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  • From: Keith Johnson <kd.johnson AT insightbb.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] fungal compost?
  • Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2008 17:48:19 -0000

My messages to the list have not been getting to the list because I was using an address different from the one I signed up with, so I am resubmitting them.

The fungal approach is certainly one to consider, particularly if there
is a nitrogen unavailability locally.
One N source which is often overlooked is human urine. Our household of
three produces about a gallon a day. Over one year that's 1095 gallons.
The urine produced by one person in a year's time will provide enough
N,P,and K for one acre of cabbages with nutrient to spare.
Get the extended family involved and those piles WILL heat up.

Now you are probably talking about mountains of manure and bedding in
which case other sources might be worth looking into such as alfalfa
hay, clover hay, kudzu hay, (spoiled hay in general), soybean meal,
peanut meal, alfalfa meal, various animal feeds, coffee grounds (from a
large institution), or feathers. Alternately, food scraps from large
institutions, restaurants, and schools could provide the "green"
complement to the "browns". There are probably several more I'm
forgetting. Oh, hair, though this can have a lot of nasties in it, too.
The stuff people put on their scalps....makes me shudder. =-O

The fungal option could also be expensive unless one were able to find a
large amount of spawn (especially in liquid form for easy application)
at a low price. I suspect that ordinary culinary varieties, like oyster
(pleurotus) would do the job. The fungal piles SHOULD NOT be turned as
that would destroy the mycelial web. To help speed their colonization,
sugars can be added to the material. Plain old white sugar, molasses,
etc. would provide the fast food to help the colony get established
rapidly. At some point in the breakdown of the piles worms will either
find their way in or can be introduced. Millipedes are also ravenous
decomposers of woody lignins along with pill bugs, both of which are
likely already present. This will generally be a slower process than
turned compost.

no one wrote:
Hi all,
I have a friend farming next to a large horse operation who has lots of horse bedding in windrows in hopes of having a good source of compost for the coming seasons. However, the horses are bedded on sawdust, and he's having great difficulty getting any heat generated. He's considering adding blood meal, which is expensive, or conventional poultry litter, which he has concern about the content of non-desirable chemicals in. My thought is that if you could turn the compost pile fungal, it would break down the sawdust. Or just give it time and plenty of turning. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions about dealing with such a material, or how you would veer a pile towards fungal development.
Thanks,
John DiZazzo
Roundabout Farm
Keswick, VA

--
Keith Johnson
"Be fruitful and mulch apply."
Permaculture Activist Magazine
PO Box 5516, Bloomington, IN 47407
(812) 335-0383
http://www.permacultureactivist.net
http://www.PermacultureTradingPost.com
Switch to Solar Power the Easy Way
http://www.jointhesolution.com/KeithJ-SunPower
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Blog: http://kjpermaculture.blogspot.com/
also Patterns for Abundance Design & Consulting
http://www.permacultureactivist.net/design/Designconsult.html
also Association for Regenerative Culture
http://www.ARCulture.org
also APPLE-Bloomington (Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy) It's a small world after oil.
http://www.relocalize.net/groups/applebloomington
also Bloomington Permaculture Guild
http://my.calendars.net/bloomingtonpccal/
and: http://bloomingtonpermacultureguild.blogspot.com/
also: Bioregional Congress
http://www.bioregional-congress.org



  • Re: [Market-farming] fungal compost?, Keith Johnson, 02/02/2008

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