These videos couldn't be any better! They breakdown the fundamentals of gardening so you actually understand the reasoning behind your actions. You won't have to memorize what to do anymore. You can be the free thinking gardener that can adapt to changes in the garden because you'll understand what to do and when. Thank you so much for these great videos!
Not so fast. The reason for this is literally your lack of understanding just how hazardous 'biocomp' is for agriculture generally and home gardeners specifically. The documentary film 'Biosludged' is must watch for any gardener. The fact of the matter this con game of incentivizing farmers and home gardeners to spread this stuff on their fields has now lead to the EPA stepping in and condemning farmland all across America, documenting the PFAS, forever chemicals, pharmaceuticals and Dioxins have rendered their lands poisonous and unsuitable for crop production. If you're a home gardener and put this crap on your garden, we'll then, just plan on becoming sick.
Not so fast. The reason for this is literally your lack of understanding just how hazardous 'biocomp' is for agriculture generally and home gardeners specifically. The documentary film 'Biosludged' is must watch for any gardener. The fact of the matter this con game of incentivizing farmers and home gardeners to spread this stuff on their fields has now lead to the EPA stepping in and condemning farmland all across America, documenting the PFAS, forever chemicals, pharmaceuticals and Dioxins have rendered their lands poisonous and unsuitable for crop production. If you're a home gardener and put this crap on your garden, we'll then, just plan on becoming sick.
@@johnevans5649 Totally agree about absurdly misnamed 'biosolids' and 'fertilzers' made from sludge. It's literally poisoning land/plants and should have been deemed hazardous waste, not cynically marketed as fertilizer. But then again, I'm old enough to remember when they drove around fogging DDT during the summer to kill mosquitos - and us kids would ride our bikes behind the fogger to cool off - literally nobody thought about what it might be doing to our health - we all thought the 'scientists' knew what they were doing - how wrong we were!
I have recently noticed the amount of wood chips added to a bag of "compost". It is like a cheap filler material they can add to make another penny. If they could add more air they would do that too.
Potting soil is the same way. I bought a few bags of happy frog potting soil for over 20 dollars a bag... almost double the price of miracle grow at the same quantity. It was about one 3rd wood chips. I had to sift it out and i uses the wood chips for mulch on my tomatoes.
Yup. If you look carefully, many wood fines have red, blue or blue paint on their edges - the common colors that large pallets manufacturers use to identify their brand/type. So these "forest products" are actually broken pallets that have gone through a very fine chipper.
I think the bag products are adding coloring to the compost as well. When it first comes out of the bag it looks almost black rich and dark. But after a few waterings, it washes off and that's when I see the uncomposted wood chips.
My physical ability to make compost is limited age, 74, and health, sciatica, so I'm buying compost at local yard. It seems to work well. My municipality sells its compost and some local gardeners complain of weeds from it. I also use leaves, which many people discard, perhaps afraid of untidiness. Their gardens often look almost artificial, certainly unnatural. Thank you for solid scientific analysis.
Two comments to add. First, about biosolids, by law many industries have to pretreatment their wastewater to remove certain chemicals before discharging to the local wastewater collection system. Specific testing has to be done before the industrial wastewater is discharged. Second, about commercial mushroom compost, my Dad spent over fifty years as a mushroom grower. Most commercial mushroom compost are based on horse manure from racetracks and horse farms. The composting process is a hot one. Then as part of the preparation for inoculating the compost with mushroom spawn, the compost is pasteurized at 150 degrees to kill pests and diseases of the mushrooms. After the mushrooms have been grown, many times the used compost is pasteurized again to control mushroom pests before it is dumped out. In the making of the compost things like cotton seed meal or oil or dried biosolids are added to meet the nutritional needs of the mushrooms. Someplaces put a layer of pasteurized soil or peat moss on top of the compost to help induce the fruiting process of the mushrooms. Mushroom compost is more complex than presented in the video. It is really worth the effort to put on the garden because of not only for the plant nutrients, but also how it improves the structure of the soil.
Yes you are correct at a minimum of 150 degrees for manure but other compost may require 3 or 15 days consecutive days between 131 to 170 degrees depending on the material.
Thank you for taking the time to present such a clear and concise scientifically based explanation about the different types of compost. I found it very helpful.
We have a pile of well rotted sheep manure in the pasture, I’m going to be shoveling that out this spring for sure💚🙃 I should have mentioned I have heavy clay soil so It will be a great benefit.💚🙃 I’m so glad I stumbled onto your channel, my husband was listening, as I was,to your explanations on things and he committed on how much he liked the way you explain everything, so people can understand it, layman’s terms. Thanks again!💚🙃
Years ago, I had a farmer friend that allowed me to clean out his calf huts. One spring he had a manure spreader whose chain that run the flinger broke and the trailer had to be unloaded to repair it. Here I was shoveling it into my little 5'x8' trailer when I looked at the hitch which matched my truck hitch, you see where I'm going with this. Ours was a newly, being built neighborhood, so I had a little more latitude. For the next 5-6 years I had broccoli as big as cabbage heads. Weeds pulled with ease. I wish I had a local farmer close by today... 40 years later, even for the much smaller trailer loads! I now collect leaves in the fall.
Thank you so much! I’m trying my hand at raised gardening and am in the beginning stages. Have watched hundreds of videos, and it wasn’t until I watched your videos on dirt and compost that I finally feel confident in how I am going to fill these beds. Love and Light to you!!
2:53 Haaaaaaaaaaaa a scientific guy in this soil fantasy!!!! This is the second video I've watch from you... You've just got a new subscriber from Montréal!!!!
For my garden, I just throw vegetable, fruits waste into my garden throughout winter. I turn it over every so often. I also put in my fireplace ash, grass cuttings before planting, and leaves I vacuumed up in the spring and fall. This has made my vegetables and garden boom. Bern doing this for about 6 years and it has worked great for me.
This was such an important and useful gardening video; I wish I’d watched this years ago. Thanks so much: the simplicity of your research cuts through all the over-analysing by garden gurus that’s so prevalent today.
A fair analysis of composting, thanks for keeping it simple. There are a lot of people that want to go off the deep end about micro-nutrients, trace minerals, with not a lot of testing to back them up. I am a market-gardener and by buy local Dairy Compost and I started making my own compost, from spent vegetables and rejected vegetables from a local food bank and wood shread. My bins are 6' x 5' x 5' high. I am able to get a good bit of heat (160 degrees). I am looking to kill any weed seed and pathogens. We grow a lot of greens and that is one of the reasons I stopped using fresh manure.
i recommend this study to read: "Nutrient effect of various composting methods with and without biochar on soil fertility and maize growth" Bokashi with biochar cocomposting added more nutrients to the soil and produced significantly higher yields. Bokashi is just a barrel with some water in it that you put kitchen scraps into after inoculating it with some sauerkraut juice. It can be sealed, has no stink, can be stored in the house, etc. I haven't added biochar to mine yet, i balanced the acidity out with some wood ash before digging it into my soil. It basically disappeared in 1 month even tho most of it was drought. Highly encouraging.
Thank you for this video. I have always wondered what is the best compost option. I also want to thank you for your most recent book. soil science for gardeners is such a great read. you make it so that I can understand what's going on in the soil without talking down to the reader.
