I made my bioreactor, inspired by your videos. It's a third world version, with no store-bought input. All made of bamboo, and ventilation can be done through bamboo split in half and with some holes, positioned along the pile inspired by the design of subway tunnels.
🤣🤣🤣 "Dear Diego, you are wrong & here's why" 🤣🤣🤣 Got to love the social media experts. Cheers mate. BTW, Thanks for the recent series with Dr. Elaine. I almost bought the course recently when a discount was offered here in Oz but other bills popped up first.😒 Cheers.
Oh how I commented to soon! The last portion was highly entertaining and educational. I am the lazy composter. Gather various materials. Put them in a cylinder. Go have glass of tea for about a year. It takes care of itself. Feed it when necessary with more material. Nervous/anxious folks that flit about I will never be accused of. Put the work in then put your feet up. The garden has flowers galore. The watermelons are as big as Buicks and so on and so forth. Folks are impressed. Whadda do. Whadda do to get all that?!. Nothing. You have put the work in the beginning. After that it's pretty much auto pilot.
for option number 4, you could dig an X in the ground, so the air can circulate, put a metal screen to prevent the material from falling into this little ditch.
I know this is a couple years down the line since this was posted but, excellent work, from the bioreactors to the satire you injected towards the end because we all know how people get when someone’s crazy enough to try something new or question authority (in a positive way!). This is the type of attitude more people should have- just go outside and garden/compost *your* way and have a fun! Cheers, Marshall
I like your methods of trial and diversity of pile styles. I would LOOOOVE it if you would do soil tests so you know what's happening biologically and share them along with your video. I don't think anyone can claim "best method" but we do have ability to test and learn about nutrients, microbes, and fungi. SO instead if guess, let us know what your results are on these methods. It would help a great amount to know because not all compost was created equally and you can indeed make not great compost
I think it's great that you're trying all these different ways of lazy composting. In the end, time and biological activity makes compost regardless of the method used.
I made one of these before I knew what they were called. Mine is on ground so no pallet with no air tubes or worms added. 8 months later when I broke into it the middle and bottom two feet were pure black gold and the worms from my yard had easily found it and made it their home. I had some massive 7-9 inch thick earth worms doing their business.
My grandfather had a compost heap for half a century. His technique? Throw everything that his large gardens produced as side products as well as quite a bit of kitchen leftovers in one huge place. Imagine a lot that could park a pickup, with the heap reaching 6 feet easily in fall. The heap was the prefered place for his chickens, even if I to this day have no idea how he managed to keep them from gobbling up the rhubarb and pumpkin that covered the mature side of the heap. No manual turning involved, it was just so large, that he could add new stuff on one end, while harvesting years old compost from the other end. There was also no watering involved, well except from the rain. What surely did help with keeping it from drying out (away from the sheer size) was a huge pear tree and a good sized apple tree shading it. I'm pretty sure, the center was going anaerobic, and this heap was surely not composting nearly as quickly as a dedicated bioreactor. But that wasn't necessary. By dedicating 3-5% of his garden to this heap, he had all the compost he'd ever need, with little to no work.
pretty much all you need to do..... one thing your pops might have benefited from was to make compost tea with the gold from the huge pile, adding 02 with an aquarium pump...... you can do it every watering......also, adding biochar in that huge pile would have brought it up a notch.
He was way ahead of his time, the chickens remove weed seeds, add manure and turn it too, wish I had room for some. Also just leaving it for a year should do it well enough for most people to use. Oh it saves a lot of money on chicken food too, that rhubarb becomes chicken manure fertiliser too. Lost skills for most people.
I made my first Jonson Su varient today on a spur of the moment project with materials I had on hand. It took me a couple hours. I dub it Mark I. While surely not the best, your video makes me happy I did it, knowing that its all part of the learning process/experience.
1 method I use is a large cage, (I've tried 5ft to 8ft diameter), with the bottom of the cage suspended about 1.5ft above the ground surface, on posts. The compost that spills out the bottom, gets thrown back in the top. Occasionally I rake some of the compost out of the bottom. If it is done, I use it. If it is not quite done, I throw it back in on top. When I pull weeds, those go in with the roots and some soil. This provides worm grit and soil biology to the stack. I also throw in small branches and whole plants. I've noticed that these provide bridging structure in the stack, giving ample air pockets. Near the bottom center of the stack, I have seen some anaerobic pockets. All things considered, I like the bacterial diversity that is going on in the stack. Anything that is not completely composted gets thrown back in, and occasionally, I cycle most of a single dig, back in on top. Giving nature diversity, lets nature use all her tools, then all the tools are NURTURED for your garden.
"Moisture is the essence of wetness." -Diego Footer Great set of experiments, will be interesting how fast each one breaks down. I did one like your namesake magnum option minus the central channel, and in one season it looks like compost is achieved nicely. Thanks for the ideas and data, keep up the great work!
@@clergh My favorite way now is just a large garbage can with adequate drainage holes in the bottom, which I put a 4×4 down the center as I fill with compostable material. Water and wait about a week, and take out the 4x4. It works without that air channel too, just a bit slower. Pretty easy really.
You can still get aeration from the bottom when your compost pile is on the ground. When you place your reactor on a pallet, you're only getting air flow from between the slats. If you lay perforated pipes flat on the ground, and then pile your organic matter on top, making sure the pipe ends are open to the outside, you'll simmulate a pallet with "soil slats" and have the best of both worlds, if it makes a difference in the first place.
You're really onto something with these, Diego! I am doing the version with central core and open mesh, and I love it. It's my main composting system now. I look forward to open it up and use it! That is the final test, but so far I love it.
I used that but…. I live in the open windy dry plains in Montana, it dries out quickly. Always looking for ways of keeping it moist and keeping the middle warm in -0 weather.
"How do you define best". !!!!!!!!! You sir, are the best. Applying logic to real life. What a novel concept.. Micro climates alone in a region will effect the results of these designs. I look forward to seeing your after video!
Diego, in the very unlikely chance you’ll read this, what are the results after two years? You’ve put a lot of effort into this then left us all hanging! It’s a pity not to update after all that work, hope everything’s going ok. 👍
Dr. Johnson's wife said figure out a different way because I am tied of doing your laundry. He cam up with a method that works well for him. Assuming that it is the best method is wrong. That is why I like watching your videos where you experiment to see what effects different designs have on the compost.
