peat, etc.
  • Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 09:03:01 -0800 (PST)

Hi Matt,
 
You can really get bogged down trying to buy or haul your own organic matter, depends on the area you have in veg production and how big your truck is.  Here in the urban east we are lucky as tipping fees are high, and many people are looking for places to dump.  Some sources of free, delivered, material:
 
Tree removal/wood chippers
Horse manure- small scale owners and large equestrian centers
Municipal leaves- call town authorities
Local landscape contractors- (leaves, grass clippings)
Mushroom farms (spent mushroom compost)
Grocery stores (they have very high costs for waste produce--you need to have a reliable carbon source as this stuff is high N and high water)
 
I am guessing carbon sources are going to be much harder to find in the arid west?  You might try feedlots, larger farms, etc.; look for materials like bedded manure as well as round bales of corn stover or small grain straw.  If you have the area and water  you can grow your own carbon and nitrogen.  Be creative, but spend as little time and money as you need to moving organic matter to your farm.  For your first year you might consider finished compost (in bulk only!)  but in the long term this is expensive, you are on the right track looking for sources for your own composting material.  Also grow legume cover crops for N if you can, although I'm not sure how folks manage this in arid climates.  You can always buy bagged organic fertilizer as well; buy it in volume (ie by the pallet) as this lowers the price.  When I have run the numbers high quality compost is the cheapest source of nutrients, however application costs (in terms of machinery time) are high. Test  your soil now to determine nutrient deficiencies and get composting materials high in these nutrients; ie. my soil is low in K and Ca so composted horse manure/straw/tree leaves is helpful.  BTW while peat loosens tight soil, improves tilth, and increases water holding capacity, it contains very little in the way of available plant nutrients, and is extremely expensive. 
 
Paul

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2004 16:07:47 -0700 (MST)
From: Matt Cheselka
Subject: [Market-farming] bulk compost, peat, etc.
To: Market Farming
Message-ID:

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII


Another question I have is about getting compost, peat, and other goodies
for the soil in bulk rather than paying $3.89 for 3 cubic feet for compost
at Home Depot. I did a quick web search but didn't come up with anything
useful. I'd want to pick it up myself, so it'd have to be within, say,
100 miles of me for reasonable delivery or pickup. I'm in SE Arizona.
Does anyone know of any sources down here? Or am I doomed to buying this
at Home Depot? Is there a possibility that I can get this stuff at the
wholesale price (which I have no idea what it is)?

Cheers and thanks again,

Matt Cheselka




Paul Bucciaglia
Fort Hill Farm
Organic Vegetables, Herbs, and Flowers
18 Fort Hill Rd.
New Milford CT 06776
(860) 350-3158


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