The SFG Journey-Johnson Su Bioreactor for composting, No turning

I saw your report on the FB site. From what I have read, it's ready for your veggies. "Teaming with Microbes" by Lowenfels and Lewis.

sanderson wrote:I saw your report on the FB site.  From what I have read, it's ready for your veggies.     "Teaming with Microbes" by Lowenfels and Lewis.

Yes, it ready. I'm going to apply large amount of the compost with fall leaves in the beds and my lawn in mid to late November, cover with leaves for spring preparation. I may do it earlier, since I do have some spare bag of leaves available, but they need shredding first, then put in a cover crop. I did like the cover crops this year, I just had to cut them back three times after it warm up till they finally died. 
I wasn't a big deal since I use a electric hedger, done super fast. 

I will collect leaves in November and early December for another bioreactor this Spring where I can leave the watering to a timer. I believe I could do it the winter, but I would have to do manually and I'm not motivated to do it. 

I spread some of the compost now, but I had to put it around the base of the assorted baby greens and established large peppers plants  since they were already growing and established, so My timing was off. 

How much homemade compost is everyone applying to their beds, flower, lawns, etc...? Enquirer wants to know.

I like the simple method of using the drill to break up the slurry and a spray hose to further dislodge the microbes, then spray. For my garden, I would use my simple water transfer pump. I think that what is called, not sure.

My first test report came in for #1 Johnson Su Compost Bioreactor. It's ok for my greens I just planted. How much homemade compost is everyone applying to their beds?











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  Steve Larson How long has the compost been in the bioreactor for?
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    Austin Smith 6 months
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    Sigrid Anderson Austin Smith The soil in you beds should be higher in fungal and nematodes, so if you mix the bio mass batch into the bed, it seems to me it would be good for winter greens. But, what do I know. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
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  Jho Tan Wow
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  Jho Tan No need to turn the Compost pile
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  Ingrid Blank Thank you for sharing this report Austin.
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  Austin Smith My first post in this group was on March 23, 2019. today would be 6 months.
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  Austin Smith I don't know how to make a link to my first post. Is that possible?
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    Ingrid Blankhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/233254887357239/permalink/303861356963258/
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    Ingrid Blank Austin Smith, to copy the link, all you have to do is find the post you want, right click the date, select copy link address, then paste to your new post.
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    Austin Smith thank you.
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  Jesse Shererhttps://www.reddit.com/.../my_people_do_not_wish_death.../
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  My people do not wish death to the people of Denton. But a crushing…
  My people do not wish death to the people of Denton. But a crushing defeat would be just swell.
  
  
  
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  Nemes Bálint Dr. Johnson says that the J-Su biorector creates a compost of F:B 4:1 - 5:1 in 12 months. Does anybody knows how David counts it?
  The J-SU compost is full of spores and cysts. SFI doesn't measure them, only the active microbes are counted.
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    Buz Kloot Gert Pienaar
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  Gert Pienaar Quote from David Johnson’s paper:
  “Soil
  267 microbial community analyses were sent to Soil Foodweb Oregon LLC, 635 SW Western Blvd,…See More
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    Gert Pienaar Figures are located here:
    https://d3amtssd1tejdt.cloudfront.net/.../Supplementary_1...
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    Gert Pienaar Look at the column Active : Total Fungi.
    
    That indicates to my lots and lots of spores.
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    Gert Pienaar Question might be asked if Haydon Horticulture include these inactive fungi?
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    Gert Pienaarhttp://www.soilfoodweb.co.nz/.../Assay%20Descriptions-NZ.pdf
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    Gert Pienaar One way to survey the total and active communities is to measure com- munity composition from rDNA (i.e. rRNA genes) and rRNA in ribosomes. Sequencing rDNA provides information about the total community, which includes both active and dor- mant individuals, wher…See More
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    Nemes Bálint Thank you Gert Pienaar! Do you have idea how to calculate weight of spores after count?
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  Austin Smith this is where I started the project on mar 23, 2019. Thank you again Ingrid. https://www.facebook.com/groups/233254887357239/permalink/304110763604984/
  