I built new raised beds this year and filled them with bagged top soil and cow manure from our local home store. Plants we also purchased and things looked good. But then the whole garden seemed to stall, the tomatoes and peppers leaves curled, watermelon squash and cucumbers yellowed and were stunted. I tested the soil and found the ph to be a little high (7 ish) but everything else ok. I am suspecting some form of herbicide in the soil or manure. I have a couple of plants that seem to be better than other so not a complete loss. Really think I will use my own compost from now on, and supplement with fertilizer. Love your videos. I need a hat!
That has become such a common story lately! Pastures are sprayed with Grazon or like products and the resulting manure can kill most vegetable plants! You can grow corn in that soil as it is a grass, and I hear the Cole crops aren’t too badly affected either. It’ll break down in a few years.
I thought that was my problem the first year too. Once I mixed up my raised bed soil with plenty of compost, the whole bed started getting hot. Turns out the compost wasn't fully composted and the oxygen got it started. Had to wait a few weeks.
This video came to me just as I needed it. I have a compost tumbler in which I am using coffee grounds, potato and onion tops/bottoms and expired packages of salad greens combined with pine shavings and paper towels and napkins as my carbon component. I really line the way it looks, but I was worried that I might miss something by not using a manure product. I feel better now.
Thanks for all the great information! I'm in northern Florida and have 11 1/2 acres of woods and lawn. Trying to add an orchard and garden to the property. I have huge piles of leaves and am composting some into a large compost bin. I'm overwhelmed with what to do to process them all. They have been shredded but it's almost impossible to keep them wet. I will keep watching your videos ... they are inspiring.
That sounds awesome! Keep Florida beautiful for us, ma’am, please plant endemic trees and plants on your property so that the state can be glorious as long as possible. May God bless you and yours in your endeavors.
@@TheLightisGood I'm trying...but my neighbor just massacred 160 acres of forest. I'm heartsick. First time I've seen a large rattlesnake in my yard and I've seen Armadillos running in the buffer between our properties. I've cried over it.
I BOKASHi everything. Kitchen scraps, garden wastes/trimmings/spent fruit and vegetables, all goes into my Bokashi buckets. I have 20 litre (5gal) pails. A top pail with small holes drilled in the bottom fits into the bottom pail that catches all the juices that leach out as the Bokashi ferments. The system needs to be tightly compressed as it runs optimally in an anaerobic (without access to air) environment. In the summer the process will take about 2-4 weeks but in the winter it slows down significantly. I empty the finished product into my tumbling composter. The real essential value is the remaining leachate that is collected in the bottom pail. There is 1-2 litres and it is never to be used directly anywhere as it’s anaerobic virtue makes it toxic (I believe). I pour this smelly liquid into a 150 litre(30gal) plastic drum that has an aeration stone and fish tank air pump that promotes the aerobic bloom to populate the total liquid volume. After a week of bubbling I pour that aerated liquid onto my garden laced with any liquid fertiliser of choice (fish/kelp). Every 2~4 weeks my plants are fed like this and from results it appears to be a winning combination. There’s a fair amount of labour involved doing this however virtually anything I plant will thrive and fruit outstandingly. This is definitely my green thumb advantage and as I have only been growing for a couple of years it appears to be working extremely well.
Municipal compost used to be free here in the UK. But not any more, they have realised that they have a valuable product. It is now used as the basis for a lot of commercially available soil mixes.
We were using composted sewage solids on our garden in Leicester, UK back in the early 1970's. Marketed under the name "Lescost". Grew some great vegetables.
I always learn so much fundamentally on your channel. People talk about what decisions they make for their gardens, but you’ve been the best at explaining the ‘why’ without going over people’s heads or leaving out pertinent considerations. So thank you for that. It’s hard in our small space with full time jobs for us to make a good home compost at the appropriate speed. Especially at the rate we eat-we’re vegetarian. Our bin is full and unfinished. I’m going to reach out to see what are local municipal has to offer-it’s not free, but the bags are roughly the same price of manure sold at big box stores. I was disappointed with the bags we got a couple years ago. It had so much hard clay, which was the reason we turned half our raised bed into a large compost bin. We were hoping to soften it that way after all we’d spent. I’m learning to recycle our potting soil and I’d really like to add a heap a compost to our grow bags every year to help improve the soil over time. And maybe (hopefully lol) they take all our eggshells too. Those take a really long time to break down smh.
I'm using sheep and goat manure clean out from my cousin and deep mulching it with leaves, straw,and wood shavings. It should work out good. I also will be scattering chicken litter on top of all the mulch to over winter.
Getting your home compost hot isn't that out of range, although it does require a bit of work and a few basic techniques. I live in the same general area as you (I'm in suburban Toronto) and have been able to get my compost hot even in winter. My current 2023 winter setup is: -2 square yard pile; more bulk = more insulation from winter cold and more heat generated -chicken wire corral; to get the sides of the compost vertical, since a heap will see the margins where the vertical height is lower freeze more easily -cardboard covering; only on the top of the pile, since this is the main pathway for heat to escape, and a few layers of cardboard can insulate very well, no cardboard on the sides though, so that air can go in through there -flipping every 7-10 days; flipping more often exposes the pile to cold winter air too frequently without giving the pile time to recover, flipping less frequently allows the pile to go anaerobic (and I suspect also causes the aerobic bacterial population to decline) -good mix of browns and greens; the main brown at my disposal is mulched leaves, and during winter, the greens are mostly coffee grounds from local coffee shops -good moisture levels; during winter if you cover your pile, you won't lose too much moisture, especially if your materials are mulched up with relatively few air gaps, but it's still good to give your pile a good soaking to start. In my case, I haven't had to water for almost two month though. -mulched up; although it's not bad to have some coarser materials in your pile, you do want it to be more like a mulch pile than a brush pile, too much air and you're not going to be able to maintain enough moisture and retain enough heat With this approach, I have been able to get my compost to temperatures of 130-140F for several consecutive days, even in January. During warmer parts of the year, you can skip some of these - you don't need to get your compost sides vertical, you don't need it to be as large (0.5-1 square yard is enough), and you don't need to cover with cardboard or any other form of insulation. On the flipside, if it does get hot, you do still want to flip it regularly, possibly even more often than in winter (ie every 2-5 days). However, your compost will be ready about 2-3x faster in warm weather so you're flipping more frequently, but not more times total. After 1-6 months (depending on materials and weather) the pile should be mostly broken down, except for the woodier stuff, which are best composted at cool temperatures anyways (by fungi, worms, earwigs, rolly pollies, etc), so you can just let it sit undisturbed for a few months, or sift out the coarse stuff if you're looking to sow seeds into it (for larger plants they don't seem to mind having some chunky woody stuff mixed in).
The best compost for me is the one that is the most broken down material which means it has little steps to convert into readilly available nutrients to plant. The more broken down the faster the result.
I use my own Vermi-compost - I feed my worms wood pellets, soy pellets, coffee grounds, egg shells, chick starter and all of our veggie scraps. they really produce on that. Today's show was great.
The nuances to this subject are these: 1. How much organic matter does your application require? I.e. dirt that is clay-based or lacking in loam will need more. 2. What are the levels of beneficial microbes present in your soil? Dirt lacking in loam will also be lacking in microbes. Vermicompost can provide a good start to building that environment.
Big big difference in animal feces, and human feces! compost it or not you cannot compost chemicals out or at least a lot of chemicals out. I would rather be dealing with occasional antibiotics residue in manure rather than anti-depressants and psychotropic drugs, but I do appreciate your video.