>He cam up with a method that works well for him. This is just wrong. Science isn't subjective. He tested the method in DIVERSE LOCATIONS, and over and over again. He didn't come up with a method that works "for him". He came up with a method, tested it once, saw that it worked. Then he tested it again, and again, and again. He saw that it works every time. Then he tested it in different locations. He saw that it works in every location. And he kept testing it, until he gathered enough data to be able to confidently say that the method WORKS. Period, end of sentence. Not followed by any "for him"s. >Assuming that it is the best method is wrong. This is true. The Johnson-Su bioreactor is the first method that's been tested and proven to work. The first version of a method is almost never the best. In fact Dr. Johnson is already working on testing other methods. And I'm sure others will join in as well, and, eventually, develop much better methods. But, in the meantime, the Johnson-Su method is the only one that's KNOWN TO WORK. So if you want to be sure that you'll get the yields Johnson's experiments produced, you should follow it.
excited to see the result of these variations down the road. It would be great to see all of these filled with the same materials at the same time and do a total comparison of organic matter break down in your environment over a year. Awesome stuff. I like how you think.
You are hilarious :D Great show! I was just watching this because it poped up on my front screen and was already eager to learn the results. Well, lucky me, this video is one year old now! :D I hope i see some results!
I built one based on your chicken wire composter in my geothermal greenhouse. I'm slowly filling it up because I don't have enough organic matter to fill it up, and we did put some worms on top, but only because we happened to save them from a giant puddle after a rainstorm! I've had it going for about 5 months, with very little change in the height of the pile, though we keep adding to it! It must be working!
8:32 "I had a piece of left over scrap fence and it just happened to make a...." LOL! I always thought the first rule of effective composting was cost (buy new stuff and spend a lot). Great video. I had a lot of oak leaves and my Johnson-Su "ish" reactor was full so I bagged them in plastic trash bags, wet them and closed them up to add later. About 3 years later I was cleaning up the area and the bags were rotten. Full of beautiful compost full of fungus and actinomycetes. Some systems work better, some materials are better.......... just compost - do it and don't worry.
Are you kidding me? I wish I read this years ago when I had 10 oak trees on my property and was sitting there shredding the leaves, collecting, composting, and turning. All this extra effort when I could of kept it simple and easy.
I'd like to remind everyone who composts how much difference your climate makes! I live at over 6,000 feet elevation with less than 20 inches of rain per year, relative humidity under 20% a lot of the time. Everything dries out here! I have often used wire fence material to form a composting circle and it dries out like crazy. I'm wondering if anyone has tried moistening the standing pile via drip irrigation. If you know the effects of drip irrigation ( deep slow watering with little on the surface and much less evaporation while watering ) you might try it. Twenty years composting here! It can be done nearly anywhere as long as you adapt to the climate. Happy gardening!
Game changer or just a dern wake up call for me; yes to both said the man with giant digesters in the back of his garden which are basic piles of organic matter Diego, you’re my garden therapist. You help me laugh at myself. Meanwhile, some favorite quotes: Moisture is the essence of wetness. What does best look like or how are you defining best? Nature does all the work here! Be nice, be thankful and do the work. Thank you sir!
Diego, can you please do a video on how you open and harvest the compost? Do you take some out and then fasten the wire back together to keep it moist? Shovel it out into bags for storage? I built my reactor out of 2x4 fencing with 5' Dia and 1.5' inner ring; then sewed landscape cloth inside the outer ring and outside the inner ring. I filled it initially but only had material to fill it about half way. So covered it about 6" deep with cypress wood chips and started another layer. Six months in and starting a third layer. It all seems to be working, but I see problems trying to harvest the first layer on the bottom with all the other two layers on top of it. Yeah, I should have thought of that first, I know! If you have any advice, please pass it on to me. Thanks. Bill Church, Enterprise, AL.
@@DiegoFooter Thanks, I will probably just leave this one to reduce down and build another one. I'm curious to see if worms have migrated up into my reactor since it is built right on the ground. Will report when I harvest the compost. Thanks again for introducing me to this method.
Thank you so much for another great video. You content is pure gold. I am seriously addicted to seeing what you come up with next. Your bioreactor idea with 1 central air vent makes most sense to me so far. If I made 1 edit to it, I might give your earlier idea a try: to add a couple vent pipes horizontally at bottom, just for kicks to see if it helps. I gotta admit that as an aspiring farmer, the less work the better. I'm hoping to try this out in Hawaii at some point. Mahalo!
Best may also include the amount of work a person puts into the system. In the 80s, I would put found plastic pipes on the bottom of the pile I was making. I also put an 8-10 plastic pipe in the centre of the pile. All the pipes had holes drilled in them. I would leave these pipes in the pile until I wanted to turn it or harvest the material. I came from the old school of compost pile making that said you were supposed to have an air mattress of carbonaceous material on the bottom but I found that to be a pain when turning or removing the compost because you had lots of twigs and such that did not break down. I have notched the bottom of my downtube to allow a cross pipe to be laid on the ground and the central pipe. Now what I quite often do is use smaller pieces of pipe laid along the ground that butt up against the central pipe so that there are air channels for the central chimney to pull air through. After, 50 years of composting I am always evolving my system. The Johnson-Su bioreactor is a great development and as you say - it is not the end of this evolution. I like compost to be on the ground as you say. In our frozen north (Edmonton, Alberta) we compost all year. We generate quite a bit of organic matter during the winter and pile it into our regular pallet compost bins with leaves added with each deposit. (I own an organic food store). In the spring I take the deposit of the winter and construct the new piles with the tubes and such. I add plenty of water, leaves and biochar. I do not buy worms since they cost quite a bit up here. I let it firm up, remove the vertical tube after about a week, then cover with bags of leaves to keep the heat in and control the moisture to some extent. After a period of time - a month or two, I turn it into a new bin with the vertical and cross pipes. I usually add some fresh compost to the new pile to introduce more fuel, ensure the moisture is good and move the outside to the middle, (usually technique) and then I let it sit for another month or two. In the fall it is ready to apply to the field. Thanks for all the great information.
Appreciate the true scientific method here, and science in general needs talented communicators like you more than ever these days! All these designs seem to have one thing in common: Non-scalability to larger formats. If I'm trying to cover acres and acres with compost, a hundred cylinders such as these custom-built and maintained is more expensive then the most obvious solution which nature accomplishes elegantly: "Pile stuff up and wait". The problem to me is our sanitized view of nature, and how we view piles as "unkempt" or "dysfunctional", as well as a psychotic short-term gimme-dat-right-meow mindset. That, and agriculture.
The goal is a potent microbial inoculant with maximum microbial diversity. effective inoculation at 2 lbs per acre in furrow. 1 reactor using Dr. Johnsons specs can inoculate 350 acres.
Location of the compost seems to be a factor in my case. I have Geobins in 2 different locations and each time they're filled with similar ingredients. One pile always heats up, the other doesn't heat up as much. In fact, the bin that heats up has 12 inches of compost and is already heating and stuff is turning black. The other geobin have stuff i can still identify more than a year later. I'm going to try bokashi in that. And then there was a time when I emptied wood shavings and chicken manure into a 10 gallon grow bag, left it under a tree, did nothing and had beautiful compost 6 months later. Have to say you're absolutely right, Diego!
