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Appalachian Mtns.

Here's the waste analysis results from the compost I'm incorporating into my soil...in parts per million.
N=16242
P=6566
K=13913
Ca=40989
Mg=7772
S=2947
Fe=9510
Mn=1073
Zn=344
Cu=421
B=80.8
C=254711
Na=3734
SS=312
pH=7.27

cont.

3/4/2004 8:56:09 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

Nutrients available lbs/ton

N=5.6
P2O5=7.8
K2O=11.6
Ca=21.3
Mg=4.0
S=1.5
Fe=4.9
Mn=0.56
Zn=0.18
Cu=0.22
B=0.04
Na=3.2

3/4/2004 8:58:37 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

yes, I'll be adding a bit of elemental sulphur to get the pH down a little. otherwise, nothing else unless recommended.

3/4/2004 9:06:13 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Sweet!

Top it? Not sure yet. But I'll let you know. I found some 10 year old Horse manure today. It's piled over 1/8 acre about 4 feet deep. We've got a tractor with a half yard bucket to drive the stuff about 200 yards to get to the dump truck but me thinks it'll be worth the effort.

3/4/2004 10:13:33 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

This compost is 8-10 yrs. old. Created under a unique patented process although it ain't rocket science....
www.rockwaterfarms.com

3/5/2004 6:24:36 AM

Montoursville, PA

Wow! If you choose a suitable method to fire up the bacteria and keep them fat and sassy you should have a winner in process there.

I have a similar quality although I have not tested to that extent. I use AGRO-K's Symbex plus fish, kelp and molasses to maintain and feed up to the highest level, of bacterial existence, that my weak mind can imagine.

If that compost could be worked into a tea (assuming origin was aerobic)(assuming application within a few hours) you would have the best fertilizer known to man short of earthworm castings.

Look into the aerobic tea thing at North Country Organics and other organic tea brewing sites. Aerobic tea must be made in your backyard. It can not be held in the aerobic state by commercial producers.

3/5/2004 6:49:48 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

Dwaine,
Check out the www.rockwaterfarms.com website and it'll tell you a little bit about the process...it's created using both aerobic and anaerobic conditions.
The guy is absolutely obsessive about his process and business. I was over there yesterday getting a load and he had just gotten finished adding over 1000 chickens, a couple hundred head of cattle, and some deer to his newest pile which was about 25 feet high.
I'll be making tea with it all summer and applying as soon as it's strained. I also plan to use no ferts per say, only the tea, kelp, fish emulsion (the free stuff from the high school), molasses, and Nutri-Cal. And with the fall prep I've done I believe I'm in very good shape.
My neighbor and I are *trying* to replicate this guys process on a small scale but I checked our pile yesterday and uugghh/whew-eee, I don't think it's working too well :0)

3/5/2004 7:54:38 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

oh, and his motto is..."there's a bone in every pile"

3/5/2004 7:57:27 PM

Montoursville, PA

I did go to that web site. I was impressed with the words. My take on it was that he is gearing up to sell a system and teach it's use to other municiple or industrial giants with large volumes of waste.

The step you are taking by moving into tea is a giant step. Given proper aerobic application you have a whole host of benefits that could lead to nothing but tea being needed to maintain excellent fertilization and the development of disease resistant plants. Have much patience with the tea thing. Go to North Country Organics for much reading on tea and tea use. Go to the food web and read all you can on compost teas and their use. I believe you may be a pioneer in this nitchey area of giant pumpkin growing.

You in your relatively small operation are on the cutting edge of huge changes in the industry. Moving the compost was always the problem. Once the value is in liquid form and much more valuable than the original compost it can be efficiently transported and applied. It may even eventually be dehydrated and reconsitituted on site. Now the masses of manure where ever they are out of place or in the wrong place may be worked into a form we can afford to distribute.

Don't lay awake watching for this to happen. The huge chemical dollars will fight to their last breath to suggest impossibilities. Meanwhile it is in fact being done right now. Meanwhile their costs are rising out of sight and costs of natural products development are being reduced. Little or no dependence of fossel fuel!

Don't expect to many folks to fully understand what you have just observed and discovered. Expect all the red herrings, of the chemical industry, to be drug out, to resist this movement.

3/7/2004 6:26:42 PM