They’re closing many farms down in Oregon and other places because of chemicals, antibiotics , prescription drugs, and heavy metals presenting their soil! THIS IS AFTER THE GOVERNMENT STATED IT WAS GOOD FOR THEIR SOIL !!!! Don’t believe the Government agents and/or everything you read and see on the internet!
True. I'm actually quit disappointed with the entire lack of understanding of just how hazardous 'biocomp' is, both for agriculture generally and home gardeners specifically. The documentary film 'Biosludged' is must watch for any gardener. The fact of the matter this con game of incentivizing farmers and home gardeners to spread this stuff on their fields has now lead to the EPA stepping in and condemning farmland all across America, documenting the PFAS, forever chemicals, pharmaceuticals and Dioxins have rendered their lands poisonous and unsuitable for crop production. If a home gardener puts this crap on their garden, we'll then, they should just plan on becoming sick for a very long trajectory.
donkey manure, by experience, is very good for composting and growing plants. We had a wild gourd plant grow in our donkey manure pile and it turned out 70 large/jumbo gourds. We then started using the composted manure in our potting mix and strawberry field. the plants grew extremely well.
In many places the soil used to build new homes is mostly sand or clay. Neither of these have much in the way of organic matter, so gardeners like to add manure or leaf mold to the soil to beef it up a bit. Soils that have been augmented with rotting leaves, manure or grass clippings will "feed" the bacteria in the dirt and eventually the dirt begins to produce better results. They also retain moisture better. A simple rule that keeps you out of trouble is this: Don't use compost from unknown sources if you plan to raise vegetables in the soil. If you are just growing flower beds or ornamentals it's fine.
I appreciate the in-depth discussion. We have a large Amish community, so I hope my bags of dehydrated manure are local. In terms of human sewage, I would be concerned about pathogens. Romain lettuce has been removed from the market several times. Usually, pathogens of other animals are harmless for humans.
From what I understand, depending on where the coco coir used in the substrate is from, it could contain higher salt levels because some may use sea water for irrigation. Myth?
WARNING!!!! ⚠️ 👎🏿😬😡They’re (the GOVERNMENT) are closing many farms down in Oregon and other places because of dangerous chemicals, antibiotics , prescription drugs, other medical contaminants, and heavy metals present in their soil! It not considered to be ORGANIC!! THIS IS AFTER THE GOVERNMENT STATED IT WAS GOOD FOR THEIR SOIL !!!! WHEN EVER A GOVERNMENT AGENT, LOBBYIST, OR A CORPORATE REPRESENTATIVE SAYS: “ WE’VE COME HERE TO HELP YOU “ - RUN THE OTHER WAY FAST!! A lot of what he’s saying on UA-cam about composting is not 100% true or correct!! BEWARE OF PARTIAL “TRUTHS “ that he is spewing out! Your garden, yard, or farm will not be considered truly organic and will become contaminated with toxic pollutants for hundreds of years. Don’t believe the Government agents and/or everything you read and see on the internet! Don’t trust or believe in “professionals” on any subject such as: politics, education, religion, diet, agriculture, medicine, health, etc. Do your own research, due diligence and use your brains!! Don’t be a naive fool! Don’t be gullible! Ask yourself these questions (and many others) before making decisions or taking any advice: 1- Do they really know what the hell they’re talking about? 2- Do they have a conflict of interest? 3- Do they love, respect, care for me, and are really looking out for me?
I grow everything in compost directly, all my plants grow beautifully. I grow all my plants in no soil, only leaves and kitchen waste compost. Really works well.
@@leeannmoore3158 Yes it is, best carrots, tomatoes, potatos, evrything. I try do the old fashioned way, manure, spading, raking and things. I think that tastes better than the compost and raised beds methods which costs a lot of money. I remember grandpa spading, good memories.
The problem with compost is that it's organic matter and can cause root rot. In Africa you just planted in the sand/ground. Once a year you may add compost/manure to revitalize the nutrients, but not necessary. Compost/soil is added to increase production. In Texas you truly need compost to break up the clay soil. My goal is to convert clay soil to feta consistency. I've seen it twice in parts of my garden.
I live in Central Florida nothing but sand. I live alone and the only thing I throw away is once in a while banana peels and egg shells. I really have nothing else to add so it would take me forever to make my own compost
If you put the timestamps starting with 00:00 in your description it creates "chapters". People can click on the timestamp and skip right to that part of the video.
Manure that I use is from dry lot beef finishing on the western high plains. When I get lab results it will have 2.5-3.0-2.8 and water content of 20 to 30%. Dairy manure will be more like the 1-1-1 I know manure is a good source of nutrients for crops...I have used 100's of thousands of tons in my life time. There are some negatives but in the long run many positives.
I love your no nonsense gardening knowledge. I am a new subscriber and am trying to watch all of your videos. Can you do a video explaining the difference between buried kitchen scraps vs chop and drop. I understand the uncomposted veggies can be detrimental to plants (robbing them of nitrogen). What about chop and drop. Wouldn’t that rob nitrogen as well?
" uncomposted veggies can be detrimental to plants (robbing them of nitrogen)" - that is unlikely to be a problem since veggies are high in nitrogen. Only things very high in carbon can be a problem - wood chips, dry leaves.
Thank you for your prompt reply. Whew, I feel much better now. I pick up throw away veggies from a small grocery store so I have boxes of veggies every week. Majority of the time, during winter and falls, I buried the veggies. Sometimes I laid them on top of plants/trees then cover with wood chips and/or cardboards. I find my veggies decomposed within 5 weeks.
Very helpful, thanks! I live in east Hawaii island and recently covered one of my two driveways with 6” black cinder and am planting various landscape plants. Will now add more compost around the plants and top with wood chips. You have really helped my plan. Btw, we use michorhizie rooting mix here and it really helps the soil biology, per Dr Elaine Ingham.
I would be worried about human manure being used as compost because of drugs and pharmaceuticals . We certainly don't want herbicides and antibiotics in animal manure either . Thanks for your garden-knowledge.
Missing some key considerations: 1) compost vs fertiliser: microbes quantities, nutrient cycling 2) bokashi, vermicompost, hot compost, what type of microbes do they have and again how do they play a role in nutrient cycling? 3) fungal activity/quantities in the different type of composts... 4) hot composting has highly oxidised composts vs facultative/anerobic methods like bokashi 5) municipal compost is one of the worse that I and many have experienced, it is usually not completely composted and in my personal experience needs a lot of time to break down to usable/reasonable levels.
You are absolutely amazing Have you ever heard of brand Wakefield? They have a bag compost as well as bag of bio-char plus compost. Just curious your opinion on this product Let me know if you can. I would appreciate it Thank you again for all the helpful information
I don’t know about sewage sludge due to pharmaceutical waste... regarding organic vs chemical fertilizers...my understanding is that the salts build up and while they don’t hurt plants they do limit microbiological activity. Chemical fertilizers don’t necessarily provide a lot of trace nutrients/minerals, it’s easy to overdue it and burn the plants whereas natural/organic fertilizers increase microbiological activity, including trace elements. I tend to use mostly organic inputs (various meals, chicken manure, etc) with a light amount of chemical fertilizer for certain crops (nitrogen for onions for example). Chemical fertilizers can also drastically affect PH which can lead to some nutrients being locked out/unavailable to be taken up by the plant. Am I missing something?
high salts can harm microbes - but that is true for both synthetic fertilizer and organic fertilizer. The poison is in the dose. Most soil are not deficient of micronutrients. I agree organic is better if you can wait for the long term to feed plants.
