Building Microbe-Rich Living Compost Part 2

Making and applying microbe-rich compost is one of the most valuable things you can do for your soil. Learn how, with Jane Weaver of Earth & Spirit Design, and Pat Battle, for an inspired perspective on how to to make compost that is biologically diverse making it better for your soil, plants and nutrient density of the food you grow. Understand principles and practices of home-scale composting to insure a rodent-free and biologically active compost pile.

[@toxicrune]

We could literally save the planet by making this knowledge available to the world. Thank you for posting. Now to go apply it ! (Hard part)

[@pgjc756]

I Ruth Stout my garden and it is the compost pile. Works amazing. No need to overthink what God is actually growing.

[@timyates807]

Thanks for all the great information , there's so much to learn from your channel . Ive been gardening for a long time and I'm thrilled I've stumbled across it. I just had to subscribe right away. Anyway, thank you very much. Take care.

[@busker153]

One of the hardest things to get my head around is the idea that you do not "feed" your plants. You make compost, and produce compost extracts and compost teas, not to feed your plants, but to dramatically increase the population of good microbes. I have come to think of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes as my labor force, corps of engineers, and special forces defending my plants against other, bad "bugs."

[@busker153]

@@jackluedtke6432 That was a stupid comment to make.

[@seetheforest]

I have worm boxes and compost piles, I use coffee grounds for mushroom cultivation and to keep bugs away.. I've been composting food waste all my life. I have African night crawlers for their high performance eating capabilities. I recently showed a friend a handful of my worms in my box and she was amazed.

[@darrenbetts2987]

I always enjoy your videos but I especially love anything to do with composting. So much so I've made my own videos too. I've added horse manure to woodchips to get them composting quicker.

[@johncourtneidge]

Thank-you! From Littlehampton in England

[@FinznFowl82]

Another good thing about putting urine in the compost pile is it helps to keep animals out

[@TheKoodus]

I loved the first video but I have to make a constructive criticism of this one! I've only made it five minutes in, and I cant help thinking that this process can be made sooo much easier ! A) There is no reason you can't build the compost pile first and then wrap a piece of fence around it. In any manual work you should always avoid lifting things higher than necessary! If there is no fence, you start at ground level and the lifting is progressively more difficult. Having to go over the fence every time with a shovel or bucket is a considerable and unnecessary effort. B) It would be much more practical to have the measurements in wheelbarrows, and use wheelbarrows. Putting the "ingredients" in small buckets for such a big end-product, means much more time and lifting. You have to fill lots of small containers as opposed to one large one which has a wheel to take the weight. You are clearly smart people and have a great passion for soil and compost, I'm a fan. If you make the intention of doing the most work with the least effort, I'm sure you can direct your creativity towards finding ways to make this process less heavy and time consuming!!

[@greenwood4020]

I was thinking along the same lines as you , as it was obvious there was allot of effort being wasted and this method is used in lots of different compost videos. I also agree on the unit being a wheel barrow full, so much more practical and start the pile on the ground with no fence until pile is almost diameter of fence If they cut the wire mesh into three rings, Then it would be easy to fill the first ring as it would only be knee height. Make the second ring slightly smaller so it just fits inside the bottom one and then fill. Similar with the last one slightly smaller again.

[@vonries]

@@greenwood4020 I'm pretty sure they were just demonstrating the ratios. It doesn't matter if you use buckets, wheelbarrows, or 1 gallon ice cream buckets. What matters are how much green to brown to manure, and always remember water.

[@Nurk0m0rath]

I would just like to point out that we aren't talking about stacking concrete blocks here. These are loose materials that will follow the laws of natural slope. While it is possible to pile compost materials loosely and then put a cage around it, it is very easy to overshoot it and not be able to get the cage all the way down. It's much simpler to start with the cage, even if it takes a little more physical exertion. Some people even prefer a solid railing, something you can rest weight on. Also, many people recommend flattening each layer as it's applied, ensuring relatively even distribution of materials to prevent hot spots. That is impossible unless the cage is in place. The idea of a multi-layered cage is much better than operating without a cage, IMHO, but is more difficult to set up. This cage can be a simple hog panel with wire clips or ties on one side. Cutting it into multiple layers would require extra panels/wire, more cutting time, and specialized clips, because tie-wire would be too flimsy to hold the layers together and too time-consuming to set up time and time again.

