Re: composting vs. soil application of organic residues

Cary Oshins (coshin@rodaleinst.org)
Thu, 17 Sep 1998 10:36:20 -0700

joel b gruver wrote:
>
> Hello to all...
> Last year, Dr. Ray Weil and 5 grad students at the U of MD (including
> myself) pondered the difference between OM stabilization
> in a composting system prior to soil application as compared to the
> direct application of undecomposed OM to soil.

joel,
It is clear that the process of decomposition is crucial to building
soil structure. However, I am curious if your group focussing on the
comparison of composting vs. land application of _residues_? that is,
_crop_ residues solely, or any organic material. For off-field inputs
it seems that the equation changes, and you really have to take into
account the nature of the material. I would especially be interested in
your thoughts on raw vs. composted manure. Even there, you would have to
specify type of manure, and bedding (if any), to really make a
comparison. For many materials the benefits of in-situ decomposition
are outweighed by a variety of drawbacks that composting addresses. This
is why many organic systems recommend a combination of green manuring
and compost applications.

-- 
Cary Oshins
Composting Specialist
Rodale Institute
coshin@rodaleinst.org


To Unsubscribe:  Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".