permaculture

[Mark <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>]

At 12:03 AM 11/25/02 -0800, you wrote:
> Typically you need some temperature in your compost pile so the microbes
> have the energy to decompose the difficult chemical structures of
> pesticides.  All those chlorines and bromines and benzene rings in most
> pesticides require production of seriously high-energy-requiring enzymes
> to allow break-down of the pesticide.
>
> But that's the right amount of heat - not too much, not too little.  If
> you see "compost" that has turned black, the composter fried the most
> important critters, and the pesticides are probably still present.
> Compost is supposed to be dark brown, not black.  Nor do the pesticides
> generally decompose if the compost turns anaerobic.

Back when I took my soil pollution class ten years ago one accepted manner 
of microbial degrading phenols and other highly stable chemicals involved 
steps that were aerobic and anaerobic.  As I remember there was need to go 
anaerobic to crack the ring structure.   Always struck me as a serious 
challenge, going from one to the other.  Nice to see progress.
M


Mark P. Ludwig
Poultry Research Lab
University of Wisconsin -Madison
608-262-1730 WK
608-846-7125 HM