[@Lochness19]

I don't use wheelbarrows much for gathering composting materials. I mostly use garbage bin lids or baskets or garbage bins when I'm pruning plants, raking up leaves, pulling weeds, etc. They're more practical for gathering those sorts of things and easier to lift up and flip upside down to empty them onto a tall compost pile. I mainly use wheelbarrows for carting around large amounts of heavy materials like wood chip mulch, water and finished compost.

[@genghisconn7770]

Keep watching because then you’d find out that pile is purely illustrative and won’t even be used. The fence is in place so the AUDIENCE can see the layers form clearly.

[@womanwomanhomesteadliasmit2118]

very informative thanks for sharing.

[@FinznFowl82]

I'm learning a lot from you guys and this channel. I grew heirloom tomatoes this year and they were eat up with disease. I didn't realize they were so susceptible. Also my soil stays moist because I'm at the coast, the water table is shallow and we get a lot of rain. So I'm realizing that I need to plant my tomatoes in raised beds and stick to varieties that a disease resistant. I've also wondered why my tomatoes didn't do well in containers and realize that it's probably due to having to water them daily, sometimes twice. I welcome any advice.

[@rosstemple7617]

So kinda lost in the weeds, but still learning. Thinking I’m going to have to listen multiple times to get through the tech talk. I just don’t speak the language. Very very interesting. My ground is full of sand and clay. But my pasture is high in acid. Too many horses for not good soil. Ugh. Trying to find out what to treat my property with that’ll not kill the soil. Any suggestions?

[@erector5953]

Thank you to share accurate information to folk's ! It's so important to combat this information pollution out their !

[@7munkee]

I just throw everything in a pile and turn it every two weeks. Takes a year, but I do it every year and throw it in my raised beds. I cover the beds with mulched leaves in the cold months . By spring thaw I have every kind of insect and worm in my beds/pile that you could imagine. The only issue I have is lack of calcium. I buy a bag on bone meal each spring and sprinkle it over my beds to counter this.

[@trevorprime2274]

Put your banana peels for calcium.

[@BigWesLawns]

Dissolve eggshells in vinegar and turn them into liquid. Instantly available calcium. 1 tbsp : 1 gallon. Add foliar, or drench weekly or if plants look down. Can Add it to compost. Your veggies will be hard and firm and last way longer too for preppers or survival gdns. Lawns will love it too, helps cells resist damage. Dandelions show up to mine calcium where its needed, so I am thinking it may at least reduce them showing up.

[@greenwood4020]

hi Koodz I was thinking along the same lines as you , as it was obvious there was allot of effort being wasted lifting all the ingredients over the top of the wire mesh and this same method is used in lots of different compost videos. I also agree on the unit being a wheel barrow full, so much more practical and start the pile on the ground with no fence until pile is almost diameter of fence If they cut the wire mesh into three rings, Then it would be easy to fill the first ring as it would only be knee height. Make the second ring slightly smaller diameter so it just fits inside the bottom one and then fill. Similar with the last one slightly smaller diameter again.

[@albertbruin4384]

Try your method, you will change your mind.

[@trevorbarnhill8529]

Any experience with mycostop for fusarium wilt? I drenched a crop of tomatoes and saved the entire row that was affected; into further production

[@travissmith-wz5nc]

Living webfarms? I was wondering about woodash and coals from brush biles can be added to compost piles

[@fritzstehr]

Forget the rude orange shirted know-it-all a**hole rudely cutting everyone off. Shawn James explains in 50 minutes about biochar and ashes: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3fEqXxqiZ6Zerc

[@franklingomez5311]

The reason why you would add clay (metal oxides) to compost is because humic acids interact with the functional groups on the surface of these metal oxides particles. This relationship between clays and humic substances creates the most stable soil aggregates known in nature.

