Johnson Su Compost (What we have learned in 2022)

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[@TheodoreZimmer-kv9or]

Thank you for making all these informative videos. I've always wanted to farm but could never justify the startup cost. But no watching your videos makes me really excited to get out of the Army and start a farm up in South Dakota.

[@youngredangus6041]

That’s really awesome Theodore! What part of SD?

[@TheodoreZimmer-kv9or]

@@youngredangus6041 North Central SD in the town of Mobridge. 2 hours north of Piere and 2 hours south of Bismark ND.

[@johnthomas5806]

there is a gentleman from either North/South Dakota who has lots of experience with farm management practices..maybe YRA knows his name...Gabe somebody...

[@youngredangus6041]

@@johnthomas5806 Gabe Brown

[@youngredangus6041]

Email me when you get out of the Army we can Brian storm on how to get you started

[@adventuresintheoutback4344]

Best information I have found on KZbin!! Thank you! This is awesome. 🙏

[@mirsidorov5112]

I want to say a big thank you for sharing this information, and all the work you do, if i could, i would shake your hand and give you a big hug.

[@slaplapdog]

Humble and informative. Thank you!

[@youngredangus6041]

Thanks!

[@bennywalsh2038]

As usual, fantastic vid, Jay. I was wondering about Grazon/aminopyralids, and darn, you covered it. I saw somewhere where the gardener suggested testing your compost by test planting something like tomato seeds/ plants and seeing if they are affected, in a short amount of time.

[@prahe86]

Thank you for sharing this great information

[@youngredangus6041]

Thank You!

[@troyriley239]

Always good stuff! Looking forward to your content in 2023.

[@youngredangus6041]

Troy I really appreciate all your encouragement! It really means a lot.

[@ziggypop6682]

Very informative! Thank you Jay!!! ❤ :)

[@youngredangus6041]

Thank you

[@expat2023]

From 🇷🇺 with ❤️!

[@KoliaOstenbaken]

Thank you friend! Valuable information and wonderful experience. Your work inspires people all over the world! Prosperity to you and your business. With great respect from Russia. ​

[@youngredangus6041]

Thanks

[@liknbikn]

Jay, this was the most helpful KZbin video I have ever watched! THANK YOU!!!🎉

[@youngredangus6041]

Wow Dean thanks for the encouragement

[@jacknissen6040]

most excellent! tks

[@johnthomas5806]

my findings when useing straight grass clippings is to let the grass dry out before putting it into the bio-reactor and then wetting it throughout so that the worms will love to move there and eat it completely...

[@johnnylaan2775]

awesome stuff bro

[@arlisnarusberk]

Thank you

[@dankopacz895]

I have learned so much from these videos. Thanks for sharing your information. I have a couple of ideas I have been thinking about to simplify the prices of using compost. I plan to start making compost this year after we thaw out. Have you considered just placing the compost on the ground about one foot deep and then harvesting it that way off the ground with a skidsteer. Also why not just spread the compost directly rather than making an extract. Seems the concepts would still work but wanted to tap into your expertise. I would really appreciate your advice.

[@TheOnlyKeyz]

Bro....I respect this soon damn much.

[@phillip2111]

I appreciate you sharing with us your experiences, I would like to start some this spring so I really need it to be a success so I can go into 2024 planting season saving a ton of money not needing urea! Wish I could buy some ready to go in 2023!

[@jkirchoff7827]

Not sure where you are located. Check out the sponsor of the video Fed N Happy.

[@phillip2111]

@@jkirchoff7827 central part of WI

[@johnthomas5806]

YRA has stated that he is in process of making more then he needs, plus mentions a firm that sells ready-made compost....

[@rodneygraham2447]

Thank you so much for these posts and more than that, having Our Lord and Saviour your first love. I am excited to build a bioreactor and get started! Do you layer your composting material as you put it into the bio reactor, are corn stalks shredded? Thanks so much

[@TheGardenerNorth]

Great video! I'm going to be starting Johnson Su Bio-Reactors this spring and your three tiered reactor seems to be the one I need to try, with me being the Chief, Cook and Bottle Washer, it makes it more feasible in my situation. Cheers!

[@youngredangus6041]

Awesome Where are you from and what materials are you going to use?

