[Stoves] Compost and soil fertility

[CAVM at aol.com]

Dr. Karve, I have the highest regard for your work in alternative energy  and 
power, however, I am concerned about the issue of composting vs green  
biomass applied to fields. Usually when we speak of applying green biomass or  even 
manure to fields we call it "sheet composting" or "Trench composting"  
depending on how the material is applied.
 
All organic matter will decompose in a combination of bacterial and  chemical 
action we know as composting. When organic matter is applied directly  to the 
soil it will compost as well but if there is an imbalance of nutrients  for 
the process to occur the needed elements will be extracted from the  soil.  For 
example, if there is insufficient nitrogen in an application it  will suck N 
from the soil and perhaps leave it depleted.
 
By composting in a remote site and then applying the compost to the soil  
significant benefits can be obtained for the crops and the soil microbial  
population. It is true that unless certain steps are taken that N will tend to  
volatilize from the compost but the process will slow down from a lack of N  
rather than extract it from the nearby soil.  Remedial action can then be  taken to 
improve the composting process without negatively impacting the  crops.
 
Regards,
 
Neal Van Milligen
Kentucky Enrichment Inc
_www.kentuckyenrichment.com_ (http://www.kentuckyenrichment.com) 
_cavm at aol.com_ (mailto:cavm at aol.com) 
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Agronomists advocating application of composted organic matter to the  fields
are actually misleading farmers. On the one hand the agronomists claim  that
organic matter was essential for feeding the soil micro-organisms and on  the
other hand they ask farmers to reduce the nutritional value of the  organic
matter by composting it. One should use green leaves as manure.  Green
manuring is well known to farmers, but they plant a whole field with  the
green manuring crop and bury the crop into the field. Actually, only  about
125 kg fresh green leaves need to be applied to a hectare of land  to
maintain a high population density of the soil micro-organisms. Just  burying
the weeds growing in the field in the space between the crop rows  can
achieve this objective. In the former ages, when there was no dearth  of
energy, people wanted a method for getting rid of waste biomass.  Composting
waste biomass reduced its volume and applying the compost to the  fields
increased the soil fertility.


 



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