[@mamaduck6845]

Can I obtain a copy of how you organically spray stuff? I have bad cucumber beetle problems, then squash bug and vine borer in that order. I have a very large garden for someone who works alone and has a full time job. A lot if the stuff you mentioned I never heard of except the BT which I use with surround. I had used a soap in the past but gave up after little improvement. Maybe I didn’t do it right. I live in upstate NY, 1 hr west of Albany. Feel like I need more knowledge but have so little time and very limited cash.

[@inhomeharvest3505]

Hi...curious what you meant by MacEnroes being all over the place...are they substituting quality for quantity? I only ask bc I just did a 5 hour roundtrip to pick up potting soil from them. thanks.

[@xxpowwowbluexx]

On sourcing leaves, weeds aren’t a problem if you’re hot composting correctly. The weed roots and seeds will be killed in the composting process.

[@paulgaras2606]

I love the Urine comment. He says it and there’s a brief period if stunned silence.

[@ElijahsMimi]

I freeze my scraps then put them in the blender to feed my worms and put in compost.

[@ripoffrecords]

I have collected 3ltr of my urine every day for over 6 years and used it all for compost piles may give you some idea of the volumes lol *I will share these vids with my son who is desperate to make quality compost. I think I prefer making it than explaining it. ..... Plus with food waste worms yeah or make an EM solution (which I use for loads of stuff / toilet cleaner even) and use it in a homemade "bokashi" bin. I put all my food scraps in a 30ltr bucket in my kitchen half full of rain water and add 20 - 40ml of EMs, weigh the scrap down with some cardboard then a plastic pot, then a pizza tray with a brick on top and just let it all ferment. Then I can use it to heat up and enrich piles without it attracting rodents. Bingo dingo ... Plus If you put enough grass clippings in your piles worms you find on your property will love that heap. I only use the worms I breed from my soil - let the microbes do the rest. Plus if you have enough good compost down you wont get slugs or snails - they hate the shit. Im an aborist so I use loads of chip - it can keep a pile aerated and insulated without the need to turn so often - Bingo dingo lol Really you can only learn how to make "good compost" by doing it over and over and over lol Easiest way for noobs is the Berkeley methods with seasoned dry chip and fresh grass clippings imo.

[@heyphilphil]

I love this channel...the information is priceless. But they were gonna build a pile which people need to see....and they didn't? They just stood around and talked? Info is great. but the building of a Elaine Ingham pile would have Been pricless....there are few videos of her info being built in real time in form of building a pile.

[@Emiliapocalypse]

"If you store your urine for any more than a month, then..." then you're a weirdo. Hehe I'm just being silly, but this video and the others from the series are full of useful info, thanks!

[@erector5953]

Urine it's a liquid fertilizer or awesome in compost !

[@xxpowwowbluexx]

😂

[@rebeccalankford2652]

What is the height and diameter for the fencing/cattle panel used to compost? Does it have to be a certain height and diameter?

[@xxpowwowbluexx]

Mushroom growers use sawdust to grow mycelium and mushrooms, so it should be great in a compost bin I would think. Maybe not since you turn it.

[@IowaKeith]

mycelium gets killed in the heating process. its after the piles cool that the mycelium would begin spreading through the pile. I don't think you are supposed to turn the pile very often after the heating process is done. So based off of that (and the fact he admits he now adds woodchips to his piles) i would say that the woodchips do indeed help in the mycelium process.

[@jasonslade1253]

I have a compost pile going and when I opened it up to turn after 4 days temp was reaching 160, the center has white specks throughout. What is it? Pile mainly grass clippings and shredded leaves some food waste.

[@trevorprime2274]

Fungi.

[@hubertyoung1938]

oak is great, rotted oak. Attracts mycelium, lots of fungi, grow mushrooms on oak, so its got to be good for the garden. Ever took a look under the bark of a rotting maple...Sweeet

[@joansmith3492]

Thank you for admitting that kitchen scraps in an open pile will attract rats. I have seen so many you tubers recommending putting kitchen scraps in an open pile. I compost my kitchen scraps in a Joraform insulated tumbler or a hard plastic composter (with a grate bottom).

[@gmaureen]

Rats eat garden vegetables so if you're worried about attracting them don't plant vegetables.

[@erector5953]

That's not what's he said ! In 24 hours the smell will be gone in hot compost ! A heap of scraps will attract not just rats !