I thought another advantage of vermi compost is that you don't need to use as much of it compared to other compost, so it's good if you don't have a lot of space, or just want to put a bit of top soil on indoor plants. Is that not true? Edit: also it's not acidic, so you can use it even with seedlings. Right? Edit: also more microbial content that makes nutrients more easily available. Right?
Fantastic video as always. Are there any invasive plants you would be concerned about surviving in municipal compost piles, like Japanese knotweed? We used to use local compost from our town transfer station but now I’m concerned about knotweed and haven’t wanted to risk it.
Sir, pig compost (and any carnivore compost) is certainly different from herbivore compost! Pigs host among the greatest amount of harmful bacteria and pathogens in their stool. Carnivore compost should be sterilized before use, or given a year or two to decompose. Herbivore compost is much more clean and can be used, in some cases, immediately.
Between home composting and municipal composting, municipal composting is right for me. 95% of the green waste from our (very large) yard is brown making hot composting impractical. Since we live in an area that stays fairly warm all year and has good soil, our yard creates about 100 cubic yards of yard waste per year. Cold composting would involve several hundred cubic yards of waste, which I don't want to do. So, I have a couple of piles which I use as buffers and have about one cubic yard collected each week. Twice a year, our municipal composter has free compost days, and I will collect about six cubic yards. That provides me with all the compost I need. It is also a heck of a lot easier than trying to compost it myself.
First time I've heard about shrimp compost, I was confuse... How small should be the shovel to pick up the tiny poo? Ok, I was quite young.. You know, when you just learned to read and you get curious!
I use municipal compost every year. It’s all from the city yard wast recicle center. My organic matter is off the charts. Can organic matter be too high?
Excellent video. What's your opinion on Shrimp Compost? About the same as the rest? I have read that Shrimp Compost has pretty good amounts minerals that others may not but not sure how much of that is reality or not. Saw some at a local retailer recently and was tempted to give it a try but haven't ever used it so I was a bit cautious about it. Cheers.
Is there is a chance for pesticides in some fields where horses eat can still be in the manure and then in our vegetables?Or is it enough filters(horse digestiv system and then bacteria form soil) ?
@2:20 synthetic fertilizer does harm the soil by: 1) accelerating decomposition of existing organic matter in it (think adding lots of greens to "slow" compost pile) 2) eliminating the need for plant roots to emit exudates to feed microorganisms in the soil in exchange for nutrients - all nutrients are suddenly available in excess. Lots of OM in the soil is in a form of live microorganisms, and not dead pieced of carbon. All that is *opposite* to adding new organic matter to the soil. Add tilling to that and you get purely mineral soil dependent on 24/7 fertilizing to grow anything. Also my gut feeling is that compost made solely from high C / low N material (such as fall leaves or wood chips) would result in lower N compost than the compost made from manures where there was no deficiency in N - at least at the stage when most gardeners would choose to apply it. I understand that given enough time all composts may become the same N-wise, but I believe there is a danger of accumulating to much P in the soil from manure source composts.
What you actually find in soil that has been fertilized with synthetic fertilizer is an increase in microbe population. They now have a food source and rely less on the OM in soil. When the food runs out, they die adding even more OM to the soil.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 when you say an increase in microbes are you referring to bacteria or fungi? My understanding is that synthetic fertilizers increase bacteria at the expense of fungi. And, my understanding is that the goal is to have a soil biome with a 1:1 bacteria/fungi ratio Your thoughts?
I’m extremely leery about biosolids. Heavy metals, undissolved chemicals and ground up plastic etc, are never a good thing. Most sewage centers only treatment consists just drying out the sludge, nothing else. Not for me.
I use vermicompost as a top layer monthly to increase the microbial activity, nutrients and apparently it's a pH buffer in my indoor cannabis grow but your video has me second guessing. I use a dry organic amendment "gaia green". Do you recommend any other type of compost for indoor.
Would tilling into the soil homemade leaf mulch (not leaf mold) be a good way to raise the organic levels in the soil? How about combining this with municipal compost? Or would the leaf mulch serve better as a top dressing substitute for wood chip mulch? I'm going to plant about 30 Nellie Stevens hollies and 20 Skip laurels on 2,000 sq. ft. in the Fall. I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to prep and maintain the soil.
I think your statement about fertilizers not harming the soil is a bit untrue. If you have a salt based fertilizer you are harming the soil becteria as the nutrients are already in a form that plants can absorb so they dont need to depend on soil bacteria as much, harming the flora in the soil
I live in central Texas and manage a community garden and 2 food bank plots. I had a soil test done by the Texas Agrilife Extension. Where I garden we have a heavy clay soil. I noticed that I was good on all elements except I was high in P., 224 ppm. to be exact. They basically said back away from the Phosphorus. In fact like the next 5 years. Also, they said to stay away from manure-based composts. I have been using a mushroom compost with poultry poop for about 5 years.. Does that sound correct? You mentioned that manure-based compost NPK is 1-1-1. Does this sound correct, as 1-1-1 sounds pretty low? BTW I love your videos and just purchased your soil since videos.
These videos couldn't be any better! They breakdown the fundamentals of gardening so you actually understand the reasoning behind your actions. You won't have to memorize what to do anymore. You can be the free thinking gardener that can adapt to changes in the garden because you'll understand what to do and when. Thank you so much for these great videos!
Not so fast. The reason for this is literally your lack of understanding just how hazardous 'biocomp' is for agriculture generally and home gardeners specifically. The documentary film 'Biosludged' is must watch for any gardener. The fact of the matter this con game of incentivizing farmers and home gardeners to spread this stuff on their fields has now lead to the EPA stepping in and condemning farmland all across America, documenting the PFAS, forever chemicals, pharmaceuticals and Dioxins have rendered their lands poisonous and unsuitable for crop production. If you're a home gardener and put this crap on your garden, we'll then, just plan on becoming sick.
@@johnevans5649 your reply has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm talking about. Good job
So refreshing to hear straightforward, factual 'non magic' discussion of these topics.
Not so fast. The reason for this is literally your lack of understanding just how hazardous 'biocomp' is for agriculture generally and home gardeners specifically. The documentary film 'Biosludged' is must watch for any gardener. The fact of the matter this con game of incentivizing farmers and home gardeners to spread this stuff on their fields has now lead to the EPA stepping in and condemning farmland all across America, documenting the PFAS, forever chemicals, pharmaceuticals and Dioxins have rendered their lands poisonous and unsuitable for crop production. If you're a home gardener and put this crap on your garden, we'll then, just plan on becoming sick.
@@johnevans5649 Totally agree about absurdly misnamed 'biosolids' and 'fertilzers' made from sludge. It's literally poisoning land/plants and should have been deemed hazardous waste, not cynically marketed as fertilizer. But then again, I'm old enough to remember when they drove around fogging DDT during the summer to kill mosquitos - and us kids would ride our bikes behind the fogger to cool off - literally nobody thought about what it might be doing to our health - we all thought the 'scientists' knew what they were doing - how wrong we were!
I have recently noticed the amount of wood chips added to a bag of "compost". It is like a cheap filler material they can add to make another penny. If they could add more air they would do that too.
Yes, I noticed that too. Then the wood chips takes up nutrients away from the plants.