I don’t know how it took me this long to find you. I have heard your name thrown around on a few podcasts and didn’t actively search you out, what a mistake that was. I came across one of your videos because I have a pasture that j want to utilize radishes for tillage because it’s a bit heavy on the clay and becomes very hard in the summer and extremely mushy in the winter. You just opened a whole new world for me.
Diego is a real compost monster, so much organic matter stashed in this backyard. I usually just go with the top secret make a pile and leave it for a while method. Since the pile gets bigger at the bottom you get lots of soil organisms for free right.
I have a 40 cubic yard Johnson-Su-ish reactor in my yard. I turned it on it's side, I created a swimming pool sized reactor that's about 3' tall out of fencing and landscape fabric, put perforated pipe horizontally throughout the pile as I filled the 'pool' and it's nearly a year old now. Working fantastic. so consider turning the pipes horizontally and making it cheap, easy and huge.
Glad I'm not the only one that thought of the horizontal pipes. I started with a Pallet cube and had corrugated pipe so I layered a few pipes in a diamond pattern as I was filling the composter. Diego: I'd love if you could test this to see how it compares to your other systems. Unfortunately, I don't have the space for side by side experiments. One benefit to this system is that the composters are square and not circular so you get a bigger pile in a similar footprint. One drawback is that the pipes may need to be left in for structural support as they start out as weight bearing.
Many roads to one destination, i don't have much space so i struggle to get the volume for compost to heat up, so I've been putting my composting material partly on the ground and worms (huge earth worms with a metallic blue tinge on the top) make quick work of it, I've had sand filled with cement and struggled to grow anything but adding my home made compost to the soil has got my plants growing like never before... even those that i couldn't grow before... so yea i say if its working, do it... keep up the awesome work...
Great experiment!! Watching the video I came up with the idea that you could add horizontal pipes on the bottom to the composting device for people that can't compost to ensure airflow. Or use a roll of chicken wire to stay plastic free.
The one that works best is the one that you actually will use 😁 For me right now, I am using 2 methods... First is just leaving wood chips in a pile & keeping them moist. Second is a thick layer of wood chips in the chicken run & let the chickens + time do the work. I think I will do the mini double ring in the future once I get my veggie beds laid out & figure out where I want to put a bioreactor.
Really wonderful video. I agree with you ... the best is that one that combines teoretical knowledge with your own experience at your place and availability of materials you have. That's what I do .... and it works simply well😉. Many thanks 🤩
Made a dobble reactor after watching your video, and thanks for the funny "Do as you think is best, and you can actually just make a pile and leave it -rant" I was spiraling into the rabbithole, and now i just went ahead and makdea nice looking compost with a roof (lots of rain here) and a pipe in the middle for air.
Hi Diego, I build your double ring composter and have had similar results although I had a lot of seedy hay that has sprouted around the outside. It seems that you don't get the full thermal cooking without turning. I am completing elaine inghams course and she keeps it simple, wire ring on a pallet and rather than adding air pipes you monitor temperature and punch chimney holes with a broomstick. That has been the most effective in my experience. Also found with a ring you need at least 2 turns to get everything hot in the centre if your concerned with seeds or weeds. Take care.
Good advice and insight. Thanks for sharing. I think the temperature issue does come more into play with weed seeds. I haven't had that issue, so I have been OK with everything cooling off. When you punch in the chimney holes, do you find that they stay open for a while? I am trying to imagine it and can't tell if the hole would want to collapse or not.
@@DiegoFooter I only make 1-2" holes and make about a dozen or so holes evenly spaced my compost is pretty wet and made from mostly hay wood chip and cow manure and seems to stick together well
The best compost is the one that makes my plants healthy and happy. I'm going to try the mini Johnson Su garbage can method that you suggested. I'm older so using that is going to be easiest for me. If it works...it's the best!
"Ya know, I'm not actually a scientist, but I do have eyes. And just looking at these results, I would say -- hmmm -- that looked liked it worked." Yyyyup!! Thanks @DiegoFooter for testing and sharing! Would love to see more detailed comparison of results like timing, temp, and fungal:bacterial ratios. Also, would love to see more testing in hot, arid (very limited water) conditions.
You have many great points . the climate is imporntant , in Fl it gets hot so I like the shade , be careful if near trees the roots can climb into the pile . I think one thing might be missing , using the mature compost that is full of worms ect to help break down the new material . but Ive seen the Su method being used for striping the fungi to spray inoucualate the field so it depends on how you plan to use the end product .
Great video! I have never heard of Johnson-Su reactors. They look fascinating. Similar to Jean Pain without the home/greenhouse heating aspect. I'm still more of a Ruth Stout or Fukuoka fan of do nothing at all but I still like to see what other folks have come up with!
I like to ‘do the work’ and turn my compost bins ,, all 11 of them,, since I placed the bins on paving slabs the amount of worms has been incredible as the moles can’t get in to eat them ,, I have useable compost after about a year,, looks like fine crumbly soil, probably all the worm casts ,, best wishes, Lisa (Uk)
My bro Diego, I have been watching all your videos and the series of professional lectures ya'll put together called how to make more money vegetable farming, that was life changing for the community at large and myself to have for free! However I must say starting the day off to this video with you joking around is like starting it off with an ORANGE MOCHA FRAPPUCHINO!!! And also I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. So keep making more videos Patron!
RED gardens constantly speaks about context and he is right to do so. Composting methods are just as much about context as growing is. I've been using wire fence rings covered in fabric right on the ground for a couple of years because it works well in my context. I call it the muffin man method because the piles look like bran muffins when I reset the rings for turning or harvest. That and I think mother nature has a copyright on the 'leave it there and let it rot' method... The piles decompose Michigan grass clippings in about 7 days and I layer up a bin on my and my neighbors mowing schedules. I bust up the muffins with an electric tiller and layer that with the grass clippings and last years leaves. The woody stuff goes on a biochar charcoal fire and no sifting or excessive labor inputs involved in my fertility capture system, I want minimal labor and complexity so that's what works for me.
My father used to use #6 without a pipe and he always had beautiful black mulch with tons of worms in it. He did layer it with a bit of his original pile, grass, twigs, dirt, leaves, kitchen scraps, manure, paper from his paper shredder, and anything else that would break down. then start the layer over water between layers. He felt if he layered it with his starter it would quicken the breaking down with the bacteria and worms in each layer. Didn't seem to need to turn it often but would spray the pile on hot days. I needed some of it once and he gave me an 25 lbs bag, when I got home there were 100s worms in the back of my truck cruising around and still many in the bag. I've never needed to add anything to that planter sense.
I like the bio dynamic composting method. You take about a 1 foot deep pit that’s your compost footprint and make your mound. It asks for an inch of sand at the bottom and then a foot of compost material is added and covered with lye. Then a few inches of the dirt are added and it’s repeated until you have about 5 feet. The remainder dirt covers the outside. 45° Holes are poked in and the bio dynamic preparation‘s are poured in.