I forgot to add the still pictures

my bioreactor has pretty rough mulch in it. Poor supplier and I didn't pay close attention. I found another supplier with great mulch for 2021. this bioreactor started in May 2020. the Johnson Su bioreactor compost quickly heated up, then slowly drop aprox 2.5 ft from 5 ft. In both bioreactors I used fish hydrolysate between the layers. I think it was in june the worms were added. I did not remove the poles due to last year bioreactor holes frequently filling in from the worms activity. So drill in many holes in all poles and wrap it with a bioscreen so air can readily go in and out. The odor is normal. I had pull the poles out of the second reactor like last year, but it collapse several times after adding the worms. SOooo, I dug the holes out and replace the poles in september. . It working fair. I had both bioreactor tested for bio;ogy. The second one was significantly less in biology which I contribute to air flow.. Last year I used straight leaves in both bioreactor, but my testing showed it was bacterially dominated. This year I used wood mulch, leaves and fish hydrolysate spray in each layer. I had both tested at 5 months on Qct 15, 2020 by Heather Rinaldi, owner of Texas Worm ranch. She went thru Dr. Eliane Ingham class on the soil food web and learned how to do bacterial/fungal count and look for appropriate organism with a microscope in my bioreactor. This was her findings of bioreactor #1.
Hi Austin,
I just shared a google sheets file with you.  I have Bioreactor 1 done and wanted to get that to you.  Will probably do back bioreactor tomorrow, including bill.
This is a simple analysis, not the $144 in depth analysis that a professional lab would do.  
Just a few notes:
*You still have a high quantity of bacterial biomass.
*Your protozoa (amoeba) and Nematode numbers are great, and will accomplish excellent nutrient cycling as they graze down bacteria.
*You have good numbers of fungi, but quality and biomass can be improved.  Great fungi is striated (I saw none of these), dark brown or brown, AND over 2.5 mm in width.  Your fungi lacked width and striation, though color was good.
*  You have good quantities of humic and fulvic acids, which will benefit plant health immensely.
*Fungi is measured in mm--widthXlength and given a color designation.  I would tell you if there was striation, but I didn't see any of those

Please let me know if you have any questions,
Heather

I saw the new design on FB.  My concerns is that wood chips and leaves, etc., would fall outside of the cage and also into the air vent.  Wrap the pressure side in burlap?

He mentions using chicken wire. The re-enforced wire? Would cattle or hog panels need the T-posts?

sanderson wrote:I saw the new design on FB.  My concerns is that wood chips and leaves, etc., would fall outside of the cage and also into the air vent.  Wrap the pressure side in burlap?

He mentions using chicken wire.  The re-enforced wire?  Would cattle or hog panels need the T-posts?

I believe you would still need T posts.  The pressure on the side would be extreme.  I am using 1/2 inch hardware cloth and T posts on the corners for my 3 x 3 x 3 compost pile.  It started out square but the outward pressure of the compost has turned the pile into more of a circle even with T posts on four corners and 4 foot rebar in between the T posts that I put there to try to keep it square.    I think he said to use that concrete welded panels/wire and then 1 inch chicken wire.  I would think the burlap would be okay because it is so open.

sanderson wrote:I saw the new design on FB.  My concerns is that wood chips and leaves, etc., would fall outside of the cage and also into the air vent.  Wrap the pressure side in burlap?

He mentions using chicken wire.  The re-enforced wire?  Would cattle or hog panels need the T-posts?

Once the mulch chips, leaves are wet , they just hold together.!It don’t really slide anywhere so it would be minimum material falling  out the outside of the cage

i have two johnson su bioreactor 5 feet high. when they were empty we just lifted it with two people or I would roll it on it side from point A to B by myself.
 we decided to use refrigerator for the new garden beds and add the wood borders for the top as in the tote picture. It a project. will up date in a couple of months .

