[USCC] Professionalism in composting

[John A. Crockett]

It seems to me that before getting in to certifying operators, that there is
a dire need to examine popular practices and beliefs to see whether they are
'good' technology, or whether there is a major opportunity for
enlightenment.

Could You work effectively without oxygen?  

We started monitoring oxygen in compost back in January of 1996, and it was
a real awakening experience.  My oxygen and CO2 meters did not, and still do
not believe that windrows will adequately passively aerate by convection or
turning. 

More frequently than not, with early stage compost, we are repeatedly
finding that we need over 10 times the volume of the compost, in fresh air,
every hour, to hold CO2 in the off-gas at or below 2%, and often we need
over 20 times the volume of the compost in fresh air, every hour.

I don't count how many times I monitor oxygen and CO2, but I'm guessing that
in the past month I've probably monitored off-gas over 50 times and likely
over 150 times.  I've done six monitorings so far this Sunday morning.  I
feel that I cannot afford to starve the microbes of oxygen.  Yesterday
morning I was looking at some fungal spores at 40X & 200X, part of our
passion to learn more about our microbial master composters.  

Interns here learn how to monitor off-gas oxygen and CO2 their first day
here, and often within the first month learn how to do the assaying, direct
estimating of the active bacteria population.  The first day they also start
doing moisture content determination.  

Maybe any certifying ought to involve having done at least 100 oxygen & CO2
monitorings, cross section profile, and putting that data into meaningful
graphs, and having done at least 50 moisture content determinations,
involving weighing, and baking out the moisture, and weighing the dried
sample.  

IF certifying is to have any value, it seems that it has to be built on
credibility, which, in my opinion, means having facts, and those facts need
to include knowing that the microbes have enough oxygen.  

Back in 1492 there was an Italian sailor who had a hard time raising money
for his voyage, and he was almost locked up in an insane asylum, because the
popular belief was that the earth was flat and that Columbus and his crew
were gong to sail off the edge of a flat earth.   Today many people believe
that passively aerated windrows will aerate by convection, though I have yet
to see any comprehensive cross section oxygen and CO2 monitoring data to
support that theory / belief.  I also think that cross section profile data
ought to include data on the population of active bacteria and / or fungi at
each monitoring point, because if there are few microbes, then there would
of course be little composting occurring, and little oxygen consumption.

I've heard compost turner salesmen claim that their turner will keep compost
aerobic.  Again, I'd very much like to see cross section profile oxygen and
CO2 monitoring data to support their claims.  My cross section profile data
has been on our website since May of 1998, and it seems to suggest that
passive aeration is grossly inadequate, and that within an hour of turning,
the microbes can seriously deplete the oxygen.

There is a page on our website:  Facts versus Myths, that you might find
interesting.
 
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