[@scottcantdance804]

My neighbor and I found this out the hard way. We each had compost piles, I think his contained yard waste and kitchen scraps, mine contained just yard waste. We both got mice. I think they were primarily eating from his compost pile, but nesting in mine. They may have also been eating bugs that were living in mine. We got rid of our piles, which led the mice to look for food elsewhere. Unfortunately, I had carelessly left a bag of bird seed in my garage, and over a dozen mice took up residence in my garage. Over the course of several days I managed to catch all of them with a "walk the plank" style self-resetting trap, that just dropped them into a trash can until I could release them in a field.

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

Anyone who has access to lots of material look at su Johnson bio reactor make good quality compost and use that to inoculate rest of the compost. Get some manure mix with greens and bark at least one cubic metre and top it off with finished compost that top layer of compost will retain the nasty smells

[@TyroneReynolds-gz3kz]

How do I use chicken manure and sawdust in a forced air system without it compacting? Can I reduce the height to get around the compacting issue? Our current piles are 2m high

[@nightlee11]

Earth Fort? I use to make those all the time as a kid! Seriously, fungi dom compost is “what’s up”. Thanks again for the info

[@ryanayers9097]

How often do you turn to encourage fungal activity. Could you explain this better?

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

ryan ayers I think using more wood chips more fungus

[@shihtzusrule9115]

I didn't see the link for Eathfort for the fungi tea starter. I'm going to buy Trifecta fertilizer off of MIGardener this year, it has the fungal components, rock dust, etc., formulated for no till gardening. I am going to buy a rabbit to get the manure. I am not comfortable with other manures. Will probably either start to feed my kitchen scraps to the rabbit or start some worms. I hate the idea of sending my kitchen scraps to the landfill.

[@merrycontrary3520]

This video is not for beginners. I could not understand half, probably more than half, of what was discussed.

[@ideotek]

This method doesn't really mention the essential difference between cellulose and lignin in brown 'woody' materials. Cellulose is accessible to bacteria, only fungus can break lignin down. So wood chips can't break down much in a bacteria based thermal compost. You can't count buckets of wood in the same ways that you count buckets of straw or veg stems. The theory in this is right on but the practice is all over the place.

[@albertbruin4384]

Imo, the best place for woodchips is on garden paths. I put down brown cardboard or maybe 6 sheets of newsprint (no colored ad slick paper) and 6 inches of chips on top, then moisten it until the paper/cardboard is soaked. the chips will soon settle to 4". Worms show up where there is food. They will come for the paper and then start on the chips. soon you have many worms near the beds and they migrate in. After 2-3 years you can harvest the decayed chips to add to compost and start over. If you only do a few paths yearly in rotation you will always have some available. I use 1" hardware cloth on a 2 x 4 frame to screen out big chips and put them back on the path. This keeps the paths weed free. BTW: This video is not well organized, it wanders. Buy LET IT ROT a small paperback, any edition, cheap used online or at your library.

[@bowmag803]

But what about the ink on the Mail flyers and other papers how will effect it

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

bowmag803 no it’s soy based

[@simonmasters3295]

So 47.57 "we use BT and soap (? Basillus thunbergensis) to control vine weavil [on squash]"

[@edmora7662]

Happy birthday to you.

[@markstevenson9080]

Could a home gardener benefit from using cardboard as a brown input in their compost, please? Thank you!

[@greenwood4020]

Yes. Cardboard works well. If you soak it first it's easy to get tape and plastic labeling off it. Then rip it into small pieces and mix in well.

[@cvestick]

My question is: if worms are bad for microbe-rich soil bc they're full of and covered with bacteria, why should we worm compost? Isn't it harmful?

[@imagreatguy1250]

😌👍

[@jojop2685]

Whats better to use...fresh manure or year old?

[@paullittle5200]

Old,as fresh not only burns plants but takes nitrogen out of the soil as it's decomposing.

[@pastryshack551]

What's the name of the dr on compost tea thank you

[@anvilcollective2600]

How do you get the right bulk density?

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

ANVIL Collective if you got horse stables nearby collect their manure and bedding depending which country your from its free in the uk

[@erector5953]

Refer to the density that rotten wood have it's the perfect spot !

