[Greenbuilding] Compost issues

[Speireag Alden]

Sgrìobh Kirsten A Flynn:

>The worms that break down compost are red wigglers. They are litter 
>decomposers, evolved to break down leaf litter.  They cannot and will
>not travel through heavy soil.

     Interestingly, worms like these are causing a lot of problems in 
the northern North American forests, because they're not native. 
Those forests have very deep duff, because nothing eats the stuff. 
However, these types of worms are brought in by gardeners, by road 
crews moving fill, by pretty much any process which moves soil, and 
they're going to down in the ground, reducing things down in a year 
or so.  There are parts of the ecosystem which have evolved to depend 
on that duff layer, and as it disappears, things change...

-Speireag.

-- 
A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true 
value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary 
pain.
--Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784)