I tried this method and in the center it appeared to have gone anaerobic/ distinct layer of white ashy appearance that Dr Elain has explained is the sign. Wonder if you have any thoughts on how to ensure it gets enough air?
I hope you analyze and share the results. Specifically it would be very important to know if any of these designs went anaerobic. That does matter. And the ratio of fungi/bacterial results in each would be interesting as well. That also does matter.
Hahahahahahaha! Just when I thought you were so serious. Thank you for making this video. Honestly making compost is high on my list of wants but low on the list of getting done..... I love that you're trying all these different ways.... C'mon, ya mean I have to wait? In the world of instant gratification I can't know the answer now?! Oh wait that's why I like farming, it teaches me resilience and patience and reminds me everyday I can't tame nature I just coexist with it..... Good job Diego. Trying to patiently wait for the next video..... In the meantime I will ponder the phrase, "moisture is the essence of wetness...." God bless!
I was thinking if this guy says The Johnson-Su bioreactor one more time …….and then he actually stopped. I actually watched the rest of this video and enjoyed watching
is there a follow up video to this? i am very interested to know the results, especially whether it went anaerobic, and how this may have effected things.
I’ve watched a good number of videos on composting since I’m new at this. The common thread seems to be that the pile (in whatever 3D form it takes) should ideally be about a foot from an edge with air. OK, here’s my constraints/opportunities: I have lots of land and want to keep the built structures to a minimum. I’m buying a subcompact tractor so I’d like to use the front loader bucket to do any turning or moving of heavy materials. And I need to operate at a bigger scale because I need so much compost for the heavy clay soil. (Locally compost is $85/CY and I’d like to start with 10 CY so I need to quickly make my own). I’m liking the idea of keeping a pile no more than 2’ high to observe the “one foot maximum to air” rule. That’s also based on placing the pile directly on the ground with trenches under the pile every 2’ edge to edge covered in something like hardware cloth (1/4” square openings). Then I can scoop it up with the tractor’s front bucket loader and dump it down a bit on the 4’ wide x (long length) of hardware cloth over trenches. Thoughts?
Hey Diego, just a random thought: You mentioned the struggle of watering a standard Johnson-Su bioreactor. What if you got some terracotta pipe and made a sort of "chimney" in the middle that has a dual function as an olla and (as the water level drops) for aerating the bioreactor? You could top it up as needed, you could have a fairly easy visual guide to the moisture level, and it would gradually seep moisture out to moderate it rather than having big peaks and troughs of moisture levels.
Haha love this video Diego. Are you at all interested in lab testing any of your results? Im not 100% convinced that a fungal dominant compost is the best solution in all cases so it would be great to see the variation in results!
Love your videos Diego, you and david the good inspired me to put a pile of rotting organic material on the ground, and now it's my baby. I am very interested in your bio reactor experiments, I have a space for about 5 of these and I think you're right about the palette and aeration holes in terms of airflow/water balance, so I will probably go with option 2 or 3, mostly doing pine needles as feedstock in a dry climate. One day I would love to see your California bro and New York bro have a debate, about any subject. Keep up the great work, you inspired me to turn my clay into soil. I will let you know how it goes in like a year.
Brilliant summary, loved it. Now you may think I’ve missed your point her but what I was looking for was; which one would you plumb for? After you have tried all of these, when next you have to build a compost, which one will you go for?
Great video, wouldn't be nicer with out the expletives. I'm trying to find the results, and hope to find am hoping to find out how to see a list of your videos with out having to look through so many others.
After two years, what were your results? Is one design better than the other. I have built many j/s piles over the past 3 years. Some are 4' x 12', some are 4' x 24'. Some are 4' diameter. Some are made with fresh dry fall leaves, Some are made with 1 year old leaves just left on the ground. I am curious like you and have spent a lot of time and effort to come up with a design that is scalable for farmers and their equipment.
Very nice. The "best" compost are the Compost Biologicaly Active with all the IMO (indigenous micro organism) of your region, that compost with the living microorganism have the soil food web ready and can archive the natural nutrient cycling of soil and plant healthy grow
I bought land 2 years ago in January. Yet on what has been going on. From here to there is very expensive. 935 miles away. So I have been collecting my tools that I can afford. 11.5 acres. The front of the property is an Plato. Needs dirt. Yet my land is in an forest. This is what I planned to do before watching this although just seeing if there are any other ideas. Alot of dead fall. The bigger pieces of wood for wood burning. The rest I bought an wood chipper. I am just going to chip and grind everything up in that location. Spread it out and let mother nature do the work. Planes for it is to put grass seed down ect that the wildlife can eat and enjoy. Thanks for the information. Take care.
Aw man! I expected you to show me results!
I made my bioreactor, inspired by your videos. It's a third world version, with no store-bought input. All made of bamboo, and ventilation can be done through bamboo split in half and with some holes, positioned along the pile inspired by the design of subway tunnels.
But does it work?
Whats the use of it ?? Does it bring more air to make the process faster ?
Love your idea ❤
Did you complete your compost?
I love the bamboo idea, as bamboo produces the best amf...
The best method is the one that gets you composting. Do the work. ✌🏻❤️
I will try and remember this for if I am ever asked what composting is best.
Thank You! I havent found video of the Su-Johnson bioreactor method that shows the desired result.
Agreed Dug! I’m going for “The Device For People Who Can’t Compost Good” aka “the Diego Double Ring Reactor”!
🤣🤣🤣 "Dear Diego, you are wrong & here's why" 🤣🤣🤣
Got to love the social media experts.
Cheers mate.
BTW, Thanks for the recent series with Dr. Elaine. I almost bought the course recently when a discount was offered here in Oz but other bills popped up first.😒
Cheers.
LoL, 🐸👍🏻
Oh how I commented to soon!
The last portion was highly entertaining and educational.
I am the lazy composter. Gather various materials. Put them in a cylinder. Go have glass of tea for about a year. It takes care of itself. Feed it when necessary with more material.
Nervous/anxious folks that flit about I will never be accused of. Put the work in then put your feet up. The garden has flowers galore. The watermelons are as big as Buicks and so on and so forth. Folks are impressed. Whadda do. Whadda do to get all that?!.
Nothing.
You have put the work in the beginning. After that it's pretty much auto pilot.
The straight-faced Zoolander moisture reference was just elegant.
for option number 4, you could dig an X in the ground, so the air can circulate, put a metal screen to prevent the material from falling into this little ditch.
I'm so glad you have these different variations to compare and show us the results - thank you for doing that and sharing.
Did he really show us the results?
I know this is a couple years down the line since this was posted but, excellent work, from the bioreactors to the satire you injected towards the end because we all know how people get when someone’s crazy enough to try something new or question authority (in a positive way!). This is the type of attitude more people should have- just go outside and garden/compost *your* way and have a fun!
