[USCC] composting microbe activity

[John A. Crockett]

Though it may be a national holiday, "Memorial Day", here in the United
States, our microbial master composters treat it as every other day, and are
continuing to work 24/7 for us, provided we provide them with good working
conditions, including enough fresh air / oxygen.

After turning the compost in two of our compost research silos, I took a
couple of samples and looked at them under our microscope. Every time I do
that, I find composting incredibly humbling.

And this morning I found what I think was fungal hyphae moving more than I
have ever observed in the past, some hyphae that was about 100µm long, and
one end moving over 50µm, another that was moving over 100µm.

This sample came from compost that is on negative pressure forced aeration,
rate of air flow: 3.3X the volume of the compost, in fresh air, every hour,
and the CO2 in the off-gas is 1%.  By our standards, this is very little
oxygen consumption.  In early stage food compost, we often need over 23X of
forced aeration, to hold the CO2 down between 1 - 2%.

If some of you are unfamiliar with "µm", and it wasn't so many years ago
that I was unfamiliar with it, "µ" is the Greek letter Mu, and in math and
science stands for "micro", so a micron is A unit of length equal to one
millionth (1.0E-6) of a meter, and "m" stands for "meter".  Am I right on
that?  I appreciate your feedback.  I certainly don't want to be giving out
bad information. I have so much to learn.  To type the Greek letter Mu, hold
the ALT key down while striking 230 on the numeric keypad on the right side
of your keyboard.  And for those of you who want the degree symbol, that is
ALT+248.

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