Dr David Johnson talks on his Johnson-Su Composting Bioreactor - the construction, how to fill it, and what to do with it once filling is complete, and answers many questions from the audience.
Good day I was watching this video and then my neighbor came and we watched it together. He said this post really changed his life and it touched my heart. My village people are so grateful. Am proud to say cool video wow thanks for sharing your valuable knowledge 🥰 from the villagers of kikambu. I did make this and set it up Sunday morning late evening it was warming up nicely. I checked the temp in the centre it was 55c later on it did reach 60. The setup is not precise to the dimensions but the vents are loosing heat as you can see the moisture condensing. Not yet covered it up with the tarp still waiting for the pile to solidify to take the pipes out.
Why does government worry about a natural product leaching into the ground but allow chemicals to be sprayed in millions of gallons per year into the soil? Any leaching is not harmful since it is an organic material that is found in nature all over the world.
Thanks Dr David for this innovation, I hope this will be helpful for our community in DR Congo and other countries to grow food and reduce climate change effects
This seems to go hand in hand with what Rudolf Steiner taught in his lectures on agriculture in the early 20th century. Now they call it biodynamics. Also his philosophy about using the moon phases was proved by Maria Thun and then verified by several universities. I wondered why Rudolf had said to bury the cow manure preperation in the soil for a year. Now I know it was because the biodiversity was multiplying into many more species. Thank you for that nugget!
Thanks for the video, it was very interesting and important info about the soil and its environment relationships, I'm happy when you mentioned the Dynamics correlation to the process, as it shows an important matter inside your experience project. so all organisms together circulating in the system and true not linear. please make sure the importance of water ratio here too as I think it may need 3 quarters to one in order to balance the equation for growth, health, and long life. cheers
Hi, Great talk. I wondered if it would be beneficial for the process if heat is taken out via a water heating soil which I plan to use to warm my biogas digester in the greenhouse in inter. Would it still form that clay like compost without the initial heat phase? Thanks for your great work K
The "heat" is caused by the activity of the Microbial Life, which is also required to be at least 130 to 150 degrees to kill off pathogens, for a 3 day time span. After that, it will cool down. Hot water will kill the Microbial life by drowning them. Once cooled, add the worms. Fresh/Green Manure will get "Hot", but have room for the worms to move away from the heat.
Very interesting. But we forgot one small detail. The composting worms. No pathogen that can harm a human can survie the stomach or gut of the composting worm. Just to be safe I would definitely go through the heat cycle to make sure its safe in case of early harvest the worms may not have digested it all.
There is a very nice book about the "Compost Powered Water Heater" Talking many of this issues: It seems that if you compost the right materieal (very carbonated with differents complementary sizes of pieces) well humid ( you can use a condenser (and take take the excess heat here in place of inside, wich is risky to cool too much the process and is difficult do control and to process before and after) to keep the water dripping back into it, while keeping it worm (otherwise the water cools it off a bit..) Im currently trying to build my own 'compost stove' to heat my house.. Im curious to know your own other's projects ! Cheers !
I just wanted to point out a couple things.The credit for using liquid compost extract (LCE) on pasture land, particularly in Texas goes to Betsy Ross and Steve Diver...just to give credit where credit is due.Most organic milk is pasteurized so that question was not answered.
You remark makes all the composts in the world to look the same. If this is true you have not understood 10% of this lecture. That is really a pitty because what Dr Johnson explained is a totally different way of doing compost.
Hello everyone. Has anyone built one of these compost systems in Canada? I live in Ontario, zone 5a. We get a lot of snow where I live there is currently about 1.5 - 2 feet of snow on top of my compost pile in my yard. How does the winter effect tis system? Water, freezing temperatures, composting timeline 12months? Or more? Also does everyone add worms to the pile? Any experience and help is greatly appreciated. I love the idea of this system.
can you let rainfall wet down the pile during winter? Irrigation is turned off during winter freeze, so what alternative is there to keeping pile properly moist in winter? Is several feet of snow resting on the pile going to hurt it? Should it be covered most of the time with landscape fabric other than during rainfall? Is it bad to get it too wet?
Since he lives in New Mexico, he probably doesn't have harsh winters. So you'll probably have to try yourself. But my guess is, that the cold doesn't hurt the compost too much. As in nature, everything freezes in the winter anyway. If you have heavy snowfalls, you should probably build a sturdy cover.
I'd suggest you read the documentation on how to build and manage one. Or look at Dr. Johnson's videos. He says, that you can take only leaves, or whatever you want basically. I think the 1/3 figure was only an educated guess for the first try.
@@xDanoss318x as I understand it straight wood chips will work in this system-that manure is not necessary. GREATLY simplifies the process right there.
I noticed that the material going I was all brown (high carbon) and no green material. Is this type of composting not reliant on correct carbon to nitrogen ratio?
Thats not actually true, although he didn't specify it in this video. His compost recipe is 1/3 high carbon, 1/3 green material, 1/3 manure. its your typical hot compost ratios.
@@TS-vr9of This is false. It is fugal breakdown and vermicomposting. The worms are added within two weeks after the pile has cooled. There is no particular ratio used. Read the original paper.
You're right. I heard a recent lecture were he mentioned it. In an older lecture he had mentioned the typical hot compost ratio to start which breaks down faster. He said he got a similar product with all leaves.
William Axelrod. No, the pipes are inserted to create air tunnels. There is a video of Dr Johnson building one. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DxUGk161Ly8.html
The holes left by the pipes are to ensure fully aerobic conditions of the composting process. Air only penetrates a foot. The pipe holes give air channels (and chimney-effect draw for good circulation) to the entirety of the pile. Most importantly, this keeps the pile aerobic without any need of turning the pile. The enhanced air flow also speeds the process along.
you could tell me what's the difference between the 2 kinds of fabric he mentions when he mentions wowen landescape cloth and not using the felt landescape cloth. because I speak French and I can't find any transcription that makes sense, just an explanation in English would be enough for me, thank you very much
that will not breath as well. the black woven fabric will breath at every millimeter, holes wont work as well. use something natural that is woven if that is available? old sheets or something? they wont last as many composts, but will breath better.
