The Rural Voice, 1985-07, Page 29Visitors to Oak Manor Farms' organic farming day were told that making a
compost is central to the style of farming which tries to avoid the use of
chemical fertilizers. As the visitors watched large tractors with loaders move
the manure -based compost, they were told that this method is not the most
efficient way to compost. Technology has provided an efficient machine
designed strictly for compost turning, but the cost of such a machine is pro-
hibitive, says Joe Smilie, a farmer and consultant. If there were more
organic farmers in the area, it would justify the establishment of a custom
operator, but to date, organic farmers are too rare. As a result, composting
stilt requires a great deal of time, labour, and equipment, which makes it
less economical for large scale farmers to compost than to buy fertilizer,
Smilie says. "But we know where fertilizer takes us, and we don't want to
go there," he adds.
acre, the compost improves fertility
and tilth and builds up humus.
You can use too much compost, he
cautions. Oak Manor Farms applied
compost at this rate for soybeans
once, and received lush plant growth
but few beans. This rate does,
however, work well for corn and
other crops, he says.
Every compost is different depen-
ding upon the manure, vegetable
materials, milling residue, and other
materials used.
"There is a heated debate around
the hot compost heap," Gary Lean
jokes. If a compost is too hot and too
dry, it could cause a fire. If it is simp-
ly too hot, it causes anaerobic (no -air)
conditions, or it can mineralize. If the
compost is not hot enough, it inhibits
positive microbic action. The ideal
temperature, according to Lean, is
between 50 and 60°C (110 to 114°F).
If you can put your hand in the pile
and keep it there without burning it,
the compost should be all right, Lean
suggests.
Ironically, the compost pile at Oak
Manor Farms, used in a demonstra-
tion for more than 100 people, was
too hot. The compost was so hot that
it was steaming. In order to lessen the
heat, large equipment was used to
physically move the material into
lower, smaller piles. If excess heat
persists, the material can be packed to
reduce the temperature. Adding soil
or old compost is another solution to
high temperatures, Smilie says.
With the time and cost involved in
preparing the compost, and in this
case, cooling the material, Smilie says
it would be cheaper to buy a bag of
fertilizer. "But we know where that
takes us, and we don't want to go
there."
The ideal compost should be
crumbly in texture and capable of be-
ing formed into a ball, but should not
be wet enough to release liquid. It
should be black -brown in colour with
some white spots (not mould), and
should smell earthy, not musty, not
manure -like, not sour, and not sewer -
like, Lean says. The exact physical
makeup of the compost varies accor-
ding to its intended use.
Many farmers' conventional aim is
simply to get their manure on the land
and get it covered. There is usually
high nitrogen loss in conventional
manure applications, and also a
greater chance of contamination of
ground water through leeching. Com-
posting is more environmentally safe
and provides more nitrogen value,
Lean says.
The use of composts helps to limit
hisex
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