If they are an aerobic population that can digest organic matter such as lignin and convert it to microbial cellular products (i.e. make compost) they are what we need.
It is certainly good stuff, but high N so needs carbon adding so it can be immobilised. If you just spread it on the soil you will lose a significant proportion of the N, and also lose the goodwill of your neighbours.Reckon you’d see more benefit to the cover crop from 2t/ac of
If your farming system has depleted the right bacteria and fungi in the first place then surely applying compost to rejuvenate these will not last?
You have to feed them - keep a crop growing with minimal interruption between one crop and the next so the root exudate is doing the feeding.
We did green waste composting back in the 00s. The oxygen breathing bugs break down the solids and produce methane. This breaking down action produces the heat. Turning the windrows regular gets more methane and more CO2 from diesel use. I was told that even then, it is a better use of resources than just setting light to the waste and burning it.
now that depends on how you farm, going forward.
Oxygen breathing bugs cannot produce methane, only carbon dioxide. That is why we have an ANAEROBIC digester to make methane. The specific bugs that do the job are not bacteria, but Archaea, organisms adapted for hostile environments.
I don't doubt its good stuff, the question I'm posing is "is it worth making compost out of straw and FYM". Green waste isn't good to spread on land and will be better composted. As for buying it in, we have more than enough FYM without buying in extra OM.
@sjt01 is the one to ask. My science-speak is poor as you can see above
. He knows about the benefits of turning cattle FYM into fryable compost. Even well rotted mulch can set pasture back a ways before the bugs and worms do their stuff. Both fresh FYM and composted FYM have C and N but the later has all the good fungi and microbes that plants need and then of course there's the natural removal of ammonia which saves your soil too.)
I'm a bit lost here, are you thinking of doing it to sell or to put back on the land? Make 2000t a year here to put on our land, but it's shipped in straw from a race yard, biggest thing it needs is moisture, but use a 360 to turn it and add poultry litter. If you're just putting it back on why not just chop the straw and spread cow/chicken muck on top. If you're thinking to sell it as bagged/bulk garden compost then you'll do just fine with dryish fym put through a rotogrind.
If your sh!t still stinks, don't spread it, you lose less ammonia tipping it in a bulk heap and leaving it to rot until it smells sweet, not sour, turning it releases ammonia every time too.
Not far out at all. Turning over with a muck bucket or fork will be nowhere near as effective as a compost turner, so will need at least 4 good fluffing up turns. Temperature should reach 60°C then gradually fall.@sjt01 is the one to ask. My science-speak is poor as you can see above
Maybe set aside a midden corner for a experiment in Spring 2024 after you muck out a shed and turn over a few spreader loads with a bucket a few times until its made? Then you can do a compare-and-contrast out in a field side by side? For instance, I'd say the composted area would do better in a drought.
Ask @sjt01 - he imported in a new turner so there must be something to it!
(@sjt01 if any of the above is wrong please put it right!
So impressed for what reason? A year seems a little soon to judge success. Some put far too much effort into composting without knowing the goal (not accusing you as you seem to know your goal) some put far too little concern of the potential efficiency of their fym. But I'm genuinely interested in why you believe what you have produced is so impressive off the back of the turner.
In laymans terms, a good dose of shiteliser covers a multitude of sins.
We have a friable, stable product with no mineral nitrate, virtually no ammonia and the nitrogen immobilised in microbial protein, for slow release in the soil. It spreads so well, there will be a fraction of the wear on the muck spreader compared to raw FYM. There is no smell, and no risk of loss of nutrients to the air when spread. I have yet to quantify the micro and macro fauna, that is the next step.
Top job if it's making a microbial/fungal compost, (so long as you're not turning the ammonia out to atmosphere!)it's far more beneficial than bacterial, if it has little to no odour then bacterial has turned to microbial for those on the thread who are interested. Takes a good 18 months to get stored fym to become truly microbial... makes a mockery of the manure storage rule. I agree, turning it with a handler bucket doesn't add enough oxygen. 360 is a halfway house to your turner and does add enough oxygen. Time constraints and a 360 allow me to turn 1000t in a morning and allows a far more aerated heap than handler does