Cheers,
Marshall
I love how I played a role in the naming of the BLUE STEEL pile. This is one of my prouder lifetime achievements.
I like it, “I’m not a scientist, but I do have eyes”. Wish people used that method on more of life.
I like your methods of trial and diversity of pile styles. I would LOOOOVE it if you would do soil tests so you know what's happening biologically and share them along with your video. I don't think anyone can claim "best method" but we do have ability to test and learn about nutrients, microbes, and fungi. SO instead if guess, let us know what your results are on these methods. It would help a great amount to know because not all compost was created equally and you can indeed make not great compost
i love how you make fun of people for overthinking. Yet here you are, building 6 bioreactors :D big fan of your videos, keep it up!
I think it's great that you're trying all these different ways of lazy composting. In the end, time and biological activity makes compost regardless of the method used.
I made one of these before I knew what they were called. Mine is on ground so no pallet with no air tubes or worms added. 8 months later when I broke into it the middle and bottom two feet were pure black gold and the worms from my yard had easily found it and made it their home. I had some massive 7-9 inch thick earth worms doing their business.
"You are wrong, and here's why..." 😂🤣 Hilarious! Thanks for advancing the art! Keep experimenting -- it helps me decide which work to go do. ;)
My grandfather had a compost heap for half a century. His technique? Throw everything that his large gardens produced as side products as well as quite a bit of kitchen leftovers in one huge place.
Imagine a lot that could park a pickup, with the heap reaching 6 feet easily in fall. The heap was the prefered place for his chickens, even if I to this day have no idea how he managed to keep them from gobbling up the rhubarb and pumpkin that covered the mature side of the heap. No manual turning involved, it was just so large, that he could add new stuff on one end, while harvesting years old compost from the other end. There was also no watering involved, well except from the rain. What surely did help with keeping it from drying out (away from the sheer size) was a huge pear tree and a good sized apple tree shading it.
I'm pretty sure, the center was going anaerobic, and this heap was surely not composting nearly as quickly as a dedicated bioreactor. But that wasn't necessary. By dedicating 3-5% of his garden to this heap, he had all the compost he'd ever need, with little to no work.
pretty much all you need to do..... one thing your pops might have benefited from was to make compost tea with the gold from the huge pile, adding 02 with an aquarium pump...... you can do it every watering......also, adding biochar in that huge pile would have brought it up a notch.
@@douganderson7002 ^^ I'm not saying it's the perfect tech. Just shared, how you can get others (in his case chicken) do the work.
All biochar enthusiasts are pyromaniacal retards.
He was way ahead of his time, the chickens remove weed seeds, add manure and turn it too, wish I had room for some. Also just leaving it for a year should do it well enough for most people to use. Oh it saves a lot of money on chicken food too, that rhubarb becomes chicken manure fertiliser too. Lost skills for most people.
I made my first Jonson Su varient today on a spur of the moment project with materials I had on hand. It took me a couple hours. I dub it Mark I. While surely not the best, your video makes me happy I did it, knowing that its all part of the learning process/experience.
Is it working out?
@@small-timegarden seems to be. Have not emptied it yet. Planning on doing so next spring.
@@jonp9511 I would be happy if you Shared a link when it is ready👍🏽
1 method I use is a large cage, (I've tried 5ft to 8ft diameter), with the bottom of the cage suspended about 1.5ft above the ground surface, on posts. The compost that spills out the bottom, gets thrown back in the top. Occasionally I rake some of the compost out of the bottom. If it is done, I use it. If it is not quite done, I throw it back in on top. When I pull weeds, those go in with the roots and some soil. This provides worm grit and soil biology to the stack. I also throw in small branches and whole plants. I've noticed that these provide bridging structure in the stack, giving ample air pockets. Near the bottom center of the stack, I have seen some anaerobic pockets. All things considered, I like the bacterial diversity that is going on in the stack. Anything that is not completely composted gets thrown back in, and occasionally, I cycle most of a single dig, back in on top. Giving nature diversity, lets nature use all her tools, then all the tools are NURTURED for your garden.
"Moisture is the essence of wetness."
-Diego Footer
Great set of experiments, will be interesting how fast each one breaks down. I did one like your namesake magnum option minus the central channel, and in one season it looks like compost is achieved nicely. Thanks for the ideas and data, keep up the great work!
- Derek Zoolander
What is this, airflow for ants? The vent tubes need to be at least…. twice that size!
@@clergh My favorite way now is just a large garbage can with adequate drainage holes in the bottom, which I put a 4×4 down the center as I fill with compostable material. Water and wait about a week, and take out the 4x4. It works without that air channel too, just a bit slower. Pretty easy really.
You can still get aeration from the bottom when your compost pile is on the ground. When you place your reactor on a pallet, you're only getting air flow from between the slats. If you lay perforated pipes flat on the ground, and then pile your organic matter on top, making sure the pipe ends are open to the outside, you'll simmulate a pallet with "soil slats" and have the best of both worlds, if it makes a difference in the first place.
You're really onto something with these, Diego! I am doing the version with central core and open mesh, and I love it. It's my main composting system now. I look forward to open it up and use it! That is the final test, but so far I love it.
I used that but…. I live in the open windy dry plains in Montana, it dries out quickly. Always looking for ways of keeping it moist and keeping the middle warm in -0 weather.
EXACTLY Diego!!! "Do what is best for you!" It's this "you're doing it wrong" attitude that makes people give up before they start.
"How do you define best". !!!!!!!!! You sir, are the best. Applying logic to real life. What a novel concept.. Micro climates alone in a region will effect the results of these designs. I look forward to seeing your after video!
Diego, in the very unlikely chance you’ll read this, what are the results after two years? You’ve put a lot of effort into this then left us all hanging! It’s a pity not to update after all that work, hope everything’s going ok. 👍
Please give us a update
Dr. Johnson's wife said figure out a different way because I am tied of doing your laundry. He cam up with a method that works well for him. Assuming that it is the best method is wrong. That is why I like watching your videos where you experiment to see what effects different designs have on the compost.
>He cam up with a method that works well for him.
This is just wrong. Science isn't subjective. He tested the method in DIVERSE LOCATIONS, and over and over again. He didn't come up with a method that works "for him". He came up with a method, tested it once, saw that it worked. Then he tested it again, and again, and again. He saw that it works every time. Then he tested it in different locations. He saw that it works in every location. And he kept testing it, until he gathered enough data to be able to confidently say that the method WORKS. Period, end of sentence. Not followed by any "for him"s.
>Assuming that it is the best method is wrong.
This is true. The Johnson-Su bioreactor is the first method that's been tested and proven to work. The first version of a method is almost never the best. In fact Dr. Johnson is already working on testing other methods. And I'm sure others will join in as well, and, eventually, develop much better methods.