Potting soil is the same way. I bought a few bags of happy frog potting soil for over 20 dollars a bag... almost double the price of miracle grow at the same quantity. It was about one 3rd wood chips. I had to sift it out and i uses the wood chips for mulch on my tomatoes.
Yup. If you look carefully, many wood fines have red, blue or blue paint on their edges - the common colors that large pallets manufacturers use to identify their brand/type. So these "forest products" are actually broken pallets that have gone through a very fine chipper.
I think the bag products are adding coloring to the compost as well. When it first comes out of the bag it looks almost black rich and dark. But after a few waterings, it washes off and that's when I see the uncomposted wood chips.
who cares how much air they add if its sold by weight ?
My physical ability to make compost is limited age, 74, and health, sciatica, so I'm buying compost at local yard. It seems to work well. My municipality sells its compost and some local gardeners complain of weeds from it. I also use leaves, which many people discard, perhaps afraid of untidiness. Their gardens often look almost artificial, certainly unnatural. Thank you for solid scientific analysis.
Two comments to add. First, about biosolids, by law many industries have to pretreatment their wastewater to remove certain chemicals before discharging to the local wastewater collection system. Specific testing has to be done before the industrial wastewater is discharged. Second, about commercial mushroom compost, my Dad spent over fifty years as a mushroom grower. Most commercial mushroom compost are based on horse manure from racetracks and horse farms. The composting process is a hot one. Then as part of the preparation for inoculating the compost with mushroom spawn, the compost is pasteurized at 150 degrees to kill pests and diseases of the mushrooms. After the mushrooms have been grown, many times the used compost is pasteurized again to control mushroom pests before it is dumped out. In the making of the compost things like cotton seed meal or oil or dried biosolids are added to meet the nutritional needs of the mushrooms. Someplaces put a layer of pasteurized soil or peat moss on top of the compost to help induce the fruiting process of the mushrooms. Mushroom compost is more complex than presented in the video. It is really worth the effort to put on the garden because of not only for the plant nutrients, but also how it improves the structure of the soil.
Yes you are correct at a minimum of 150 degrees for manure but other compost may require 3 or 15 days consecutive days between 131 to 170 degrees depending on the material.
Thank you for taking the time to present such a clear and concise scientifically based explanation about the different types of compost. I found it very helpful.
We have a pile of well rotted sheep manure in the pasture, I’m going to be shoveling that out this spring for sure💚🙃 I should have mentioned I have heavy clay soil so It will be a great benefit.💚🙃 I’m so glad I stumbled onto your channel, my husband was listening, as I was,to your explanations on things and he committed on how much he liked the way you explain everything, so people can understand it, layman’s terms. Thanks again!💚🙃
Years ago, I had a farmer friend that allowed me to clean out his calf huts. One spring he had a manure spreader whose chain that run the flinger broke and the trailer had to be unloaded to repair it. Here I was shoveling it into my little 5'x8' trailer when I looked at the hitch which matched my truck hitch, you see where I'm going with this. Ours was a newly, being built neighborhood, so I had a little more latitude. For the next 5-6 years I had broccoli as big as cabbage heads. Weeds pulled with ease. I wish I had a local farmer close by today... 40 years later, even for the much smaller trailer loads! I now collect leaves in the fall.
Thank you so much! I’m trying my hand at raised gardening and am in the beginning stages. Have watched hundreds of videos, and it wasn’t until I watched your videos on dirt and compost that I finally feel confident in how I am going to fill these beds. Love and Light to you!!
Can I heat treat my compost if I can't get it hot enough on the pile
2:53 Haaaaaaaaaaaa a scientific guy in this soil fantasy!!!!
This is the second video I've watch from you...
You've just got a new subscriber from Montréal!!!!
For my garden, I just throw vegetable, fruits waste into my garden throughout winter. I turn it over every so often.
I also put in my fireplace ash, grass cuttings before planting, and leaves I vacuumed up in the spring and fall.
This has made my vegetables and garden boom.
Bern doing this for about 6 years and it has worked great for me.
This was such an important and useful gardening video; I wish I’d watched this years ago. Thanks so much: the simplicity of your research cuts through all the over-analysing by garden gurus that’s so prevalent today.
Thanks.
Best gardening content on YT. Just amazing. Thanks!
A fair analysis of composting, thanks for keeping it simple. There are a lot of people that want to go off the deep end about micro-nutrients, trace minerals, with not a lot of testing to back them up. I am a market-gardener and by buy local Dairy Compost and I started making my own compost, from spent vegetables and rejected vegetables from a local food bank and wood shread. My bins are 6' x 5' x 5' high. I am able to get a good bit of heat (160 degrees). I am looking to kill any weed seed and pathogens. We grow a lot of greens and that is one of the reasons I stopped using fresh manure.
Wow! Quite an eye-opener. You're going to save me a lot of money on vermicompost, lol.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I greatly appreciate your time putting the video together for us.
i recommend this study to read: "Nutrient effect of various composting methods with and without biochar on soil fertility and maize growth"
Bokashi with biochar cocomposting added more nutrients to the soil and produced significantly higher yields. Bokashi is just a barrel with some water in it that you put kitchen scraps into after inoculating it with some sauerkraut juice. It can be sealed, has no stink, can be stored in the house, etc. I haven't added biochar to mine yet, i balanced the acidity out with some wood ash before digging it into my soil. It basically disappeared in 1 month even tho most of it was drought.
Highly encouraging.
Thank you for this video. I have always wondered what is the best compost option. I also want to thank you for your most recent book. soil science for gardeners is such a great read. you make it so that I can understand what's going on in the soil without talking down to the reader.
Glad it was helpful!
I built new raised beds this year and filled them with bagged top soil and cow manure from our local home store. Plants we also purchased and things looked good. But then the whole garden seemed to stall, the tomatoes and peppers leaves curled, watermelon squash and cucumbers yellowed and were stunted. I tested the soil and found the ph to be a little high (7 ish) but everything else ok. I am suspecting some form of herbicide in the soil or manure. I have a couple of plants that seem to be better than other so not a complete loss. Really think I will use my own compost from now on, and supplement with fertilizer. Love your videos. I need a hat!
That has become such a common story lately! Pastures are sprayed with Grazon or like products and the resulting manure can kill most vegetable plants! You can grow corn in that soil as it is a grass, and I hear the Cole crops aren’t too badly affected either. It’ll break down in a few years.
I thought that was my problem the first year too. Once I mixed up my raised bed soil with plenty of compost, the whole bed started getting hot. Turns out the compost wasn't fully composted and the oxygen got it started. Had to wait a few weeks.
I agree with everything more or less, I just have to say look into microbes more because they are a lot more beneficial then once thought to be.
Best gardening channel I've seen for straight forward, useful info.
Liked, subbed, all notifications !
This video came to me just as I needed it. I have a compost tumbler in which I am using coffee grounds, potato and onion tops/bottoms and expired packages of salad greens combined with pine shavings and paper towels and napkins as my carbon component. I really line the way it looks, but I was worried that I might miss something by not using a manure product. I feel better now.
Thanks for all the great information! I'm in northern Florida and have 11 1/2 acres of woods and lawn. Trying to add an orchard and garden to the property. I have huge piles of leaves and am composting some into a large compost bin. I'm overwhelmed with what to do to process them all. They have been shredded but it's almost impossible to keep them wet. I will keep watching your videos ... they are inspiring.
If you have mostly leaves - they need nitrogen to decompose.