[@d.ave.g5456]

amino acids and calcium

[@hosoiarchives4858]

Where can I learn about what he means by "structure"

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

Hosoi Archives do you mean the pile consistency of the pile so mixing greens browns etc so it maintains air and does not compact it too much. So construct pile well that when you put a thin rod in it goes in without too much effort

[@kenbellchambers4577]

The compost should be of a slightly coarse texture so some air spaces are maintained. This is much easier to show you than to explain. Too large sized pieces allow excessive evaporation, and too small size of the pieces cause anaerobic conditions and other problems. Hay and grass, i.e. fiber, allows quick transport of mycelium throughout the heap. Small pieces of material which have cavities act as mini-mushroom cellars, sawdust is very absorbent, and suppresses odours. These are all structural considerations that are employed for optimum conditions.

[@hosoiarchives4858]

@@kenbellchambers4577 Fantastic response, thanks

[@kenbellchambers4577]

Sorry but that is not correct procedure. The sticks are five times too large with hardly any absorbent surfaces, the bark on the sticks is impervious.Then you have added coarse green grass, more nitrogen with already too much manure, and the materials are again with very little surface and what is there is, is non absorbent. This means that runny stinky manure is going to run onto the ground. for a bucket of wet manure, you need about two or three buckets of sawdust, plus several buckets more of dry leaves or straw at a bare minimum, or even more wood chips to absorb the manure. Sawdust mixed with wood chips and dry leaves or dry straw, or pine needles mixed or layered go down first. If you don't have sawdust or wood chips, you will need several buckets more of straw, dry leaves etc. You want to absorb all of the runoff. Always be considerate of absorbency and structure when adding nitrogen. I have made thousands of tonnes of compost, all hand turned, and I am sharing fifty years of experience and the way you are beginning is very unsatisfactory. You are asking for bad smells and flies. Your carbon ratio is far too low.The manure you have dumped in is enough for the entire full cage. You are running less than a one to one ratio, but the correct ratio is thirty to fifty parts dry absorbent carbon, to one part nitrogen. I also must add that cages make your work much harder than necessary.You have to lift every thing, and spreading is harder than it needs to be. It is disheartening to see the blind leading the blind. No one is going to follow this, it stinks, and it will not work. At least it will not work well, at worst it will be a vermin trap for weeks. You need to get a couple decades of experience before instructing others. Composting is probably the greatest of arts, not a slap dash operation.

[@fritzstehr]

The orange shirted know-it-all pushy a**hole took over after part one with his slap dash nonsense.

[@kenbellchambers4577]

@@fritzstehr Don't know who you are referring to, Fritz, but if it is my comment above, it is based on a massive amount of experience. I address these issues so learners will have an easier time and get better results, not to be over-critical. Composting is basically a simple process, but very few people have the patience to do it well. All too often people post information based on little or no actual experience, and when others use these false teachers they are disappointed and give up. I would guess that you know absolutely nothing at all about composting and are a simpleton with nothing better to do than post inane comments. Apologies if you are talking to someone else.

[@tappet1000]

What about echoli

[@simonmasters3295]

E coli? You walk around with trillions inside you. Do you mean we should be concerned about antibiotic resistant E coli? If you do then I would say hot composting is likely to destroy the E coli and metabolise the antibiotic, redistributing its carbon and nitrogen. E coli is hardly a human pathogen, more realistically a human symbiont.

[@vegomatic100]

Ellie May shoveled that manure like a champ.🤢

[@songyardbird2513]

IMHO This is really crazy. Composting is a very intuitive art form. This vedio is off putting and excluding to farmers and gardeners. This vedio provides no solid or usable information and NO instruction. The speakers use confusing and excluding terminology with no foundation for viewers understanding. I bury my kitchen waste daily right in my yard/garden and my compacted areas. My waste turns right into compost/soil in about 3 weeks in the summer and I have no rats. My ground is full of worms - not night-crawlers - and nematodes and my plants flourish. The soil is rich and dark. You people are making a natural and easy process into something that makes people give up. Look around and get your guidance from nature around and do as nature does. you does. And btw I have loads of Black Walnut trees and the juglone is emitted from the black walnut tree roots, fallen nuts, leaves and branches. It does not “go away” I just grow the things that tolerate the presence of this chemical emitted by the black walnut tree.