[@TheGardenerNorth]

@@youngredangus6041 Just north of the town of Athabasca, Alberta. As we have just purchased our property and are somewhat new to the area, I need to source the local materials. Our focus is definitely not large scale farming like yours, but more market based. My initial base materials are going to be local manures and hopefully organic wheat/oat/rye straw. I'll be making my own wood chips off my own property as there's not a lot of arborist companies active around me. With that being said, ideally I'll be planting and using crops like rye, corn, barley, (less the grain) and root crops to utilize as feed stock , this year, for my reactors. I have composted before on a much smaller scale, but now watching and listening to you I know I need to be careful and mindful of the carbon/nitrogen/moisture levels. My first initial project is to establish a vermicomposting system in order to support my bio-reactors which is amongst other things challenging, being just weeks into a winter move. Cheers!

[@evinhesab9046]

Very informative. Thanks for the tests and records. It is the first video of yours. Glad to see. I can only suggest you to put the numbers on visuals. Saw the word folder just for a sec. Would be nice to see them to remember easier. I can also complain about the speed but we can always reduce it and can be related with my relativly lower familarity to your language.

[@farmfacts4664]

Very informative, thanks for sharing, Have you tried anything to speed it up i mean if we want to make it on large scale and 1 year is a long duration if we need it quick. ? Another one have you tried adding any fungus to compost to make process quick like the imo liquid from knf or Trichoderma?

[@jacknissen6040]

i have been considering feedstock texture. woodchips could do very well in keeping open pores and allowing air to circulate. When earthworms start to work through the pile it may sink down more. so i reason that chips could support open pores and manure could provide feed for earthworms. where to find more “recipes “ ? much appreciated. this vid is a keeper !!!

[@justinsherer462]

Jay when I grow up I want to be just like you and grow a beard just like yours!

[@billiebruv]

And you should listen to The Beards too

[@RubberDuckStyle]

Try putting more holes to keep it cooler. That's why they put the holes to control temp.

[@Horse237]

Alfalfa is recommended by Graeme Sait, an Australian farmer. You need 30 pounds of alfalfa per bioreactor. It gives you iron in your compost. He also recommends 6% volcanic rock salt. The best wood chips would be ramial which are from branches, twigs and leaves. More nutrients. I would recommend coffee grounds for worms so they can give you completed amino acids.

[@youngredangus6041]

Hey thanks for the feedback. Who is this guy? Do you have a video to share? What every I do I want to be able to replicate ot

[@audreybarnes6527]

Sait is in Australia, he's an agronomist with a farm and a team of trainers. He recommends Alfalfa when you want to boost your earthworm population with an explosion of protazoa within a compost tea. I wouldn't use any ingredients that weren't clean ie. what at we applied? Ramial woodchips would increase the likelihood of sustained heat.

[@stevesimpson7409]

Nutrition farming podcast well worth a listen, keep up the great work 👍

[@evoliveoil]

@@audreybarnes6527 Web site link?

[@tomtibbits4423]

I wonder if composting material that has been raised in soils higher in fungus and bacteria has any difference?

[@thegoonsquad4914]

What ratio of red wigglers do you recommend for given volume of Johnson-Su compost?

[@hansscholte5472]

Jay, thank you! Great stuff how you setup all this. Can you maybe tell something how you apply the compost to your soil? Does every acre get the same? What about tilling your soil? KR Hans

[@peaksoil]

Hans, check a few of Jay's earlier videos ... great info on how to make compost extracts and apply at drilling/sowing.

[@hansscholte5472]

@@peaksoil thank you! I’ll check it

[@brendengood482]

Jay, thanks for the continuing valuable clear information! For foliar feeding crops, maybe specifically perennials, is compost extract the best bet or is compost tea better? Would like ramp up alfalfa production as well as soil health in season. Thanks

[@youngredangus6041]

I havnt done Tea yet. I will caution you. The danger in the tea is if you ramp up the biology too much you can plug nozzles when you spray

[@brendengood482]

@@youngredangus6041 okay, do you know of others that are using the compost extract as foliar? Your interview with John a couple yr ago was very helpful as well.

[@youngredangus6041]

@@brendengood482 Yes I’m going to have Cory Miller on KZbin live he has been using foliars. He will be on the last Wednesday in January

[@brendengood482]

@@youngredangus6041sounds good, there isn't much that doesn't get covered on Young Red Angus! Keep up the good work! And God in the center of it all!