Tell your husband to piss on those leaves it speeds up the process 😆
Add chicken manure or basically any herbivore manure to the leaves and watch em break down.... keep it somewhat moist and it'll compost quickly
That sounds awesome! Keep Florida beautiful for us, ma’am, please plant endemic trees and plants on your property so that the state can be glorious as long as possible. May God bless you and yours in your endeavors.
@@TheLightisGood I'm trying...but my neighbor just massacred 160 acres of forest. I'm heartsick. First time I've seen a large rattlesnake in my yard and I've seen Armadillos running in the buffer between our properties. I've cried over it.
I BOKASHi everything.
Kitchen scraps, garden wastes/trimmings/spent fruit and vegetables, all goes into my Bokashi buckets.
I have 20 litre (5gal) pails.
A top pail with small holes drilled in the bottom fits into the bottom pail that catches all the juices that leach out as the Bokashi ferments.
The system needs to be tightly compressed as it runs optimally in an anaerobic (without access to air) environment.
In the summer the process will take about 2-4 weeks but in the winter it slows down significantly.
I empty the finished product into my tumbling composter.
The real essential value is the remaining leachate that is collected in the bottom pail.
There is 1-2 litres and it is never to be used directly anywhere as it’s anaerobic virtue makes it toxic (I believe).
I pour this smelly liquid into a 150 litre(30gal) plastic drum that has an aeration stone and fish tank air pump that promotes the aerobic bloom to populate the total liquid volume.
After a week of bubbling I pour that aerated liquid onto my garden laced with any liquid fertiliser of choice (fish/kelp).
Every 2~4 weeks my plants are fed like this and from results it appears to be a winning combination.
There’s a fair amount of labour involved doing this however virtually anything I plant will thrive and fruit outstandingly.
This is definitely my green thumb advantage and as I have only been growing for a couple of years it appears to be working extremely well.
Municipal compost used to be free here in the UK. But not any more, they have realised that they have a valuable product. It is now used as the basis for a lot of commercially available soil mixes.
Love your videos and I am learning soooo much from your "Soil Science" book!
I'm so glad!
We were using composted sewage solids on our garden in Leicester, UK back in the early 1970's.
Marketed under the name "Lescost". Grew some great vegetables.
I always learn so much fundamentally on your channel. People talk about what decisions they make for their gardens, but you’ve been the best at explaining the ‘why’ without going over people’s heads or leaving out pertinent considerations. So thank you for that.
It’s hard in our small space with full time jobs for us to make a good home compost at the appropriate speed. Especially at the rate we eat-we’re vegetarian. Our bin is full and unfinished. I’m going to reach out to see what are local municipal has to offer-it’s not free, but the bags are roughly the same price of manure sold at big box stores.
I was disappointed with the bags we got a couple years ago. It had so much hard clay, which was the reason we turned half our raised bed into a large compost bin. We were hoping to soften it that way after all we’d spent.
I’m learning to recycle our potting soil and I’d really like to add a heap a compost to our grow bags every year to help improve the soil over time.
And maybe (hopefully lol) they take all our eggshells too. Those take a really long time to break down smh.
I'm using sheep and goat manure clean out from my cousin and deep mulching it with leaves, straw,and wood shavings. It should work out good. I also will be scattering chicken litter on top of all the mulch to over winter.
excellent information! clear, down to earth and honest. Thank you!
Thank you for the explanatory video. very helpful as usual.
Getting your home compost hot isn't that out of range, although it does require a bit of work and a few basic techniques. I live in the same general area as you (I'm in suburban Toronto) and have been able to get my compost hot even in winter.
My current 2023 winter setup is:
-2 square yard pile; more bulk = more insulation from winter cold and more heat generated
-chicken wire corral; to get the sides of the compost vertical, since a heap will see the margins where the vertical height is lower freeze more easily
-cardboard covering; only on the top of the pile, since this is the main pathway for heat to escape, and a few layers of cardboard can insulate very well, no cardboard on the sides though, so that air can go in through there
-flipping every 7-10 days; flipping more often exposes the pile to cold winter air too frequently without giving the pile time to recover, flipping less frequently allows the pile to go anaerobic (and I suspect also causes the aerobic bacterial population to decline)
-good mix of browns and greens; the main brown at my disposal is mulched leaves, and during winter, the greens are mostly coffee grounds from local coffee shops
-good moisture levels; during winter if you cover your pile, you won't lose too much moisture, especially if your materials are mulched up with relatively few air gaps, but it's still good to give your pile a good soaking to start. In my case, I haven't had to water for almost two month though.
-mulched up; although it's not bad to have some coarser materials in your pile, you do want it to be more like a mulch pile than a brush pile, too much air and you're not going to be able to maintain enough moisture and retain enough heat
With this approach, I have been able to get my compost to temperatures of 130-140F for several consecutive days, even in January.
During warmer parts of the year, you can skip some of these - you don't need to get your compost sides vertical, you don't need it to be as large (0.5-1 square yard is enough), and you don't need to cover with cardboard or any other form of insulation. On the flipside, if it does get hot, you do still want to flip it regularly, possibly even more often than in winter (ie every 2-5 days). However, your compost will be ready about 2-3x faster in warm weather so you're flipping more frequently, but not more times total. After 1-6 months (depending on materials and weather) the pile should be mostly broken down, except for the woodier stuff, which are best composted at cool temperatures anyways (by fungi, worms, earwigs, rolly pollies, etc), so you can just let it sit undisturbed for a few months, or sift out the coarse stuff if you're looking to sow seeds into it (for larger plants they don't seem to mind having some chunky woody stuff mixed in).
Nice to see you in gardening clothes! Your vids are wonderful.
Great format and layout to learn.
The best compost for me is the one that is the most broken down material which means it has little steps to convert into readilly available nutrients to plant. The more broken down the faster the result.
Not only the chemical contaminants you mention, but there is also a good chance of pharmaceutical contamination.
Exactly
I’m a soil scientist I love the comment about synthetic fertilizer it’s very true
GIC
With all the rederick this guy spewed out.
That's all you took out of it.
For supposedly being a soil scientist that's pretty lame.
Another soil scientist that owned and directed by agriculture companies..scientist that funded by big company to please the boss
I use my own Vermi-compost - I feed my worms wood pellets, soy pellets, coffee grounds, egg shells, chick starter and all of our veggie scraps. they really produce on that. Today's show was great.
The nuances to this subject are these:
1. How much organic matter does your application require? I.e. dirt that is clay-based or lacking in loam will need more.
2. What are the levels of beneficial microbes present in your soil? Dirt lacking in loam will also be lacking in microbes. Vermicompost can provide a good start to building that environment.
Appreciate the quick summary in the intro. So glad I stayed for the rest though!!! : )))
My parents added "bio solids" years ago to their garden. I remember getting about 20 peppers from just one plant. Everything grew like crazy!
Big big difference in animal feces, and human feces! compost it or not you cannot compost chemicals out or at least a lot of chemicals out. I would rather be dealing with occasional antibiotics residue in manure rather than anti-depressants and psychotropic drugs, but I do appreciate your video.
They’re closing many farms down in Oregon and other places because of chemicals, antibiotics , prescription drugs, and heavy metals presenting their soil! THIS IS AFTER THE GOVERNMENT STATED IT WAS GOOD FOR THEIR SOIL !!!!
Don’t believe the Government agents and/or everything you read and see on the internet!
