SOIL STORIES with Dr. David Johnson & Hui-Chun Su Johnson

[@jinaoneill328]

Wow, what a fantastic job on this presentation 👏 .🎉❤ Well done ❤🎉😂

[@flatsville1]

People who have never lived in farm country do not understand how a 3 point system on a tractor works or the variety of attachments available. Injecting into a furrow means spaying into the furrow created by the tractor some liquid under pressure that is held in a tank on one of the attachments. Furrowing, injection & seeding & covering can all happen at the same time with the correctly rigged attachments. Here's a vid of a no-till seeder/drill being used to rehab a grassland/pasture. There is no injector component rigged. With the right set up, the farmer could inject the extract under pressure into the furrow as it is discced & the seed dropped/drilled in before being covered. kzbin.info/www/bejne/opK2lHaMq9mkn8k There are numerous KZbin Vids showing the field injection process on tractor equipment. Some are tightly shot in slow motion so you can see the action at near ground level. Dr Johnson also has a video on a DIY pick-up truck based sprayer system that can be used on a field.

[@TS-vr9of]

41:00 The guy that was skeptical of the comparison of the grassland and the bare desert, saying it might have been a rainy season vs a dry season pic. remember that Alexandro has increased the number of cattle on his ranch by 5 times during this 10 year time period and he feed zero protein supplements. He is definitely growing taller healthier grass plants and growing more plants per square meter.

[@richy7tube]

Maybe I'll build another one at the top of my property where the irrigation water comes in. That way I can make additional applications once a week by putting in a shovel full of compost into the irrigation ditch and let the flood water extract it and spread it out.

[@flatsville1]

I can assure you from experience, your worms will DIE if frozen. They begin dying at 40°F. As spec built, the reactor doesn't have enough mass to keep them warm outdoors anywhere the weather is is below 32°F for any extended period. The reactor is a big stand up worm bin, so treat it as a vermicompost bin for temp purposes and follow the watering regimen. And in my case one pile also went hrdrophobic due to an extended cold, dry & windy winter. Outdoors is not a great place for these reactors unless you are in at least the sub-tropics...though it can freeze in FLA.

[@tehvan1741]

Where can I send analysis samples from my bioreactor in Hawaii to get feedback on microbial diversity and fungal hyphae

[@xx7101]

Earthfort in oregon

[@Sculptables]

I have just built a home use bioreactor 5foot x 5foot x 4foot high. 14 cinder blocks around the base lets in air all round the bottom. Nine 1" poly pipe upright tubes are all joined at ground level using tee pieces that extend horizontal pipes to the cinder block holes. All the pipes have 5/8" holes right through, every 6". The pipes will stay in. The sides are corrugated steel sheets. The 4 corners are open enough. When the heap settles, the sides will become aerated horizontally as the compost slides down and becomes out of previous alignment with the corrugations. Less side evaporation. Electric company tree clearing contractor mulch has been used as the fill because of the wide variety of trees chipped. 35degrees in two days. My microscope in on the way. I am going to collect excess water from the horizontal tubes and check with the microscope to see how quick I can get compost tea. Auto watering is coming.

[@nmhealthysoil]

Cool!

[@charlienatera467]

I live in the city will the water affect the bioreactor

[@JohnAPerazzo]

So do I. Observing the obvious difference the plants exhibit after a rain, I began bubbling at least the chlorine off in 30 to 40 gallon trash cans for at least a day. Now I've obtained in-line RV carbon filters for the hoses. We'll see how that goes. I've yet to build our reactor. We've been composting in some form or another for at least 50 years. This bioreactor is our next step forward. Peace.

[@richy7tube]

I have a large pit in my yard. I think I'll take advantage of that and build the bio reactor in there.

[@tray2637]

earth worms or red wigglers/composting worms? How many? Is a composted pile without worms equal in fungi and bacteria as one without? Does an increase in worms increase the speed of compost reaching the "finished state" or is the growth of fungi independent of the worm castings. Is pipe diameter set in stone or can larger or smaller be substituted to provide the proper distance to air pathways?

[@nmhealthysoil]

Red wrigglers are usually used in the Johnson-Su. Your other great questions would warrant a citizen science project -start a couple of different bioreactors, with and without worms and check how quickly maturity is reached and if there is a difference in the fungi to bacteria rate! Are you up for it?

[@Sculptables]

Have you noticed what the soil is like under the reactor after the year? Can excess drips be collected from under the reactor, to be used as compost tea?

[@nmhealthysoil]

Have not heard of anyone collecting seepage as you would from a wormbox. The bioreactor sits off the ground on a pallet and I have not seen any moisture seeping out from under it.

[@julieheath6335]

The goal is to keep moisture at 70%. At this wetting rate, you are not waterlogged and therefore no "worm pee" dripping. There is air in the system along with the moisture, and that's a critical input for Johnson-Su composting.

[@richy7tube]

I'm wondering how this might change my sauerkraut. I hopeful that it would improve it.

[@nmhealthysoil]

READ MORE about the Johnson-Su system and join the growing global community of bioreactor builders at the CENTER FOR REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE AND RESILIENT SYSTEMS www.csuchico.edu/regenerativeagriculture/bioreactor/index.shtml