Subject: [Homestead] Compost versus mulch was Organic and us
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 07:58:31 -0500
And what you are describing is mulch, not compost.
I should have distinguished between your in situ composting practice
and what you correctly say the big farms are not doing. The best that
large-acreage operators could do would be the kind of composting
operations one sees at the edge of cities, where all organic matter
collected by parks and street departments is composted in huge rows
and turned by large machines. The cost of such an operation would
likely make it uneconomical unless the raw product were free, as in
cities, where the cost of collection is paid by the citizens.
If one has limited gardening space, then high-quality compost will
raise yields to their optimal level. I have unlimited space and am
lazy so I prefer to use more space, have more plants with lower
yields and often less disease and insect predation with the greater
spacing. Yes, vibrantly healthy plants discourage pests and disease,
so both systems work, it's a question of how hard you like to work. I
have written before of my concept of the scattered garden. Mostly I
just pile grass clippings and chopped leaves on top of the beds and
let the soil organisms do all the work of converting humus to plant
food. This is not composting; this is mulching. When I get chickens
next year and add their droppings to the mulch, then I will be closer
to a composting operation.
Another issue is humus percentage within the root zone. Humus is
organic material. The pH tolerance of plants is widened with humus.
Humus also retains moisture in the root zone. It is almost impossible
to keep too much humus in soil. We lazy gardeners--which is to say
experienced--likely have less soil humus than is optimal. Keeping a
high percentage of humus in the top root zone requires yearly mixing
because soil organisms love you for bringing groceries down to them
and they eat and multiply like crazy, never saving for days of
famine. Which is to say they deplete humus quickly.
Finished compost is the crumbly, nice-smelling result of organisms
digesting a balanced mixture of nitrogenous and carbonaceous
materials. The quality of finished compost depends on the nature and
variety of the raw materials. Many gardeners add various minerals to
their compost piles. This is appropriate if produce is sold or wastes
are not utilized. If the gardener has a closed loop of nutrients,
from garden to kitchen and animals and back to garden, then minerals
may not become depleted without importation. If you have a flush
toilet you do not have a closed loop.
Jerome Rodale introduced compost knowledge to America through his
writings and publications. His early compost instruction required
that compost pile reach a high internal temperature. This typically
requires a lot of nitrogen and also requires turning the pile so it
"finished" equally throughout. Smart guy, he didn't embrace the work
required so he recommended that the compost piler make carefully
calculated layers of different materials.