But, in the meantime, the Johnson-Su method is the only one that's KNOWN TO WORK. So if you want to be sure that you'll get the yields Johnson's experiments produced, you should follow it.
excited to see the result of these variations down the road. It would be great to see all of these filled with the same materials at the same time and do a total comparison of organic matter break down in your environment over a year. Awesome stuff. I like how you think.
You are hilarious :D Great show! I was just watching this because it poped up on my front screen and was already eager to learn the results. Well, lucky me, this video is one year old now! :D I hope i see some results!
Great experiment with the bioreactors and also with your content delivery style. Nice comedic spin for a change... I would watch some more of that...
I built one based on your chicken wire composter in my geothermal greenhouse. I'm slowly filling it up because I don't have enough organic matter to fill it up, and we did put some worms on top, but only because we happened to save them from a giant puddle after a rainstorm! I've had it going for about 5 months, with very little change in the height of the pile, though we keep adding to it! It must be working!
8:32 "I had a piece of left over scrap fence and it just happened to make a...." LOL!
I always thought the first rule of effective composting was cost (buy new stuff and spend a lot).
Great video. I had a lot of oak leaves and my Johnson-Su "ish" reactor was full so I bagged them in plastic trash bags, wet them and closed them up to add later.
About 3 years later I was cleaning up the area and the bags were rotten. Full of beautiful compost full of fungus and actinomycetes. Some systems work better, some materials are better.......... just compost - do it and don't worry.
Are you kidding me? I wish I read this years ago when I had 10 oak trees on my property and was sitting there shredding the leaves, collecting, composting, and turning. All this extra effort when I could of kept it simple and easy.
@@winnipegnick Was doing the same. Just accidently left some leaves in the bags for later. Love my oak trees, not so much the leaves.
I'd like to remind everyone who composts how much difference your climate makes! I live at over 6,000 feet elevation with less than 20 inches of rain per year, relative humidity under 20% a lot of the time. Everything dries out here! I have often used wire fence material to form a composting circle and it dries out like crazy. I'm wondering if anyone has tried moistening the standing pile via drip irrigation. If you know the effects of drip irrigation ( deep slow watering with little on the surface and much less evaporation while watering ) you might try it. Twenty years composting here! It can be done nearly anywhere as long as you adapt to the climate. Happy gardening!
Haha, cant wait to see the varied results and Love your approach to composting and attitude toward compost commenters!
Game changer or just a dern wake up call for me; yes to both said the man with giant digesters in the back of his garden which are basic piles of organic matter Diego, you’re my garden therapist. You help me laugh at myself. Meanwhile, some favorite quotes: Moisture is the essence of wetness. What does best look like or how are you defining best? Nature does all the work here! Be nice, be thankful and do the work. Thank you sir!
Diego, can you please do a video on how you open and harvest the compost? Do you take some out and then fasten the wire back together to keep it moist? Shovel it out into bags for storage? I built my reactor out of 2x4 fencing with 5' Dia and 1.5' inner ring; then sewed landscape cloth inside the outer ring and outside the inner ring. I filled it initially but only had material to fill it about half way. So covered it about 6" deep with cypress wood chips and started another layer. Six months in and starting a third layer. It all seems to be working, but I see problems trying to harvest the first layer on the bottom with all the other two layers on top of it. Yeah, I should have thought of that first, I know! If you have any advice, please pass it on to me. Thanks. Bill Church, Enterprise, AL.
I would wait until it's all done and then harvest it all at once. That's what I am doing.
@@DiegoFooter Thanks, I will probably just leave this one to reduce down and build another one. I'm curious to see if worms have migrated up into my reactor since it is built right on the ground. Will report when I harvest the compost. Thanks again for introducing me to this method.
Thank you so much for another great video. You content is pure gold. I am seriously addicted to seeing what you come up with next. Your bioreactor idea with 1 central air vent makes most sense to me so far. If I made 1 edit to it, I might give your earlier idea a try: to add a couple vent pipes horizontally at bottom, just for kicks to see if it helps.
I gotta admit that as an aspiring farmer, the less work the better. I'm hoping to try this out in Hawaii at some point. Mahalo!
Best may also include the amount of work a person puts into the system.
In the 80s, I would put found plastic pipes on the bottom of the pile I was making. I also put an 8-10 plastic pipe in the centre of the pile. All the pipes had holes drilled in them. I would leave these pipes in the pile until I wanted to turn it or harvest the material. I came from the old school of compost pile making that said you were supposed to have an air mattress of carbonaceous material on the bottom but I found that to be a pain when turning or removing the compost because you had lots of twigs and such that did not break down.
I have notched the bottom of my downtube to allow a cross pipe to be laid on the ground and the central pipe. Now what I quite often do is use smaller pieces of pipe laid along the ground that butt up against the central pipe so that there are air channels for the central chimney to pull air through.
After, 50 years of composting I am always evolving my system. The Johnson-Su bioreactor is a great development and as you say - it is not the end of this evolution. I like compost to be on the ground as you say.
In our frozen north (Edmonton, Alberta) we compost all year. We generate quite a bit of organic matter during the winter and pile it into our regular pallet compost bins with leaves added with each deposit. (I own an organic food store). In the spring I take the deposit of the winter and construct the new piles with the tubes and such. I add plenty of water, leaves and biochar. I do not buy worms since they cost quite a bit up here.
I let it firm up, remove the vertical tube after about a week, then cover with bags of leaves to keep the heat in and control the moisture to some extent. After a period of time - a month or two, I turn it into a new bin with the vertical and cross pipes. I usually add some fresh compost to the new pile to introduce more fuel, ensure the moisture is good and move the outside to the middle, (usually technique) and then I let it sit for another month or two.
In the fall it is ready to apply to the field.
Thanks for all the great information.
You are very practical. Thanks for sharing your efforts!
Appreciate the true scientific method here, and science in general needs talented communicators like you more than ever these days! All these designs seem to have one thing in common: Non-scalability to larger formats. If I'm trying to cover acres and acres with compost, a hundred cylinders such as these custom-built and maintained is more expensive then the most obvious solution which nature accomplishes elegantly: "Pile stuff up and wait". The problem to me is our sanitized view of nature, and how we view piles as "unkempt" or "dysfunctional", as well as a psychotic short-term gimme-dat-right-meow mindset. That, and agriculture.
The goal is a potent microbial inoculant with maximum microbial diversity. effective inoculation at 2 lbs per acre in furrow. 1 reactor using Dr. Johnsons specs can inoculate 350 acres.
Location of the compost seems to be a factor in my case. I have Geobins in 2 different locations and each time they're filled with similar ingredients. One pile always heats up, the other doesn't heat up as much. In fact, the bin that heats up has 12 inches of compost and is already heating and stuff is turning black. The other geobin have stuff i can still identify more than a year later. I'm going to try bokashi in that. And then there was a time when I emptied wood shavings and chicken manure into a 10 gallon grow bag, left it under a tree, did nothing and had beautiful compost 6 months later. Have to say you're absolutely right, Diego!