[@stebarg]

What's happening here, guys? Not so much. Some action missing here. 😁 Too much talking.

[@sweetvuvuzela4634]

Stefan 🕺🏼💃💃💃🕺🏼

[@scottieonedrop]

Anaerobic is as beneficial as aerobic, maybe do a little more homework. I rarely use aerobic at all, that is everywhere, easily obtained. Nobody likes the stinky stuff, but I'll take it all, my plants love it.

[@diannebennett8200]

Interesting comment. So they indicated that anerobic pile is full of deadly bacterias. My compost bin is about to be disposed of because it is anerobic I think. The issue with creating enough heat in my tumbler has caused this. I've added things like oak leaves, tea leaves, coffee, egg shells, waste from my yard, but it's just not heating up. I added blood meal and compost starter and still it didn't get hot. I have lots of bugs in it. Like morphed flies, white little skinny worms, and all kinds of living organisms. I'm just now afraid to use it because it might kill what I want to help.

[@tappet1000]

What if you just pile up grass cuttings and they get hit and rit. Drops this make good compost?

[@tappet1000]

What oxalate that you sprayed on for light blate?

[@tappet1000]

Did you spray the whole plant with the tea. Did you mix find emulsion?

[@tappet1000]

What is bt?

[@1tuinman]

Unfocused

[@K1LD3R]

1tuinman seems to me that this is an open and spacious learning forum. I dont believe that the intent of these videos are about concise facts, but a hollistic approach taking all observations, thoughts, wonderings and experiences into account.

[@hosoiarchives4858]

It's ok

[@hubertyoung1938]

help those ladies out dude....ssshh

[@wertiaaudit5746]

glhf

[@busker153]

Compost tea is a crap shoot, as he said. Until you buy a microscope and learn how to use it. Then, making compost tea is a completely reliable means of benefitting your farming efforts. If you are not using a microscope, in my opinion, you are not a real farmer. Not in 2021 anyway!

[@busker153]

@@yx5881 Do you want the best results possible? Do you want the most reliable results possible? If so, you use all the tools and knowledge available to you. It really is that simple. Of course things grow well without our inputs. God is obviously an amazing designer. But, He designed His world such that, left alone, it will function one way. But, with a little knowledge and effort, man can do things to make "nature" more serviceable to man. Knowing God, and knowing why He created in the first place, makes it a whole lot easier to understand how things in this world really work.

[@busker153]

@@yx5881 Because that is what God does, is where I stopped reading. You need to learn what paragraphs are if you want anyone to read your long posts. So, as for what God does, please tell me when you met God? Tell me the story of how you came to personally meet Jesus Christ. Until then, you can stop telling me what my best friend does. My best friend does a lot of things. He has a lot of things set up to function in ways that reflect whether we are generally sinning, or generally doing things the way He leads. So, the way God lets things grow in the natural results is one thing, and it is designed to be far less than useful to the service of mankind. To be useful, God says we must do something. Remember, the True and Living God planted a garden in the middle of a wild growing nature, and told Adam to "tend it." That means that the natural way God designed things to grow was NOT the way God wanted things to grow. God created us for relationship with Him. Everything that does not funnel into that is not Truth. I hope you meet Jesus Christ yourself real soon. If you want me to comment on anything else you have to say, feel free to leave an intelligently written reply.

[@busker153]

@@yx5881 I read the very beginning of your other way too long, and obnoxiously unbroken up, comment to me. I did not read any of this comment. When I hear your story, and am persuaded that you actually KNOW God yourself, then I will consider you qualified to speak on spiritual topics. Until then, you are wasting your time...ONLY YOUR TIME...not mine. Tell me how you met Jesus Christ, or stop pretending that you know anything at all of any value or worth to anyone alive on the planet today. The fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING of wisdom. Until I see any evidence that you know the Lord, I have to assume that you are totally void of any intellectual, or spiritual, value whatsoever.

[@josanders1428]

This is gross.

[@bradhon9825]

Wtf fake 😢

[@bradhon9825]

You're wasting my time right now