COMPOSTING

This page provides a very brief overview of �composting�. Composting is ranching, not gardening.

Ranching? Yup. Ranching is raising �livestock� that eat organic material. Think �micro-herd�.

The objective of information on these pages is to present a non-technical perspective.

For a more technical approach, the Compost Training link will address each topic more specifically.

Composting is predominantly a HUMAN activity, designed to �manage� Mother Nature�s system of organic decomposition, to produce an end product in a much shorter period of time.

Basically, composting requires five (5) things:

Collection of Feedstock (food for microbes)
Air (for aerobic composting)
Water (for any kind of composting)
Time (whatever you have available)
Effort (some energy)

Microorganisms are not included in the list above, because Mother Nature has already provided them.

FEEDSTOCK

If it was alive � and is now dead (or recently harvested) � it can be composted. Period. Microbes can �eat� it. That�s what microbes do � �eat� dead or decaying organic material. That�s Mother Nature�s system. Composting is simply a human method to speed up the normal decomposition of organic material.

AIR

Is necessary only for fast aerobic (in the presence of free oxygen) composting.

WATER

Is necessary � since microbes that consume organic matter require H2O to survive and reproduce.

And almost all water has some dissolved oxygen in it � or fish could not �breathe� with their gills.

Anaerobic composting uses microbes that don�t need free oxygen(air) to break down organic material.

Anaerobic composting is usually a smelly process and takes much longer than aerobic composting does.

But it�s a valid composting process � like the muck found at the bottom of the old �swimming hole�.

�Smelly� is the result of producing gasses (such as hydrogen sulfide [rotten eggs] and methane [explosive]).

TIME

The life cycle of a microbe is measured in minutes. On average, only about 15 minutes. Time is what makes aerobic composting different. Faster results than normally occurs naturally underground or water. By �managing� Mother Nature�s process, finished compost takes only a few months, instead of years.

EFFORT/Energy

This is what makes the real difference. The way that organic materials are combined (usually in layers). Composting simply supplies a mixture of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in an intended ratio of about 40-to-one (40:1).

So composting is very much about C:N ratio. A ratio higher than about 50:1 does not decompose as well as a lower ratio.

But the ratio of Carbon material should not be less than 20 parts to one part of Nitrogen (C:N = 20:1 That's why composters learn to combine BROWN (high-carbon) material with GREEN (high nitrogen) materials within a target ratio. On the other hand, composters use the materials they have available, which is more 'browns' than greens - which is where kitch table scraps become quite important.

In a laboratory, the C:N ratio of any material can be determined.

But C:N ratio is very difficult to do accurately �in the field� without using laboratory equipment. So there�s a lot of guess-work involved in composting. Which is why composting is called a �Science-based Art form�.

If you would like to learn more about composting, please click on the Composting Training link.

Compost Containments

Compost Piles