Re: Compost

**K* M* <k*@iol.ie>**

Just wondering what is meant by quality in this context. In my  
younger days I built perfectly constructed piles as homes for  
thermophilic bacteria and they duly heated, were turned and watered  
etc, etc. The result was a fairly small amount of quickly made weed  
free compost that needed at least six months before the soil life was  
really happy there - though at least I never got weed seeds in my  
sowing mixes.  A bit embarrassing the time I was building heaps in a  
hurry and got distracted by need to do the paperwork for an up and  
coming organic inspection. Forgot to water pile. Pile went up in  
flames during inspection.

These days I throw in whatever organic material happens to come to  
hand whenever it comes to hand, spread it evenly across the heap,  
water it if it seems dry and don't bother much. With this haphazard  
method I get a lot more compost and some of the weed seeds survive.  
Some of the flower seeds survive as well so there's often all sorts  
of interesting things emerging in my seed trays and across the  
garden. My plants seem to like it. I don't use much of it as a sowing  
medium though because I make leaf mould heaps separately, watering  
them well when I've gathered them and then covering them and  
forgetting for a couple of years. All my kitchen waste that doesn't  
have seeds is fed, along with shredded newspaper to the inhabitants  
of my wormery. This gets mixed with the leafmould as sowing compost  
or, with a higher ratio of worm casts, as potting compost.

kathryn

On 14 Jan 2008, at 17:07, Miranda Smith wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Yes, the way that you compost determines the quality of the finished
> project. I've done enough research, complete with testing all the way
> through and at the time that it was stockpiled for curing, 3 months  
> after
> that time, and 6 months after that, to know that is so--the  
> "formal" way,
> with or without composters in tuxedos and tiaras, gives the highest  
> quality
> product.
>
> But there is a huge caveat. Unless you are using the compost as a  
> disease
> suppressant, in greenhouse containers or starting mixes, or composting
> something smelly in a suburban environment, does improved quality  
> matter
> enough to inspire you to monitor the piles every day and adjust  
> accordingly?
> I don't think so. For ordinary uses, sloppy compost works fine--as  
> long as
> it's really broken down. And you can tell that with a simple "cress  
> test."
> Before you buy compost, do a cress test with it: take a sample,  
> plant land
> cress in it--no additives like peat moss or vermiculite--and see  
> how they
> do. If they are fine, you can use it in starting mixes. If not, you  
> know
> that it requires a few more months of curing before it is safe to  
> use for
> sensitive applications.
>
> Best,
>
> Miranda
>
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