Bio Active Compost
Rescue Earth System
The Rescue Earth System is a holistic suite of diverse regenerative solutions that can be applied to all levels of society, economy and the environment.
Bio Active Compost
Biologically Activated Compost
Biologically Activated Compost has high levels of beneficial microbes and when applied to your soil will improve the Soil Food Web, and the growth of your plants.
Composting in bins and using compost worms to decompose organic matter is a good alternative for more urban environments.
Soil Biology Restoration
The best way manage for a healthy microbial ecosystem in a home garden is to routinely apply organic material, such as compost. To keep garden soil healthy, the amount of organic matter added must be equal to what the bacteria and fungi use each year.
Many people think of compost as a source of nitrogen and other plant growth promoting minerals. While those materials are important, they do not maintain their efficacy for long in soil nor in compost. What actually creates these plant growth promoting materials in the first place?
They are created by the bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes and micro arthropods that make up the soil food web communities. So, actually, what we want to be adding to our soils is the correct soil micro biological community, as these species will then ensure the ongoing creation of more of the enzymes and hormones that your plants need to thrive.
As Dr Elaine Ingham advocates
“Your soil needs the right biology in order to grow the plants you want, without the use of toxic chemicals. If your soil, potting mix, hydroponics medium, or compost lacks the minimum set of organisms, steps need to be taken to re-establish the right set of organisms. The compost you use needs to have the right biology. That’s the answer, the right biology.
Now, if growing plants in soils where the biology isn’t right, you can get plant growth, by using the toxic chemicals to try to overcome the diseases that will attack the stressed plants, by using chemical salt inputs to try to feed the plants the inorganic nutrients they need. But the plant is not healthy, it is stressed, and the food it makes is not the best for human consumption.”
Composting Methods
Four methods of composting: holding units, turning units, heaps and sheet composting. Other composting alternatives such as leaving grass clippings on the lawn, mulching, and vermi-composting (worm composting) are also options.
Aerobic composting involves the activity of aerobic microbes, and hence the provision of oxygen during the composting process. Aerobic composting generally is characterized by high temperatures, the absence of foul odours, and is more rapid than anaerobic composting.
Anaerobic composting is characterized by low temperatures, the production of odorous intermediate products, and generally proceeds at a slower rate than does aerobic composting. Using EM …
The composting ‘interest thread’ articles, videos, shorts courses, etc. offer a good insight into the art of composting. More comprehensive information can be found in the Level 1-6 lessons of the composting category in the Regenerative Food Production & Processing Track of the RRSI Core Course. The RRSI Core Course offers basic, intermediate, advanced and master study material on 100s of subjects.
Volunteer based community composting is very popular in environmentally conscious neighbourhoods.
Successful Composting
The secret to successful composting is to select an approach and technique that suits your needs and lifestyle. Your choice will depend on a number of factors such as how much space you have available, what materials you have, how you plan to use the compost, how much time you want to spend, and how neat you want your compost pile to look.
For example, if you only need a little compost, want to expend minimal effort, and have a small area to do it in, your best choice might be sheet mulching or using a commercially available composting bin. A Bokashi compost bucket is a good alternative for food waste.
If you have plenty of space and want large quantities of compost quickly, you may want to build a deluxe three bin unit. If you want to compost vegetative food waste separately, you may find it easiest to directly incorporate them into the soil.
Biodynamic Agriculture & Horticulture
Biodynamic (BD) agriculture is an organic farming system that relies heavily on compost as a fertilizer. Six herbal preparations are added to composting materials in order to make BD compost. Proponents claim these additions produce higher quality compost under farm conditions.
Compost biology
Compost organisms perform several important processes during composting. But their relevance doesn’t stop there – these same organisms survive and live in soil, on leaf surfaces, and around roots, leaves, stems, blossoms, etc. They create a protective layer on leaves, stems, blossoms, fruit and any above or below ground plant surface.
Bacteria and fungi – retain nutrients in the compost, and ultimately, in your soil too. They also perform the same function on leaf surfaces, if you could somehow get compost to adhere to the leaves. That is possible if you turn the compost into compost tea – refer to our sections on compost tea to learn more.
Bacteria and fungi also build structure in the compost while the protozoa and nematodes help build the larger pores in the compost. So within a week or so, if you have the right biology present in the compost, air passageways and water infiltration hallways will have been built by these organisms. Turning compost becomes less and less critical as the biology grows and forms structure which in turn aerates the compost for you.
Protozoa and nematodes – mineralise the retained nutrients held by the bacteria and fungi. In compost, these mineralised nutrients serve to help other organisms grow and utilise the carbon sources in the organic matter present in the compost pile.
The dynamic living system present in compost is influenced by the ingredients that you choose to put into the compost pile, the biology present in the organic matter going into your pile and by the effects of rain, wind, heat, sunlight and pollution that occur while you are composting.
There are numerous factors that have an effect on compost quality including the starting materials, moisture, aggregation, and temperature / turning. Additionally, different plants or crops may require a more fungal or bacterial dominated compost. It is imperative that the environmental conditions in compost are managed so that a high quality, pathogen-free compost is produced.