[@youngredangus6041]

@@brendengood482 Thanks Man! I’m loving it. This verse is my driving force this year “The LORD’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” ‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭3:22-23‬ ‭NASB

[@jonmcmanus3998]

Hi Jay, I love want you have done and where you have come from. How would you over come the problem of the water source being mains fed and loaded with chlorine/chloromine

[@kenovercast3335]

I sure enjoy what you share. Thanks. I've got a question. The only place we have to store our reactors where they won't freeze will be in a spot that has a ceiling too low to be able to pull the tubes back out. Do you think the compost will be stable enough that after we start them outside and are able to remove the tubes, we can then move them into storage without the air passages collapsing? Thanks. PS: I don't have a clue how you find the time to make these videos and then respond to all these crazy questions with all you've got going on. You must have married very well. 😊

[@youngredangus6041]

Lol! Love this Yes make it out side and pull the tubes the next day (It should work) (Time management)

[@thomasadams9346]

Thank you Jay for videos. I am just about to make my first Johnson Su bioreactors. One question do we have keep them moist right through to harvesting. ie can just squeeze water out with your fist? Many thanks.God Bless you. Tom Adams,Banbury, Central England,UK

[@youngredangus6041]

I am currently watering every other day. The compost is 11 months old. Make sure it isn’t too dry Make sure water isn’t running out the bottom

[@michelbisson6645]

Thank you for sharing, What is the acidity of your compost over time with this material mix? We have assemble 30 johnson su reactors up to now using corn residue mix with leafs and cow manure,and we add about 15% biochar in the mix....to.weight of filled reactors about 1800 lb at 70% humidity temperature went up rapidly for one week and a half but not over 140 F we have receive our night crowler today, the first red wigler seemed to work, we respect carefully the design Dr Johnson and Dr Su recomandation in their videos. but next week we will receive more material we want to make at least 150 bioreactors, the material in the reactors drop fast so we replenish it after putting the pvc pipe back ...We are waiting for many things mainly calcium , we hear worm like it,and some molasses to not more than 1 tea spoon per gallon of water we use rainwater as we have 30 000 tanks who collect roof water, plus we fraction water electro magnetically to, as some of this compost will go in orchards calcium is very important...We do it in a 7 level building temperatur always between 55 and 60 degree F. We didn t test ratio fungi to bacteria yet, we received the kit but not used it yet.....We like micorrhizae fungi but we analyse other fungis to who are important for plant health, Mr Ingham make interesting discussion about it.We are ordering 100 tons of dried sea weed to and potatoe powder.

[@dharmendargr8544]

Thank you for sharing great information! I would like to know the quality of the end product if only wood chips are used for composting. And secondly during the set up is there any need for inoculating the starter material with certain commercially available fungal species? Thanks in advance!

[@youngredangus6041]

I think of you can get some verma compost from Fed’NHappy it would be a good way to start your pile. You can also get mushroom from around your own area

[@Dampflanze]

Tripple stack approach makes a lot sense.Let allone the shitty ground sheet you don´t have to rip by taking the whole thing apart. For cold you might ask shepards for wool to wrap around.

[@youngredangus6041]

Have you made any bioreactors? How did they turn out?

[@Dampflanze]

@@youngredangus6041 Made one. I didn´t have enough water at the spot to continiously keep it moistt. So 1/4 turned anaerobic. I am looking for an alternative to the plastic ground sheet. You have all the parts in your compost once you cut it or it gets ripped. Do you think it also works if you cut a rebar mat into three parts and stack them? oh and for the wool that came up as I don´t have a shed or a warm place to store it so to say.

[@soniajabbar3726]

How big is your shed and how much compost are you making a year?

[@youngredangus6041]

30 by 40 ft I made 9 bins this past year planning on doing more

[@chrissmithgall5213]

How many lbs of compost does it take per acre when you make your tea? And how do you remove the worms that you add? What strategies do you use when the pile cows anaerobic? And at what temperature do you add the worms and roughly how many? Thanks for the videos and opening our eye's to change

[@youngredangus6041]

I’m only going to apply tea through the pivot. I havnt researched how much we will need yet. We extract the compost with most the worms in it and then save the left over compost and put it on farm ground or take the spent compost to make another bio reactors with the worms in it When the temperature drops to 80 degrees we add worms. 100

[@bobthrasher8226]

How do you add the worms? Do you drop them down the holes or put them on the top of the pile or both?

[@youngredangus6041]

Just the top

[@randyschnebbe]

How did you break down your corn stalks?

[@youngredangus6041]

We have a bail processor and a wood chipper

[@stanleychavez5790]

Doesn't the compost loose nitrogen when it gets to hot?

