[USCC] (no subject)

[John A. Crockett]

Congratulations Jean on recognizing that passive aeration and turning by
themselves don't provide the microbes with enough oxygen. While our early
oxygen in composting research back in 1996, showed that the microbes can
strip the oxygen from 19% down to 2% in 15 minutes, and that passive
aeration of windrows is grossly inadequate, there are still people who think
5% oxygen is aerobic and adequate.  There are still people who believe that
windrows will adequately aerate by convection and turning.  We believed
that, UNTIL we got oxygen and CO2 meters and started doing our own hands on
research, including Cross Section Profile oxygen and CO2 monitoring of
passively aerated windrows.

We recently had some food compost that required 42 times its own volume in
fresh air, every hour, to hold the CO2 in the off-gas down to 2%, and the
temperature stayed over 155°F for several days, even with that rate of air
flow.

There is more information about our research on our website.

Working Together to Create a Sustainable Environment,
John A. Crockett, a.k.a. Dr. Mike Robe
Mother Nature's Farms, Inc.
(845) 225-7763
http://www.magicsoil.com/
jac at magicsoil.com