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Re: Compost
Commercial/municipal compost is an altogether different matter. That
absolutely has to be thermophillic and properly made and cured and
residue tested before unless you can guarantee the absence of
herbicides and pesticides in the basic material. But we aren't
talking about teaching people to make compost in this case - which I
think is where we started from. I always issue caveats about using
such compost and suggest that a few tomato seedlings are tried in it
before it gets near anything else since tomatoes are so usefully
sensitive and the seeds come free with tomatoes.
Kathryn
On 15 Jan 2008, at 18:13, Scott Vlaun wrote:
> And we must not forget the contamination of many batches of
> commercial/municipal compost with persistent herbicides like
> clopyralid. The scene you describe was a common one for people who
> used the contaminated compost. Plenty of info on the web about it.
>
>
> Scott Vlaun
> Moose Pond Arts+Ecology
> Design Solutions for a Sustainable Future
>
> 450 Main St. Studio 2
> Norway, Maine 04268
> 207-739-2409 Studio
> 207-890-4099 Cell
> http://www.moosepondarts.com
>
>
>
> On Jan 15, 2008, at 9:17 AM, frielster@aol.com wrote:
>
>>
>> I beg to differ re the need to be picky about composts if applying
>> them to soil. We killed or crippled hundreds of plants at a trial
>> garden one year by applying insufficiently-composted hardwood
>> mulch. I took pictures in the morning of lovely flowering
>> perennials, and returned in the afternoon to a scene of slaughter.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Miranda Smith <mirandaconstance@gmail.com>
>> To: Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum
>> <gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Sent: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 9:10 am
>> Subject: Re: [GWL] Compost
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> We were working with Woods End Lab --
>> http://woodsend.org/pdf-files/Analysis_overview.pdf -- and put the
>> composts
>> through their analysis. Please follow the link to see what they
>> test--I
>> can't say enough good things about this lab. If you are interested in
>> learning about your composts, they are invaluable.
>>
>> In short, our well-constructed and well-tended piles had a more
>> balanced
>> nutrient content, higher OM content, and became biologically stable
>> much
>> earlier than the haphazard ones. I have no idea what happened to
>> our test
>> results, but it was clear that quality was influenced by initial
>> ingredients
>> and technique. The Composting Council
>> http://www.compostingcouncil.org/section.cfm?id=39 has a fair
>> amount of
>> information about quality, too. And, Cornell has great composting
>> information: http://compost.css.cornell.edu/Compost_Resources.html .
>>
>> Naturally, my orientation is towards farm-scale composting. That's
>> hardly
>> relevant to gardeners, unless they are buying composts, in which
>> case, it's
>> REALLY relevant. I have had some unfortunate experiences in this
>> regard--one
>> year, a well-respected dairy farm/commercial compost operation
>> sold an
>> organic potting soil made with a compost that was still so active
>> that it
>> killed most of the seeds planted in it. Scores of farmers were
>> affected--it
>> put a lot of people behind on their starting schedules. The silver
>> lining
>> was that we all became much more aware of compost quality.
>>
>> I agree that you don't need to be picky about composts if you are
>> applying
>> them to soil; it's when they are the major ingredient in a potting
>> mix or
>> you are using them to suppress plant pathogens that you want to
>> take care.
>> For those reasons, it's worthwhile to educate readers--let them
>> know that
>> different composts have different uses; as long as the compost is
>> appropriate to the use, you can't go wrong.
>>
>> Miranda
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jan 15, 2008 7:36 AM, Lee Reich <garden@leereich.com> wrote:
>>
>>> What kind of "testing" did you do to see the differences in your
>>> composts? And was the only difference imposed in curing time?
>>>
>>> Lee Reich, PhD
>>> http://leereich.com/
>>>
>>> Books by Lee Reich:
>>> The Pruning Book
>>> Weedless Gardening
>>> Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden
>>> A Northeast Gardener's Year
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jan 14, 2008, at 12:07 PM, 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
>>>>
>>>> On Jan 14, 2008 11:37 AM, <loisdan@juno.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>>>
>>>>> Last week I posted a piece to my blog on troublefree composting.
>>>>> Out of
>>>>> curiosity, I browsed several GWL member sites to see what you all
>>>>> have to
>>>>> say on the topic. Of those I read, while most gave at least an
>>>>> obligatory
>>>>> nod to the "rules" of composting, nearly everyone seemed to use
>>>>> some type
>>>>> of desultory method similar to my own. What say you? Do any of you
>>>>> compost only by the rules? It might be an interesting exercise for
>>>>> us to
>>>>> discuss whether formal composting actually has much effect on the
>>>>> final
>>>>> product.
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> Lois
>>>>> Visit http://loisdevries.blogspot.com
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> g@lists.ibiblio.org>
>>>>>
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>>>>> http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters
>>>>>
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>>>
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>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
> _______________________________________________
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> Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
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>
> Post gardening questions/threads to
> "Gardenwriters on Gardening" <gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org>
>
> For GWL website and Wiki, go to
> http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters
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