THE RODALE BOOK OF COMPOSTING

DEBORAH L. MARTIN & GRACE GERSHUNY, EDITORS

RODALE PRESS                        1992

Chapter 1: Composting Throughout History

• Composting is, in broadest terms, the biological reduction of organic waste to humus. Whenever a plant or animal dies it is reduced to an earthlike substance that forms a beneficial growing environment for plant roots.

The human element

• When we speak of compost and composting we are referring to the process by which we transform organic wastes into a soil building substance for farm, orchard, or garden.

Organic origins

• Composting has been a basis of the organic method of gardening and farming since the days of Sir Albert Howard, father of the organic method.
• Howard found by experiment that the best compost consisted of three times as much plant matter as manure. He devised the Indore method of compost making, in which materials are layered sandwich fashion, then turned (or are mixed by earthworms) during decomposition.
• Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner outlined the principles of biodynamic agriculture in 1924, emphasizing composting as a central practice. Adherents of biodynamics have been highly influential in promoting the idea of gardening in harmony with nature.
• In 1942, J.I. Rodale, pioneer of the organic method in America, assimilated the ideas of Howard and added knowledge gained by further experimentation.
• From 1834 when the great German scientist Justus von Liebig published his classic monograph on agricultural chemistry, agricultural practice became increasingly chemical in nature.
• Even farmers and gardeners who depend heavily and routinely on chemical fertilizers now know of the value of compost and organic matter.

Chapter 2: The Benefits of Compost

• Plants, animals, insects, and people are all inextricably linked in a complex web of interrelationships with air, water, soil, minerals, and other natural resources playing vital roles.
• Compost, too, plays an important role. There is a cycle, a continuity to life.
• Compost is more than a fertilizer, more than a soil conditioner. It is a symbol of continuing life. The greenness of the earth itself is strong testimony to nature’s continuing composting program.
• The compost heap in your garden is an intentional replication of the natural process of birth and death that occurs almost everywhere in nature.
• Because the compost heap is symbolic of nature’s best efforts to build soil, and because compost is the most efficient and practical soil builder, it has become the heart of the organic method of farming and gardening.
• Composting is the single most important task of the organic gardener or farmer because the health of the soil depends on the composting treatment it receives, and success in gardening and farming depends on the health of the soil.
• Compost improves soil texture and structure, qualities that enable soil to retain nutrients, moisture, and air for the support of healthy crops.
• Every gardener knows that compost is valuable – but, until we understand more fully all the benefits of compost, we can never understand why it must be the single most important part of gardening and farming.
• In this chapter, we will examine those benefits more closely.

The great recycler

• Recycling of garden and food wastes is important to a good environment because it is a natural process.
• Composting is a giant step toward recycling waste, conserving energy, and regaining control of our food supplies. Backyard composting is the first step and the easiest.
• Municipal composting – the transformation of a city’s wastes into compost for farm and garden – is the most far-reaching and potentially beneficial of all.

Building soil structure

• Compost builds good soil structure. Good structure allows a soil to breathe and facilitates circulation.
• The higher the humus content, the more moisture a soil can absorb and retain.

Aggregate formation

• Dr. Swathby noticed that some earthworm casts on permanent grassland were more resistant to the disintegration action of thawing snow than were similar casts on nearby wheatland.
• Tests showed that earthworms improved the permanence of aggregation of all soils they devoured. Binding substances were derived as grass roots in the soil passed through the worm.
• What do all the tests mean agriculturally?
• They mean that provision must be made in crop rotations to feed organic matter constantly back into the soil to replace that which is broken down by bacteria. If this is not done, the soil structure will suffer.

Drought protection

• Soil improved with compost holds more moisture. 100 pounds of humus holds 195 pounds of water.

Stopping erosion

• Erosion is often the end result of a gradual loss of soil fertility. Compost helps to build the good structure that encourages optimum fertility and resists erosion. A soil lacking good structure is susceptible to erosion.
• Up to 6 billion tons of soil erode away each year in the U.S. Agricultural activities have been linked to 69% of all erosion. For every pound of food consumed in the U.S, water erodes an estimated 22 pounds of agricultural soil.
• Really fertile soil is very resistant to erosion, particularly wind erosion. Organic matter – especially compost – can play an integral role in the fight against erosion.

Improving aeration

• Aeration is also extremely important to soil health. Without air, soils tend to become alkaline, organic matter content decreases, active humus becomes deactivated, total and active humus content decreases, nitrogen content is reduced, and the carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio is lowered.

Nutrients when plants need them

• Compost is an excellent vehicle for carrying nutrients to your soil and plants. In a well planned and executed composting program, food crops and ornamentals will need no other form of fertilization besides good compost.

Colloids and minerals

• The mineral-holding capacity of colloidal (very tiny) particles is very important to the maintenance of soil fertility. Lack of soil colloids means that minerals are easily leached out by rain.

