Extreme Composting

ChristieAcres · #**2321** 04/09/13, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forerunner

Strawberries, especially....... blackberries too.

I have no experience with blueberries, so don't know their preferences.....

Your Blueberries are acid lovers, so they would be fine, although you wouldn't want to mulch too thick around the base of them (they are also shallow rooted). I add mulch of wood chops from Evergreens, as it adds more acid (mixed with the needles).

am1too · #**2322** 04/09/13, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CesumPec

Are you sure he isn't going on about persistent herbicides? Or parasiticides?

OK persistent herbicides. Opps

CesumPec · #**2323** 04/10/13, 03:17 AM

Persistent herbicides are a real problem. Here's a site for a commercial compost seller who explains the problem and how much it cost them. Since the herbicide is sprayed on pasture and can survive a journey which includes haying, a trip thru the horse, a stay in a hot compost pile, and then 3 more years of sitting in the garden, these herbicides are pure Big Ag chemical evil.

Maybe someone with more knowledge than me knows of a viable strategy, but I don't see how you can avoid the stuff if you import hay or manure except by luck.

http://www.greenmountaincompost.com/...es-fact-sheet/

RomeGrower · #**2324** 04/10/13, 07:25 AM

Great. I'll get back to the piles again and spread the love. It's bugging me that the piles shrink though. I'm starting to want to go back to the sale barn again.

Forerunner · #**2325** 04/10/13, 09:11 AM

"Starting to want to"......"

You mean you, like, stopped wanting to......at some point ?

This is a really bad sign.

Paquebot · #**2326** 04/10/13, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RomeGrower

Great. I'll get back to the piles again and spread the love. It's bugging me that the piles shrink though.

When your manure piles shrink, what you are losing is water. As they shrink, they become richer as the nutrients are less diluted and that's a good thing.

Martin

RomeGrower · #**2327** 04/10/13, 09:42 AM

Ok, I never stopped wanting to, but I now mean REALLY wanting to and trying to figure out how to get a truck again for a day since my son is in Athens at college still. Can I borrow yours FR?

PQ I'm glad to hear we're getting richer by the day!

Forerunner · #**2328** 04/10/13, 09:45 AM

My tractors and dump wagons are available for any of ya'll willing to make the trip.

RomeGrower · #**2329** 04/10/13, 10:14 AM

Hmm. Gas for coming from Illinois to Georgia kind of kills that idea. We would make good neighbors though I think. Thanks for the offer.

Forerunner · #**2330** 04/10/13, 10:37 AM

I offered the use of my wood chipper to Cesum-P a few weeks back, and he had the same lame excuse.

RomeGrower · #**2331** 04/10/13, 11:08 AM

Well how about we just take over a State somewhere with all of us homesteaders so we can share things better and preserve what God has given us to use on this earth. That might be a good new thread you think?

am1too · #**2332** 04/10/13, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CesumPec

Persistent herbicides are a real problem. Here's a site for a commercial compost seller who explains the problem and how much it cost them. Since the herbicide is sprayed on pasture and can survive a journey which includes haying, a trip thru the horse, a stay in a hot compost pile, and then 3 more years of sitting in the garden, these herbicides are pure Big Ag chemical evil.

Maybe someone with more knowledge than me knows of a viable strategy, but I don't see how you can avoid the stuff if you import hay or manure except by luck.

http://www.greenmountaincompost.com/...es-fact-sheet/

So the real issue is what these chemicals do to plants and not what they do to animal or human life. So far I found nothing to indicate adverse affects unless absurd amount are present.

YamahaRick · #**2333** 04/10/13, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RomeGrower

Well how about we just take over a State somewhere with all of us homesteaders so we can share things better and preserve what God has given us to use on this earth. That might be a good new thread you think?

RG, I've been actively looking for land in nearby Gordon County to start my own operation. Maybe down the road, via growth, we can take over all the remaining undeveloped land in these two counties. As you know, it is disappearing quickly.

RomeGrower · #**2334** 04/10/13, 01:02 PM

That would be cool. This is a beautiful part of Georgia and a pretty nice place to live.

Forerunner · #**2335** 04/10/13, 02:09 PM

That thread might encompass an entire website, were we to do the subject justice.

RomeGrower · #**2336** 04/10/13, 02:29 PM

You're pretty articulate. That might be a good idea. I don't know how the government would look at it. Probably like a compound of extremists or something.

Paquebot · #**2337** 04/10/13, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by am1too

So the real issue is what these chemicals do to plants and not what they do to animal or human life. So far I found nothing to indicate adverse affects unless absurd amount are present.

About 10 years ago on a soil forum, there was a long thread about the potential danger of anything which could be composted. In the end, there was nothing which could be guaranteed to be 100% safe.

Martin

Oswego · #**2338** 04/10/13, 02:50 PM

I will keep getting my cow manure from the Organic milk dairy to keep from getting unknown bad things in my compost. Mixed with sawdust that should be about as safe as I can get.

Paquebot · #**2339** 04/10/13, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oswego

I will keep getting my cow manure from the Organic milk dairy to keep from getting unknown bad things in my compost. Mixed with sawdust that should be about as safe as I can get.

If a cow on an Organic dairy farm gets sick, are they left to die or given an antibiotic? If given any such medication, is their manure still Organic?

Martin

Trisha in WA · #**2340** 04/10/13, 07:31 PM

Martin, they are treated and sold or sold to be treated elsewhere. They are no longer able to stay in the milk string on an organic farm.