True. I'm actually quit disappointed with the entire lack of understanding of just how hazardous 'biocomp' is, both for agriculture generally and home gardeners specifically. The documentary film 'Biosludged' is must watch for any gardener. The fact of the matter this con game of incentivizing farmers and home gardeners to spread this stuff on their fields has now lead to the EPA stepping in and condemning farmland all across America, documenting the PFAS, forever chemicals, pharmaceuticals and Dioxins have rendered their lands poisonous and unsuitable for crop production. If a home gardener puts this crap on their garden, we'll then, they should just plan on becoming sick for a very long trajectory.
I love listening to your videos very informative!
donkey manure, by experience, is very good for composting and growing plants.
We had a wild gourd plant grow in our donkey manure pile and it turned out 70 large/jumbo gourds. We then started using the composted manure in our potting mix and strawberry field. the plants grew extremely well.
Wonderful analysis of various composts. Enjoyed the presentation
In many places the soil used to build new homes is mostly sand or clay. Neither of these have much in the way of organic matter, so gardeners like to add manure or leaf mold to the soil to beef it up a bit. Soils that have been augmented with rotting leaves, manure or grass clippings will "feed" the bacteria in the dirt and eventually the dirt begins to produce better results. They also retain moisture better. A simple rule that keeps you out of trouble is this: Don't use compost from unknown sources if you plan to raise vegetables in the soil. If you are just growing flower beds or ornamentals it's fine.
Cheers for another informative video. Quite enlightening. Might get your books as well :D. Looking at getting mushroom compost i think...
Thank you so much for the information, getting close to planting time here on the East Coast.
Very informative !!! Thanks for sharing !!!
It was so informative. Thank you
I appreciate the in-depth discussion. We have a large Amish community, so I hope my bags of dehydrated manure are local. In terms of human sewage, I would be concerned about pathogens. Romain lettuce has been removed from the market several times. Usually, pathogens of other animals are harmless for humans.
But all soil contains these pathogens, even if you don't add human sewage.
From what I understand, depending on where the coco coir used in the substrate is from, it could contain higher salt levels because some may use sea water for irrigation.
Myth?
WARNING!!!! ⚠️ 👎🏿😬😡They’re (the GOVERNMENT) are closing many farms down in Oregon and other places because of dangerous chemicals, antibiotics , prescription drugs, other medical contaminants, and heavy metals present in their soil! It not considered to be ORGANIC!!
THIS IS AFTER THE GOVERNMENT STATED IT WAS GOOD FOR THEIR SOIL !!!!
WHEN EVER A GOVERNMENT AGENT, LOBBYIST, OR A CORPORATE REPRESENTATIVE SAYS: “ WE’VE COME HERE TO HELP YOU “ - RUN THE OTHER WAY FAST!!
A lot of what he’s saying on UA-cam about composting is not 100% true or correct!! BEWARE OF PARTIAL “TRUTHS “
that he is spewing out! Your garden, yard, or farm will not be considered truly organic and will become contaminated with toxic pollutants for hundreds of years.
Don’t believe the Government agents and/or everything you read and see on the internet! Don’t trust or believe in “professionals” on any subject such as: politics, education, religion, diet, agriculture, medicine, health, etc.
Do your own research, due diligence and use your brains!! Don’t be a naive fool!
Don’t be gullible! Ask yourself these questions (and many others) before making decisions or taking any advice:
1- Do they really know what the hell they’re talking about?
2- Do they have a conflict of interest?
3- Do they love, respect, care for me, and are really looking out for me?
Now I know which commercial compost to buy, thx!
I grow everything in compost directly, all my plants grow beautifully. I grow all my plants in no soil, only leaves and kitchen waste compost. Really works well.
Gardeners nowadays spend more money on their garden than they harvest on vegetabels.
Yes! But the joy it gives me is priceless. Plus I feel better after a day in the garden and the food is much tastier.
@@leeannmoore3158 Yes it is, best carrots, tomatoes, potatos, evrything.
I try do the old fashioned way, manure, spading, raking and things.
I think that tastes better than the compost and raised beds methods which costs a lot of money.
I remember grandpa spading, good memories.
And we can grow whatever we want….
@@Pianofishdave Also cannabis ?
I subscribed cause your telling us what to buy for any type I’d dirt - & telling us about what to use ..
Excellent info!! Thank you!
Your videos r the best. Thx.
The problem with compost is that it's organic matter and can cause root rot. In Africa you just planted in the sand/ground. Once a year you may add compost/manure to revitalize the nutrients, but not necessary. Compost/soil is added to increase production. In Texas you truly need compost to break up the clay soil. My goal is to convert clay soil to feta consistency. I've seen it twice in parts of my garden.
I live in Central Florida nothing but sand. I live alone and the only thing I throw away is once in a while banana peels and egg shells. I really have nothing else to add so it would take me forever to make my own compost
Municipal compost can be loaded with pesticides and herbicides because of people wanting the perfect garden or lawn.
Chicken poop seems to be known for “magical properties” too and it’s expensive!
It is just poop.
Great video, just what i was looking, very informative, Thanks
Great video. Thanks for the info.
If you put the timestamps starting with 00:00 in your description it creates "chapters". People can click on the timestamp and skip right to that part of the video.
Manure that I use is from dry lot beef finishing on the western high plains. When I get lab results it will have 2.5-3.0-2.8 and water content of 20 to 30%. Dairy manure will be more like the 1-1-1 I know manure is a good source of nutrients for crops...I have used 100's of thousands of tons in my life time. There are some negatives but in the long run many positives.
What about medications taken by human ? Does it show in the bio?
I love your no nonsense gardening knowledge. I am a new subscriber and am trying to watch all of your videos. Can you do a video explaining the difference between buried kitchen scraps vs chop and drop. I understand the uncomposted veggies can be detrimental to plants (robbing them of nitrogen). What about chop and drop. Wouldn’t that rob nitrogen as well?
" uncomposted veggies can be detrimental to plants (robbing them of nitrogen)" - that is unlikely to be a problem since veggies are high in nitrogen. Only things very high in carbon can be a problem - wood chips, dry leaves.
chop and drop needs nitrogen if the material does not have enough, but it takes it from the top 2 mm of soil - not were the roots are.
Thank you for your prompt reply. Whew, I feel much better now. I pick up throw away veggies from a small grocery store so I have boxes of veggies every week. Majority of the time, during winter and falls, I buried the veggies. Sometimes I laid them on top of plants/trees then cover with wood chips and/or cardboards. I find my veggies decomposed within 5 weeks.
@@08qbert Well that's a great source to have for "kitchen scraps"!
Very helpful, thanks! I live in east Hawaii island and recently covered one of my two driveways with 6” black cinder and am planting various landscape plants. Will now add more compost around the plants and top with wood chips. You have really helped my plan. Btw, we use michorhizie rooting mix here and it really helps the soil biology, per Dr Elaine Ingham.
I would be worried about human manure being used as compost because of drugs and pharmaceuticals . We certainly don't want herbicides and antibiotics in animal manure either . Thanks for your garden-knowledge.
Missing some key considerations:
1) compost vs fertiliser: microbes quantities, nutrient cycling
2) bokashi, vermicompost, hot compost, what type of microbes do they have and again how do they play a role in nutrient cycling?
3) fungal activity/quantities in the different type of composts...
4) hot composting has highly oxidised composts vs facultative/anerobic methods like bokashi
5) municipal compost is one of the worse that I and many have experienced, it is usually not completely composted and in my personal experience needs a lot of time to break down to usable/reasonable levels.