Neutralizing toxins

• The toxicity of plant poisons becomes less severe in a soil high in humus than in a soil deficient in humus; high salt concentrations are less injurious; and aluminum solubility and its specific injurious action are markedly decreased.

A better buffer

• By adding humus to the soil, compost can help plants overcome soil pH levels that are either too low (acidic) or too high (alkaline). Humus acts as a buffer in the soil.

Welcome worms

• Earthworms, in passing soil and organic matter through their bodies, gradually make acid soil less acid and alkaline soil less alkaline, slowly drawing any out-of-balance soil into the neutral range.

Growth stimulators

• Compost produces compounds that act as growth stimulators.

Chemicals vs. compost

• Chemicals supply major nutrients in quick-release form. Plants obtain fast growth, but long-term benefits are few. To use chemical fertilizers to the neglect of compost is to disregard the soil’s need for life.

Chapter 9: Composting With Earthworms

• If you let them, earthworms will do most of your composting work for you, in the garden, on the farm – or even in your basement.
• Earthworms consume their own weight in soil and organic matter each day, leaving behind the richest and most productive compost known.
• Let loose in a compost heap, worms will quickly reduce it to the finest of humus.
• Most of the information in this chapter comes from The Earthworm Book by Jerry Minnich.

Earthworms in the Indore Method

• Earthworms will naturally be attracted to an Indore compost heap, attacking it from the bottom.
• If the heap is maintained for a year or more in one location, the earth below it will become rich, friable, and loaded with earthworms.
• As the materials in the heap decompose and turn to humus, field worms will advance further up into the heap.
• Worms are killed in the intense heat of 150°F (66°C) of a working compost heap. It takes about 3 weeks after the last materials have been added to a well-constructed heap.
• At this point, dig holes at various points in the heap, and drop 50 to 100 worms in each. About 1,000 worms will inoculate a 4 by 6-foot pile.
• If manure-type worms and their castings were well supplied in manure that went into the heap and have survived the heat, there will be no need to introduce worms from an outside source.
• In a well-tended compost heap, 1,000 reds or brandlers can increase to 1 million in a year or two.
• Manure type worms will do much better in the Indore heap if larger quantities of manure are included in the mixture. Instead of the 2-inch layer usually recommended, add 4 or 6 inches.
• If no manure at all is used, the worms will still have a good chance to thrive, although their progress will be slower.

No-heat Indore composting

• Construct the heap so that it is longer and wider than a normal heap, but only 12 to 18 inches high. Shred all materials as finely as possible, and introduce manure-type worms immediately.
• As the heap will never heat up because of the large surface area, weed seeds will remain viable.

Maintaining the earthworm population

• When removing finished compost for use on garden plots or farm fields, be certain to save a good number of earthworms for future composting operations.
• Earthworms are repelled by light. Remove finished compost to a depth where worms are exposed. Wait for 30 minutes, then take another scalping.
• Continue in this manner until you have removed as much compost as you want. The earthworms have been driven into a compact area at the bottom of the heap.
• Spread out the remaining compost containing the earthworms and cover it with new manure and green matter.

Indoor composting in the winter

• Earthworms can be used indoors in the winter to produce a small amount of compost from kitchen garbage, dust from a vacuum cleaner, even newspapers.
• This method is detailed by Mary Apelhof in her manual Worms Eat My Garbage. 1 square foot of surface area is needed to digest each pound of waste material generated per week.
• Construct a box 2 feet wide, 2 feet long, and 1 foot deep. Provide for drainage and aeration by drilling a half-dozen ⅛-inch holes in the bottom and some more around the sides.
• Place 4 inches of bedding on top of pebbles and wait to ensure heating has finished. Introduce the worms and cover with a moist burlap bag. Keep the bedding moist but never soggy. Use the drippings to water your houseplants.
• If you over feed the worms, the garbage will turn sour. Begin with soft foods, such as cooked vegetables, leftover cereal, vegetable soup, lettuce, bread scraps, soft leaves of vegetables, ice cream, cornmeal, and coffee grounds. Do not use onions, garlic, or other strongly flavoured foods.

Earthworms on the farm

• Henry Hopp and Clarence Slater found some very poor clay subsoil, containing no earthworms and virtually no organic matter, and by adding lime, fertilizers, and manure, grew a modest stand of barley, bluegrass, and lespedeza on two separate plots.
• On one, they left the growth untouched, while on the other they cut the top growth to form a mulch, and added some earthworms to the soil.
• By the following June, the plot containing earthworms was covered with a rich stand of all three crops, while the section without worms supported almost nothing but weeds.
• The total vegetation in the wormed plot was five times that of the wormless one. The plot with worms also had far better water-absorbing and water-holding capacity, and twice as many aggregates – all the result of earth worm action.
• No soil should be left unprotected over winter. Large-scale mulching and sheet composting will protect earthworm populations, and the earthworms will improve the soil structure and crop-growing capacity.