I don’t know how it took me this long to find you. I have heard your name thrown around on a few podcasts and didn’t actively search you out, what a mistake that was. I came across one of your videos because I have a pasture that j want to utilize radishes for tillage because it’s a bit heavy on the clay and becomes very hard in the summer and extremely mushy in the winter. You just opened a whole new world for me.
Diego is a real compost monster, so much organic matter stashed in this backyard. I usually just go with the top secret make a pile and leave it for a while method. Since the pile gets bigger at the bottom you get lots of soil organisms for free right.
Yeah, he's very passionate. At this pace in a year he'll be explaining how to properly compost the naughty neighbors.
The end was a hoot!
I have a 40 cubic yard Johnson-Su-ish reactor in my yard. I turned it on it's side, I created a swimming pool sized reactor that's about 3' tall out of fencing and landscape fabric, put perforated pipe horizontally throughout the pile as I filled the 'pool' and it's nearly a year old now. Working fantastic.
so consider turning the pipes horizontally and making it cheap, easy and huge.
Glad I'm not the only one that thought of the horizontal pipes. I started with a Pallet cube and had corrugated pipe so I layered a few pipes in a diamond pattern as I was filling the composter. Diego: I'd love if you could test this to see how it compares to your other systems. Unfortunately, I don't have the space for side by side experiments. One benefit to this system is that the composters are square and not circular so you get a bigger pile in a similar footprint. One drawback is that the pipes may need to be left in for structural support as they start out as weight bearing.
Many roads to one destination, i don't have much space so i struggle to get the volume for compost to heat up, so I've been putting my composting material partly on the ground and worms (huge earth worms with a metallic blue tinge on the top) make quick work of it, I've had sand filled with cement and struggled to grow anything but adding my home made compost to the soil has got my plants growing like never before... even those that i couldn't grow before... so yea i say if its working, do it... keep up the awesome work...
Great experiment!!
Watching the video I came up with the idea that you could add horizontal pipes on the bottom to the composting device for people that can't compost to ensure airflow. Or use a roll of chicken wire to stay plastic free.
The one that works best is the one that you actually will use 😁
For me right now, I am using 2 methods... First is just leaving wood chips in a pile & keeping them moist. Second is a thick layer of wood chips in the chicken run & let the chickens + time do the work. I think I will do the mini double ring in the future once I get my veggie beds laid out & figure out where I want to put a bioreactor.
Love the channel, great content every time. Grow on!
Really wonderful video. I agree with you ... the best is that one that combines teoretical knowledge with your own experience at your place and availability of materials you have. That's what I do .... and it works simply well😉. Many thanks 🤩
Where's the follow-up where you actually measure something?
Made a dobble reactor after watching your video, and thanks for the funny "Do as you think is best, and you can actually just make a pile and leave it -rant" I was spiraling into the rabbithole, and now i just went ahead and makdea nice looking compost with a roof (lots of rain here) and a pipe in the middle for air.
Hi Diego, I build your double ring composter and have had similar results although I had a lot of seedy hay that has sprouted around the outside. It seems that you don't get the full thermal cooking without turning. I am completing elaine inghams course and she keeps it simple, wire ring on a pallet and rather than adding air pipes you monitor temperature and punch chimney holes with a broomstick. That has been the most effective in my experience. Also found with a ring you need at least 2 turns to get everything hot in the centre if your concerned with seeds or weeds. Take care.
Good advice and insight. Thanks for sharing.
I think the temperature issue does come more into play with weed seeds. I haven't had that issue, so I have been OK with everything cooling off.
When you punch in the chimney holes, do you find that they stay open for a while? I am trying to imagine it and can't tell if the hole would want to collapse or not.
@@DiegoFooter I only make 1-2" holes and make about a dozen or so holes evenly spaced my compost is pretty wet and made from mostly hay wood chip and cow manure and seems to stick together well
The best compost is the one that makes my plants healthy and happy. I'm going to try the mini Johnson Su garbage can method that you suggested. I'm older so using that is going to be easiest for me. If it works...it's the best!
"Ya know, I'm not actually a scientist, but I do have eyes. And just looking at these results, I would say -- hmmm -- that looked liked it worked." Yyyyup!! Thanks @DiegoFooter for testing and sharing! Would love to see more detailed comparison of results like timing, temp, and fungal:bacterial ratios. Also, would love to see more testing in hot, arid (very limited water) conditions.
You have many great points . the climate is imporntant , in Fl it gets hot so I like the shade , be careful if near trees the roots can climb into the pile . I think one thing might be missing , using the mature compost that is full of worms ect to help break down the new material . but Ive seen the Su method being used for striping the fungi to spray inoucualate the field so it depends on how you plan to use the end product .
Thank you Diego - you hit the perfect note: there really is one way - just do it.
Great video! I have never heard of Johnson-Su reactors. They look fascinating. Similar to Jean Pain without the home/greenhouse heating aspect.
I'm still more of a Ruth Stout or Fukuoka fan of do nothing at all but I still like to see what other folks have come up with!
Best is what enhances your soil microbiome most effectively, resulting in a healthier, more productive garden.
Thanks for taking the time to do this comparison experiment. I have learned a lot 😊😃👍
A wonderfully lateral thinking video .
I just love rule breakers and people who experiment.
Thanks very much from north east Scotland.
Great video!! Every climate needs what it needs.
I like to ‘do the work’ and turn my compost bins ,, all 11 of them,, since I placed the bins on paving slabs the amount of worms has been incredible as the moles can’t get in to eat them ,, I have useable compost after about a year,, looks like fine crumbly soil, probably all the worm casts ,, best wishes, Lisa (Uk)
"Dear Diego, you are wrong. Here is why" - cue maniacal grin😂
My bro Diego, I have been watching all your videos and the series of professional lectures ya'll put together called how to make more money vegetable farming, that was life changing for the community at large and myself to have for free! However I must say starting the day off to this video with you joking around is like starting it off with an ORANGE MOCHA FRAPPUCHINO!!! And also I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. So keep making more videos Patron!
RED gardens constantly speaks about context and he is right to do so. Composting methods are just as much about context as growing is. I've been using wire fence rings covered in fabric right on the ground for a couple of years because it works well in my context. I call it the muffin man method because the piles look like bran muffins when I reset the rings for turning or harvest. That and I think mother nature has a copyright on the 'leave it there and let it rot' method... The piles decompose Michigan grass clippings in about 7 days and I layer up a bin on my and my neighbors mowing schedules. I bust up the muffins with an electric tiller and layer that with the grass clippings and last years leaves. The woody stuff goes on a biochar charcoal fire and no sifting or excessive labor inputs involved in my fertility capture system, I want minimal labor and complexity so that's what works for me.
