[USCC] Need ideas for composting chipped wood

[Bill Newland]

Call me @ 888-642-2149 Bill Newland

---- Original Message ----
From: erm1586 at iowatelecom.net
To: compost at mailman.cloudnet.com
Subject: [USCC] Need ideas for composting chipped wood
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 14:23:40 -0500

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>6, 2007 to May 12, 2007
>
>This year's theme is "The Possibilities are Endless ... Compost!"
>
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>We are "production agriculturalists"------some would call us
>"farmers", 
>using the non-politically-correct term..........."farming" a
>significant 
>number of certified organic acres in Iowa.
>
>We currently have access to a significant amount of trees, branches,
>etc. 
>that came down during the recent ice storm in Iowa, which wood has
>been run 
>through a Vermeer chipper.  The result is, for the most part,
>shredded wood, 
>but there are significantly large pieces also.  Those pieces could be
>as 
>large as 12 inches long and two inches in diameter.
>
>Our intention would be to compost the chipped wood, using our small
>compost 
>turner, and then spreading the resulting compost onto our fields. 
>Our 
>compost turner will eat windrows about 8 ft wide by 5ft high.  I do
>not 
>believe that we would provide the care and attention needed to do a 
>"perfect" job of composting-----we compost now to the extent needed
>to be 
>able to preserve as much N and other nutrients as possible when we
>haul 
>poultry litter during the late spring/summer and have to store it
>until we 
>can apply it to the fields in the fall/spring.  In other words, we do
>not 
>compost with the intention of having a final product which is perfect
>or 
>saleable.......we compost in order to be able to store fertilizer
>until 
>application can occur.
>
>Question-  About how long would it take to compost the larger pieces
>into 
>smaller pieces which would not tie up/cling to our tillage 
>equipment......say, pieces about an inch in diameter by 6 inches
>long, or 
>significantly brittle enough to be broken easily.  We currently have
>no way 
>to sift these large pieces from the piles.  Would six to eight months
>be 
>sufficient?
>
>Question- Even after composting, how much nutritional and/or
>soil-building 
>value would the composted wood provide?  Would it be worth the
>effort?
>
>Question- if the wood chips were mixed with swine slurry this fall,
>would 
>that make a difference in the desirability of hauling and storing the
>chips? 
>Currently the wood-matter that is in the poultry litter-----sawdust, 
>etc.-------that we apply provides a considerable amount of carbon for
>the 
>soils.  However, in the near future, we are going to have access to
>swine 
>slurry, and therefore will not be putting down as much organic fiber.
>
>Therefore, is it possible that composting chipped wood with slurry
>would 
>allow a resulting product better than the two components would be as 
>separate items?
>
>Thanks.
>
>Eugene R. Moore
>Spring Valley Farms of IA, Ltd.
>1701 3rd Avenue East, Suite 7
>Oskaloosa, Iowa  52577
>Telep:  641 673 6964
>Fax:     641 673 6551
>
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