[USCC] Composting & oxygen for the microbes

[Gary Bright]

John A. Crockett:

Finally, you have made more sense than anyone commenting on the subject of 
aeration;  its benefits, accomplishment, etc.

A number of years ago when I became interested in composting I had this
Friend who was in the mushroom business.  He also was a Forester.  Jack
said to me while watching a compost procedure take place, namely called
a "cook out"  (continuous aeration inside a tunnel set up) He said,
"Gary, composters need to pick up where mushroom farmers have left off".
As time passes and I read your comments John, it becomes so very apparent
Jack made a very true statement.  Your right John, feed those microbes
enough air and often.   We did just that last month and composted food
waste with sawdust & wood (small) shavings and at the end of the 7th day,
temperature went from 138 to 90 which signified it was ready for curing.
Another tip from the mushroom farmers is don't just let compost sit and
cure, keep inducing air but a very minimal rate.  That speeds up the
curing time.  Anyway, love to hear the kind of stuff you put in this
composting chat system.  Thanks........Gary Bright..Odor One Composting
Technologies.

-----Original Message-----
From: John A. Crockett [mailto:jac at magicsoil.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 8:09 AM
To: U.S. Composting Council listserve
Subject: [USCC] Composting & oxygen for the microbes

How can we make composting more profitable, and eliminate foul odors at the
same time?  Is the answer in asking the question?

Could you work well without oxygen? While that may seem like a dumb
question, maybe we ought to be asking whether the microbes in our compost
can work very effectively with limited oxygen.

What is the oxygen level in your compost?  Have you ever, much less, do you
routinely check the oxygen and CO2, on a cross section profile basis?  OR,
do you assume that you have little control over how productive the microbes
are?

We have an introduction to our research at: www.magicsoil.com/research.  And
That only begins to scratch the surface.  In one experiment that we did
almost five years ago, working with 'identical' compost feedstock, compost
that we put on 'forced' aeration, and turned three times in the course of
six days, ended up with 49 times more active bacteria than bacteria
population in the compost that remained in a passively aerated windrow.

Is it possible, even likely, that turn around time, how long it takes to
'complete' the composting process is related to how many active bacteria,
and how much active fungi are working, performing the composting process?

In January of 1996 I did my first oxygen depletion test and found that the
microbes crashed the oxygen level from 19% down to 2% in 15 minutes when I
turned off the forced aeration.  That was a turning point for me, convincing
me that full time forced aeration was vital to empowering the microbes.aca

I started tinkering with forced aeration in January of 1996, and in April of
1998 put into service our first diesel powered compost aeration system,
including a 157' long manifold with 27 ports on it.  It performed above my
highest expectations and was incredibly inexpensive to operate, 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week, every week.  Of course the systems we design now are
many times more efficient.

Does it make sense that if we want the microbes to be efficient composters,
that we've got to provide them with good working conditions?  Is there a
real possibility that if deprived of oxygen, the microbes may raise a big
stink?

Is it possible that installing an efficient full time forced aeration system
might actually lower your unit cost, by significantly improving turn around
time, while also eliminating foul odors?  Are you more concerned with
minimizing total cost, our unit cost; what about focusing on optimizing net
profit.

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