This video is just great. Awesome Diego... awesome
My father used to use #6 without a pipe and he always had beautiful black mulch with tons of worms in it. He did layer it with a bit of his original pile, grass, twigs, dirt, leaves, kitchen scraps, manure, paper from his paper shredder, and anything else that would break down. then start the layer over water between layers. He felt if he layered it with his starter it would quicken the breaking down with the bacteria and worms in each layer. Didn't seem to need to turn it often but would spray the pile on hot days. I needed some of it once and he gave me an 25 lbs bag, when I got home there were 100s worms in the back of my truck cruising around and still many in the bag. I've never needed to add anything to that planter sense.
I like the bio dynamic composting method. You take about a 1 foot deep pit that’s your compost footprint and make your mound. It asks for an inch of sand at the bottom and then a foot of compost material is added and covered with lye. Then a few inches of the dirt are added and it’s repeated until you have about 5 feet. The remainder dirt covers the outside. 45° Holes are poked in and the bio dynamic preparation‘s are poured in.
I tried this method and in the center it appeared to have gone anaerobic/ distinct layer of white ashy appearance that Dr Elain has explained is the sign. Wonder if you have any thoughts on how to ensure it gets enough air?
You crack me up! Maybe humor makes the best compost. 😊
I hope you analyze and share the results. Specifically it would be very important to know if any of these designs went anaerobic. That does matter. And the ratio of fungi/bacterial results in each would be interesting as well. That also does matter.
Hahahahahahaha! Just when I thought you were so serious. Thank you for making this video. Honestly making compost is high on my list of wants but low on the list of getting done..... I love that you're trying all these different ways.... C'mon, ya mean I have to wait? In the world of instant gratification I can't know the answer now?! Oh wait that's why I like farming, it teaches me resilience and patience and reminds me everyday I can't tame nature I just coexist with it..... Good job Diego. Trying to patiently wait for the next video..... In the meantime I will ponder the phrase, "moisture is the essence of wetness...." God bless!
I love your videos, what a down to earth relatable video. Ty
Interesting experiment !! I would like to see the results ;-)
Should be due soon
I was thinking if this guy says The Johnson-Su bioreactor one more time …….and then he actually stopped.
I actually watched the rest of this video and enjoyed watching
is there a follow up video to this? i am very interested to know the results, especially whether it went anaerobic, and how this may have effected things.
I’ve watched a good number of videos on composting since I’m new at this. The common thread seems to be that the pile (in whatever 3D form it takes) should ideally be about a foot from an edge with air.
OK, here’s my constraints/opportunities:
I have lots of land and want to keep the built structures to a minimum. I’m buying a subcompact tractor so I’d like to use the front loader bucket to do any turning or moving of heavy materials. And I need to operate at a bigger scale because I need so much compost for the heavy clay soil. (Locally compost is $85/CY and I’d like to start with 10 CY so I need to quickly make my own).
I’m liking the idea of keeping a pile no more than 2’ high to observe the “one foot maximum to air” rule. That’s also based on placing the pile directly on the ground with trenches under the pile every 2’ edge to edge covered in something like hardware cloth (1/4” square openings). Then I can scoop it up with the tractor’s front bucket loader and dump it down a bit on the 4’ wide x (long length) of hardware cloth over trenches.
Thoughts?
I'm impressed you've explained all I need to start and I'm new to this bit more confident after watching this video
your my compost man!!! THANK YOU !!!
Hey Diego, just a random thought:
You mentioned the struggle of watering a standard Johnson-Su bioreactor.
What if you got some terracotta pipe and made a sort of "chimney" in the middle that has a dual function as an olla and (as the water level drops) for aerating the bioreactor?
You could top it up as needed, you could have a fairly easy visual guide to the moisture level, and it would gradually seep moisture out to moderate it rather than having big peaks and troughs of moisture levels.
Thank you. The Joe Jenkins method works great in the rainforest of southeast Alaska
I'm now a fan ... love how you're brain works :)
Yes man! Let's build some variations on summertime!
Thanks for your work!
Haha love this video Diego. Are you at all interested in lab testing any of your results? Im not 100% convinced that a fungal dominant compost is the best solution in all cases so it would be great to see the variation in results!
I like the experiment. Nice work.
Very interesting. Are you going to show the results when they are all finished?
Love your videos Diego, you and david the good inspired me to put a pile of rotting organic material on the ground, and now it's my baby. I am very interested in your bio reactor experiments, I have a space for about 5 of these and I think you're right about the palette and aeration holes in terms of airflow/water balance, so I will probably go with option 2 or 3, mostly doing pine needles as feedstock in a dry climate. One day I would love to see your California bro and New York bro have a debate, about any subject. Keep up the great work, you inspired me to turn my clay into soil. I will let you know how it goes in like a year.
I like the way you think. Im too old to worry, and I like EASY. Great vid. Just do what works, your #7.☺
The best is whatever biology is needed for bringing the target soil to life for growing whatever it is you're growing.
@6:10 best part of the video!🤣
Love the reference.
Excellent information thanks for sharing
Cheers from Victoria Canada!!
One of your funnier videos. Thank you:)
I can’t wait to see how well 6 works, as that’s the same materials I have sitting around.
Brilliant summary, loved it. Now you may think I’ve missed your point her but what I was looking for was; which one would you plumb for? After you have tried all of these, when next you have to build a compost, which one will you go for?
This one: Very entertaining video Diego 😂
Great video, wouldn't be nicer with out the
expletives. I'm trying to find the results, and hope to find am hoping to find out how to see a list of your videos with out having to look through so many others.
After two years, what were your results? Is one design better than the other. I have built many j/s piles over the past 3 years. Some are 4' x 12', some are 4' x 24'. Some are 4' diameter. Some are made with fresh dry fall leaves, Some are made with 1 year old leaves just left on the ground. I am curious like you and have spent a lot of time and effort to come up with a design that is scalable for farmers and their equipment.
Lol I love this one! Love the open mine, comedy and truth!!!
BY THE WAY THANKS SO MUCH FOR POSTING PRACTICAL INFO. IM A SUBSCRIBER. GOD BLESS YOU
Good video Diego, love your animation! But really I do know the best method.......lol
Very nice. The "best" compost are the Compost Biologicaly Active with all the IMO (indigenous micro organism) of your region, that compost with the living microorganism have the soil food web ready and can archive the natural nutrient cycling of soil and plant healthy grow
I bought land 2 years ago in January. Yet on what has been going on. From here to there is very expensive. 935 miles away. So I have been collecting my tools that I can afford. 11.5 acres. The front of the property is an Plato. Needs dirt. Yet my land is in an forest. This is what I planned to do before watching this although just seeing if there are any other ideas. Alot of dead fall. The bigger pieces of wood for wood burning. The rest I bought an wood chipper. I am just going to chip and grind everything up in that location. Spread it out and let mother nature do the work. Planes for it is to put grass seed down ect that the wildlife can eat and enjoy. Thanks for the information. Take care.