[@enchantedmushroomsfarm]

My theory is that once your reactor reaches temperatures above 150f that’s a symptom of not enough airflow. I believe that temperatures that high only bad bacteria can survive. We cultivate a number of mushroom species and see this occur when external temps are to warm. Thermal mass is the variable here.

[@youngredangus6041]

Thanks for the feedback I’ll find out when I send samples off the the lab

[@enchantedmushroomsfarm]

@@youngredangus6041 you got an email? Want to bounce some ideas off you.

[@robmitchke8034]

In my experience, excess water can also cause temps to spike excessively high. I've noticed this from making IMO-3 and IMO-4 piles.

[@KyleDunnIt]

Using a bladder instead of fabric seems like it would really limit air exchange, making it quite a divergence from what Johnson-Su preaches. Have you tested a finished product from that design and compared it to their baseline?

[@mattcantrell5640]

This is a comment I had for him previously also. By closing off all the external surface area, you limit an extreme amount of air exchange. The whole reason for the holes in the bottom and the tubes in the interior of the Johnson-Su reactor is to increase the surface area for air exchange and limit the distance to air for any point inside the reactor to 12" or less (the "magic" number they saw necessary from their research. I presume that this is the reason he has struggled with anaerobic issues.

[@gekkobear1650]

@@mattcantrell5640 do you think it could be fixed by drilling some holes in the sides of the bladder?

[@mattcantrell5640]

@@gekkobear1650 It would help, yes. Search for the actual Johnson-Su build--they use a breathable fabric.

[@slaplapdog]

I wonder if a liquid source of nitrogen would be a good way to goose a cool pile. I add urine to my home scale compost, but that is obviously not going to work at scale. The obvious danger is making it too wet.

[@audreybarnes6527]

One of the main principles of the bioreactor is all the ingredients are mixed and set aside in one day. If you don't get the ingredients balanced correctly, it's just something you have to learn ❤️

[@mrrey8937]

How do you determine that the compost is anaerobic? and how long does it take to get a good, stable, usable, compost ?

[@youngredangus6041]

Smell. Under a microscope you will see bad bacteria

[@mrrey8937]

@@youngredangus6041 thank you!!

[@shanedykstra3033]

I notice that you generally ad some horse manure. Can cow manure be used instead?

[@youngredangus6041]

Yes I’ve used both I like the consistency of horse manure

[@carriebrown4727]

Have you looked into Aerated static composting?

[@youngredangus6041]

I have not. Is that similar to J/S

[@joniboulware1436]

This method just doesn't seem to work well in smaller piles. I have seen it tried many times on You Tube and most end up with some pockets of finished compost but the outside dries out and goes nowhere. I find the hands on, turning of piles and making adjustments aas we go to be rewarding. Of course we limit to three piles to keep it manageable.

[@-FreeField-xt4oi]

At these temperatures you're also killing a lot of mesophilic fungi

[@islandgardener158]

Do you dump all one ingredient in or mix it up

[@youngredangus6041]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXnJc6Vnn6mNgbM This is how we did it this year

[@jimlewis1992]

10:40 Johnson Su Temperatures

[@jonathanhawkins8544]

Do you use non gmo corn stalks?

[@youngredangus6041]

no

[@jacknissen6040]

i should add that since we are aiming for a 50/50 bacterial/ fungal end result, feedstocks should reflect that, no?

[@youngredangus6041]

According to Dr David Johnson the worms do all the work

[@jacknissen6040]

tks, we need listen to them carefully 😊 i have chipped green wood, no bigger than 2 1/2” diameter, chips are fingernail size. they are green, even in color. should degrade quicker than dry woodchips.

[@jacknissen6040]

thanks for the comment : “ingredients matter” a good recipe should keep worms happy whilst aiming for a fungal dominant finished compost, right? straight woodchips might just take more than a season, but our season never goes below zero, cept for an hour or so on a very cold morning, then back up to 16C / 60F by midday. This might help the compost “finish” in at least 12months or less. just thinking out loud, thanks for your vids!

[@hardyhofer8677]

My bioreactor has been at 140 plus for over a week. Should I be concerned

[@youngredangus6041]

Great question No it can take a month What were your ingredients

[@hardyhofer8677]

I can’t tell you percentages. I have Wheat straw chopped barley and pea straw That we currently mix into our beef TMR. For nitrogen I have a little cow and horse manure but the majority is really fine chicken litter

[@aidanrodstrom3452]

Hey mate Why do u use horse manure over cattle manure

[@youngredangus6041]

Texture. The cattle manure dissolves more

[@tbi1161]

Have you ever used a Diego Footer reactor?