I was thinking about your needing to tip the bioreactor. Had a passing thought. If you made the outside of the reactor from 4 palettes strapped together, then when it came time to harvest you could just undo the straps and it would all fall out in one pile, more or less.

markqz wrote:I was thinking about your needing to tip the bioreactor. Had a passing thought. If you made the outside of the reactor from 4 palettes strapped together, then when it came time to harvest you could just undo the straps and it would all fall out in one pile, more or less.

actually that a great idea. I think I found a answer. Will post later.

sanderson wrote:So, Dan, you like my bamboo and old shoe laces set up?    This is my last compost pile in the 3x3x3 bin so I didn't want to put a lot of money into it, just had to purchase the pipes.  I was able to use up all the stores of fall leaves, bedding straw, alfalfa hay and alfalfa pellets.  Bagged composts will take their place.

Has,  I don't know if I will be adding any worms when it cools.  My earthworms?  The pile will only be short 2' tall when it cools.  Meanwhile, I have the tumbler where I used up the frozen stash of kitchen waste, plus some of the material listed above.

That 2 ft will have a lot of power. The  two videos I post on 5/31 soil stories and regenerating the diversity of life in the soil says two pounds of JSB can inoculate 350 acres. It may be 250 with a light dusting. Those numbers seem too big. Let's say at least 25 acres. So You got the power. You only need a little to make for compost trenching. All you need to do is massage a little to knock the microbes into a 5 gallon bucket. I'm going to use a water hose to wash the microbes' through a 400 mesh plastic strainer I bought a few years ago. You can use a simple paint strainer. His research shows the plants are producing 3-4 times fold with soil trenching rather than compost tea and seed coating. They work, but not as effective. look at the video on the two seedling I posted on 5/30.

has55 wrote:

markqz wrote:I was thinking about your needing to tip the bioreactor. Had a passing thought. If you made the outside of the reactor from 4 palettes strapped together, then when it came time to harvest you could just undo the straps and it would all fall out in one pile, more or less.

actually that a great idea. I think I found a answer. Will post later.

 I decided I'm going to glean the ideas from this video.
I saw how their team made a top and cut the bioreactor to enlarge it. Furthermore, I don't need to enlarge it, but cut my existing one and put on a removable top, so I can get to the compost after it matures and has dropped to the lower level of the totes. Also, I probably make a top from cattle panel or use PVC pipe filled with gravel to use as the frame for the top. I will use gravel, so the wind don't blow it off since the bioreactor is outdoor. I would attach the cloth with zip ties or snap clamps. http://www.snapclamp.com/


T

has55 wrote:
That 2 ft will have a lot of power. The  two videos I post on 5/31 soil stories and regenerating the diversity of life in the soil says two pounds of JSB can inoculate 350 acres. It may be 250 with a light dusting. Those numbers seem too big. Let's say at least 25 acres. So You got the power. You only need a little to make for compost trenching. 

I must had been very sleepy to come up with those numbers of acres. They put 40o ills per acres, not 2LBS. I'm awake now. Anyway it's some good stuff and will be plenty for your garden. you can:
1. make your humic acid by simply pouring water thru the compost
2. make compost tea
3. inoculate your seeds
4. place the compost in seed planting holes
5. pour the humid acid into the seedling holes as you plant
6. dip or soak your transplants into your homemade liquid humid acid made from your compost
7.store the compost by keeping it covered with a weed fabric for air ventilation and wet it occasionally for later use.
8. save your back from constant turning when making regular compost

This video was posted on the FB Johnson-Su Composting. While not related to SFG, it does show some awesome pictures of microbes.
https://www.youtube.com/c/microcosmos

Thanks for posting the link, Sanderson.  I have been following their playlists for Seasons 1 through 4, and learned so much about the microcosmos. It is fascinating to study the microbial life in the soil, and it is all Jeff Lowenfels fault for publishing Teaming with Microbes!