You are absolutely amazing
Have you ever heard of brand Wakefield?
They have a bag compost as well as bag of bio-char plus compost.
Just curious your opinion on this product
Let me know if you can. I would appreciate it
Thank you again for all the helpful information
04:18 Home Compost
14:40 Vermicompost
16:54 Bokashi Compost
I don’t know about sewage sludge due to pharmaceutical waste... regarding organic vs chemical fertilizers...my understanding is that the salts build up and while they don’t hurt plants they do limit microbiological activity. Chemical fertilizers don’t necessarily provide a lot of trace nutrients/minerals, it’s easy to overdue it and burn the plants whereas natural/organic fertilizers increase microbiological activity, including trace elements. I tend to use mostly organic inputs (various meals, chicken manure, etc) with a light amount of chemical fertilizer for certain crops (nitrogen for onions for example). Chemical fertilizers can also drastically affect PH which can lead to some nutrients being locked out/unavailable to be taken up by the plant. Am I missing something?
high salts can harm microbes - but that is true for both synthetic fertilizer and organic fertilizer. The poison is in the dose.
Most soil are not deficient of micronutrients.
I agree organic is better if you can wait for the long term to feed plants.
I thought another advantage of vermi compost is that you don't need to use as much of it compared to other compost, so it's good if you don't have a lot of space, or just want to put a bit of top soil on indoor plants. Is that not true?
Edit: also it's not acidic, so you can use it even with seedlings. Right?
Edit: also more microbial content that makes nutrients more easily available. Right?
Fantastic video as always. Are there any invasive plants you would be concerned about surviving in municipal compost piles, like Japanese knotweed? We used to use local compost from our town transfer station but now I’m concerned about knotweed and haven’t wanted to risk it.
Sir, pig compost (and any carnivore compost) is certainly different from herbivore compost! Pigs host among the greatest amount of harmful bacteria and pathogens in their stool. Carnivore compost should be sterilized before use, or given a year or two to decompose. Herbivore compost is much more clean and can be used, in some cases, immediately.
I just bought your soil science book. But I think I learn more from your videos. But maybe I should read the whole book. 😬
Between home composting and municipal composting, municipal composting is right for me. 95% of the green waste from our (very large) yard is brown making hot composting impractical. Since we live in an area that stays fairly warm all year and has good soil, our yard creates about 100 cubic yards of yard waste per year. Cold composting would involve several hundred cubic yards of waste, which I don't want to do. So, I have a couple of piles which I use as buffers and have about one cubic yard collected each week. Twice a year, our municipal composter has free compost days, and I will collect about six cubic yards. That provides me with all the compost I need. It is also a heck of a lot easier than trying to compost it myself.
First time I've heard about shrimp compost, I was confuse...
How small should be the shovel to pick up the tiny poo?
Ok, I was quite young.. You know, when you just learned to read and you get curious!
I use humanure, I would prefer livestock manure but I am not set up for it yet.
Good stuff, thanks🍅
Good to know. Thanks.
I use municipal compost every year. It’s all from the city yard wast recicle center. My organic matter is off the charts. Can organic matter be too high?
Excellent video. What's your opinion on Shrimp Compost? About the same as the rest? I have read that Shrimp Compost has pretty good amounts minerals that others may not but not sure how much of that is reality or not. Saw some at a local retailer recently and was tempted to give it a try but haven't ever used it so I was a bit cautious about it. Cheers.
Ask for a chemical analysis to see what it contains. I doubt it is anything special.
The real magic in vermicompost is operating your own worm farm. Fun and educational… with the excrement as a useful byproduct!
Is there is a chance for pesticides in some fields where horses eat can still be in the manure and then in our vegetables?Or is it enough filters(horse digestiv system and then bacteria form soil) ?
@2:20 synthetic fertilizer does harm the soil by:
1) accelerating decomposition of existing organic matter in it (think adding lots of greens to "slow" compost pile)
2) eliminating the need for plant roots to emit exudates to feed microorganisms in the soil in exchange for nutrients - all nutrients are suddenly available in excess. Lots of OM in the soil is in a form of live microorganisms, and not dead pieced of carbon.
All that is *opposite* to adding new organic matter to the soil. Add tilling to that and you get purely mineral soil dependent on 24/7 fertilizing to grow anything.
Also my gut feeling is that compost made solely from high C / low N material (such as fall leaves or wood chips) would result in lower N compost than the compost made from manures where there was no deficiency in N - at least at the stage when most gardeners would choose to apply it. I understand that given enough time all composts may become the same N-wise, but I believe there is a danger of accumulating to much P in the soil from manure source composts.
What you actually find in soil that has been fertilized with synthetic fertilizer is an increase in microbe population. They now have a food source and rely less on the OM in soil. When the food runs out, they die adding even more OM to the soil.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 when you say an increase in microbes are you referring to bacteria or fungi?
My understanding is that synthetic fertilizers increase bacteria at the expense of fungi. And, my understanding is that the goal is to have a soil biome with a 1:1 bacteria/fungi ratio
Your thoughts?
I’m extremely leery about biosolids. Heavy metals, undissolved chemicals and ground up plastic etc, are never a good thing. Most sewage centers only treatment consists just drying out the sludge, nothing else. Not for me.
I use vermicompost as a top layer monthly to increase the microbial activity, nutrients and apparently it's a pH buffer in my indoor cannabis grow but your video has me second guessing. I use a dry organic amendment "gaia green". Do you recommend any other type of compost for indoor.
I never ever use municipal compost. Here, they add literally tons of biosolids to it. Eastern Washington state, USA
Would tilling into the soil homemade leaf mulch (not leaf mold) be a good way to raise the organic levels in the soil? How about combining this with municipal compost? Or would the leaf mulch serve better as a top dressing substitute for wood chip mulch? I'm going to plant about 30 Nellie Stevens hollies and 20 Skip laurels on 2,000 sq. ft. in the Fall. I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to prep and maintain the soil.
I've also seen chicken manure. Would that be comparable to the others you mentioned?
Probably.
Mushroom compost can be very hard on seedlings and is not suitable for starting seeds in. Please be careful before a wide application.
Correct - mushroom compost is higher in nutrients.
But then I would not use any compost for starting seeds - use a soilless mix.
I think your statement about fertilizers not harming the soil is a bit untrue. If you have a salt based fertilizer you are harming the soil becteria as the nutrients are already in a form that plants can absorb so they dont need to depend on soil bacteria as much, harming the flora in the soil
I live in central Texas and manage a community garden and 2 food bank plots. I had a soil test done by the Texas Agrilife Extension. Where I garden we have a heavy clay soil. I noticed that I was good on all elements except I was high in P., 224 ppm. to be exact. They basically said back away from the Phosphorus. In fact like the next 5 years. Also, they said to stay away from manure-based composts. I have been using a mushroom compost with poultry poop for about 5 years.. Does that sound correct? You mentioned that manure-based compost NPK is 1-1-1. Does this sound correct, as 1-1-1 sounds pretty low? BTW I love your videos and just purchased your soil since videos.
Does adding compost to the top of container plants do any good does it work its way down into the pot
Yes it slowly incorporates and continues to decompose
my home worm compost is free and i dont turn it
What does nature do about composting and pathogens?
Municipal compost in San Diego is incompletely composted and absolutely full of weed seeds.