[@youngredangus6041]

I havnt watched his stuff sense 2020

[@youngredangus6041]

When I seen someone using the tote that’s what we did and so I decided to go that direction

[@tbi1161]

That's cool. I have no problem with reusing the totes, and you do it well, I was just curious if you had tried his design. He has a KZbin video titled Designing a New Compost Bioreactor that might interest you, especially if you are planning on upscaling your production. Thanks for the reply!

[@winstonsmith935]

I have yet to stray far from the original Dr. Johnson ingredients, shredded fall leaves, it make’s excellent compost, as per original Johnson Su Bioreactor, with the original ingredients. If it ain’t broke why fix it.

[@youngredangus6041]

I live in western Kansas. I have no leaves. I have IBC totes. I’d like yo use them instead of through them away. I’m glad the original set up work well for you

[@winstonsmith935]

@@youngredangus6041 then your forgiven for outside the box thinking. We are lucky in Canada, our forest floors are so rich in biological diversity, we start off with leaves gathered up from the forest floor. A better kick start than you can ever wish for. You are at an obvious disadvantage in Kansas. Our leaves already halfway there.

[@bobthrasher8226]

I think the "acid test" for your compose should be the "fungal yield" in terms of amount and diversity of fungal content. Does that make sense? In other words, ignore what the result looks like and do the analysis of the final product to judge the result. I think you might start with the microscope for a first check before you commit to paying for more thorough analysis.

[@youngredangus6041]

From a DNA test?

[@enchantedmushroomsfarm]

If your interested in learning about an unlimited free supply of nitrogen that’s extremely easy to amend to these reactors let us know. You’ll dig it!

[@jekesainjikizana9734]

I would like to know too thanks

[@w8stral]

Not sure if you are aware of the guy feeding fruit as part of his compost diet in Puerto Rico? If you feed your animals(be they very very small) a diet of ONLY one material... they will starve. No different than if you eat only one form of "food" no matter how calorie dense, you will starve eating only corn, soy, potato, wheat, or rice. Gets back to why people were claiming bees were dying out... Well no, as the bees who were having said problems of dying were ALL being sent to giant fields where they were harvesting only a SINGLE type of pollen for most of their adult lives and turning it into honey of ONLY 1 type of flower be it almond, alfalfa, etc. One needs balance in our diet be it human or fungi and everything in between. PS: Honey which comes from only 1 or ~2 types of flowers tastes horrific. Honey which comes from a hundred different sources is absolutely amazing. Same goes for fungi & bacteria.

[@flatsville9343]

Many of the clowns who claim to have had great success with modifying J-S rarely have the lab test results to back up those claims...regardless of how entertaining they are banging around their backyard gardens in SoCal, rather than out there doing it for real on the plains for a living.

[@alld47hidrohnilougue31]

Almost can’t watch bc the intro song sucks

[@youngredangus6041]

Love that song! Agree to disagree

[@austinsmith4914]

I love your work. learn a lot. I had to up my game to find out what really going on with my JSCB's so I had the soil food web consultant look at it under a microscope. I tested my JSCB 4 times with one of their soil consultant. The 1st time I used leaves, it came out bacterial dominated. This made me change to full wood chips. The results were great from the test. I tested at the top, mid and bottom level after it was matured. I posted the results on ths JSCB facebook site in 2021. I just completed another one using wooden mulch and llama manure plus molasses ans humic spray. Will have the consultant use the microscope to see if I have the right ratio of beneficial nematodes, protoza , bacteria and fungi. My 1st JSCB made with leaves look right with the naked eye, but the composition was wrong. I learned It not about how many species you have , but the right ratio of microbes present which is done by a microscope. I haven't went to the school. so I use a consultant from the school. they're are all over the USA now. www.soilfoodweb.com/consultants/ or lab tech- www.soilfoodweb.com/laboratory-technicians/ I would like to encourage you consider going to the soil food web school. your faith seem is ready for it. Yor not afraind of words like "exudate ' etc...promo.soilfoodweb.com/jan23s-farmer-va/

[@youngredangus6041]

Thanks Austin I will possibly look into Elaine’s corse in the future I have other areas I’m focusing on at the moment

[@austinsmith4914]

@@youngredangus6041 understand. I love the newest video