Might be better to extract or side dress or mulch. Less disruption of the soil organism community. Smorgasbord or bar instead of force feeding after a tornado destroys your home.
@@kenknutson1598 agree, though sometimes biodynamic advisors tell people with really compacted and degraded soils (packed clay with little soil life) to rip them open and apply BD500 (which is pretty similar to a compost tea)
It holds its moisture really well. I occasionally check up on them and that could be once a month during winter. All depends on your materials used as well
the woven fabric shown is sometimes called geotech fabric, it's very thin material, woven synthetic fibre that lasts longer, felt is a bit like old fashioned carpet underlay, will break down. both are used for weed suppression in landscape and regen plantings
Dude - just cut the weeds to the ground - once in spring and once at the end if summer. No weeds - but plenty of organic material dropped on the ground to feed the soil.
@@xDanoss318x Yes I have experience and that's how it works - unless you'd rather give everyone in the watershed the increased risk of cancer, that is.
Rod Ciferri Why are you so rude?! I just shared my experience that this method doesn‘t work and you straight up accuse me of wanting people to get cancer! WTF? Do you have any decency? Why is it that people on the internet always want to fight/ blame/ insult people? Childish mentality...
@@xDanoss318x What is it with people on the internet who equate rudeness with disagreement and who assume someone who disagrees with them doesn't have the "experience" to do so?
if it is not an anaerobic process it is ok. Still if you di it into your house you need to evacuate well the gas and vapor with chemney for example. (and keep the process tight from inside) Gas are 02 Vapor, CO2, a bit of ammonia, a bit of sulfur.. (if i remember good...) sifted finished compost is a very good filter for the smell (and can feed plants at the same time) but beware to not overfeed it if you eat the plant.
He only leaves the perforated PVC pipes in for one day, then slides them out to leave channels for aeration. Do they really need to be perforated pipes? Surely unperforated pipe wouldn't make much difference for just the first day and would be easier to slide out?
A lot of work. Leaf mold takes a year or 2 to break down. Hot compost takes much less time if turned regularly. I'd rather hot compost each winter and let the worms come naturally. After a few years of adding compost and the worms doing their thing, less compost will be needed. The first year you use your compost will give great results while attracting worms while the Bioreactor is still processing.
@@wadepatton2433 This material comes out hard and compacted, much harder to sift. Turning the pile 5 times might be a little bit of work spread out over 6 months, but the finished material screen easy. You need to run water everyday. Need to run hoses out daily or water buckets in the winter. If I didn't turn my hot pile, I'd probably have similar results after a year, just hosing it down once in awhile in the summer months. Earthworms will come naturally to a hot pile built on the ground after it cools. I turn my Geo Bin 5 times thru the winter and put it away for the summer, out of sight. I still don't understand how red wigglers can do much as they live 6" from the top. I've watched many videos on this and haven't seen one the shows how to transfer the finished material to the garden or show proof of its worth, just theory. Until I see proof, I'll stick with my hot bio reactor.
@@joeshmoe7789 I've seen all the proof I need to see. I've seen the results of innoculated seeds as well as water injected drillings (direct replacement of chemical ferts with extracts from compost). Best of luck with yours. I see nothing hard and compacted here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EiyCuY85fzc.html
@@wadepatton2433 I still haven't seen the proof. Why doesn't Johnson show the final results anywhere? I'd like to see a comparison of gardens with and without his compost. I don't know about most seeds, but I do know tomato and pepper seeds and they are self inoculated. They don't need outside nutrition until they have their first sets of permanent leaves. Please check my comment on the link you sent. That video is a joke and and a waste of time.
@@joeshmoe7789 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cO2nGHq40Xc.html here's another talk Dr. Johnson gave in 2020. At the timestamp I linked, he demonstrates (against control gardens) the results of using his compost and technique over the short-to-medium term (1yr to 7yrs under the BEAM regimen)
Pablo Jimenez Alonso some compost made by worms is actually very similar to what you get in this bio reactor no worms are not necessary any thing not decomposed and left on the ground will be finished by the worms anyway
Makes me wonder what the heck IS clay... I thought it was ground up rock, but this comes from pure vegetable matter... Does this bypass the humus stage? That crumbly earthy stuff..? Seems impermeable to anything above a bacteria as far as living environment.
Clay (mostly) refers to particle size, rather than composition. It also depends on who you ask, because different disciplines have different definitions or clay vs. silt. Clay can be finely ground rock with some organic matter. There are some surprising critters that could get in this stuff I image; earthworms, moles, various insects.
Think about how much that costs for all those components, then all the time it takes to pre-process the materials and think about how little compost you would be left with at the end of the year...I am guessing about 1/8 of what you started with. You would need 10 of them to make enough compost for one average sized raised bed and thousands of them to make enough for a small farm.
The end product is being used primarily as an inoculant rather than an amendment or fertilizer, so a little goes a long way. This video gives more info on the actual methods and results. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-79qpP0m7SaY.html
@@npecom Candid's point, i think includes that the value of compost is not just an inoculation or even just a fertilizer, but the need most farms have to amend the soil especially if it is clayish or mostly sand -- plus the compost it itself a near perfect water exchange rate
@@ashakent3206 Sure, I get it. It is one important tool but must be used as part of a regenerative approach. The other video I linked really helped me see a bigger picture. This is an advanced method of producing (mostly) red worm castings in an ideal protected environment. I am building one.
