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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Mark Ludwig <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] SoilFoodWeb
  • Date: Sun, 20 Oct 2002 20:24:05 -0500

At 11:36 AM 10/11/02 +0000, you wrote:
Jerome Osentowski wrote
>EM stands for effective Microrganisms, and they do not work in Hot
>composts They will fry along with about everything else.

I have encountered this veiwpoint of hot composting "frying" everything
before in UK pc publications (think it was 'Pc in a Nutshell') and don't
understand what the problem is. Is it a pc myth from an ill-informed pc
teacher in the early days that's been perpetuated?

Hot composting is a natural process generated by beneficial
microorganisms working at their optimum in an ideal carbon/ nitrogen
environment. At these temperatures (60+deg C) plant pathogens are
destroyed along with many weed seeds (a positive 'frying') and the
beneficial organisms break down chemical residues, antibiotics etc. As a
certified organic grower I can only use non-certified materials (plant
and animal manures) if they've been through a hot composting process.
Different organisms operate in different conditions and there are
beneficial MO's specific to various temperature ranges. This blanket
bagging of hot compost processes almost smacks of a kind of
micro-organism apartheid...
Robyn

I agree wholeheartedly. Just a dab of P will catch the N, the only real loss in a hot mound. You can smell it if your loosing it and react with rock Phos or even tripple super if that all you can get.
Mark

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