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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] White bands in compost

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  • From: Allan Balliett <igg AT igg.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] White bands in compost
  • Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2004 08:18:03 -0500

Actinomycetes, fungi responsible for part of the composting process and the organisms that most people associate with the smell of "soil," form a white band about a foot from the outside of a well-made compost pile. They cannot live in the very hot temperatures in the interior, but need some warmth, which explains their location. Take a sniff--I bet they smell good. They are beneficial, obviously.

Thanks, Miranda.

I want to point out that Actinomycetes is a bacteria, and not a fungi. As such, according to the Soil Food Web people, it can be very detrimental addition to soil that requires mycorrhizal fungi.

The white, powdery 'bacterial growth' that I was referring to occurs early in compost piles, usually observed in the first turning, and is some times called 'firefang.' It is also a actinomycetes bacteria, but I do not believe that this one creates compounds that we associate with that 'before the rain' smell we all know and love. (According to Elaine Ingham, the fungi responsible for the really good smell of good soil (forest humus) are the basidiomycetes.) I have heard stories of firefang reducing poorly managed stacks to dust, but I've never seen anything like this.

I better say to anyone who is just starting farm scale composting that the information I gave about wetting the stack with a sprayer on a hose during construction is effective here in compost cloth covered stacks in Shenandoah Valley in stacks that have a high carbon content (horse manure, hay, straw). Wetting like we do (you never want to wet enough to interfere with air passage in the stack) could be detrimental in tropical areas. I point out the wetting process because I believe that getting enough moisture in the stack at the beginning has made a substantial difference in the quality of the compost we make.

-Allan Balliett
Shenandoah Valley





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