8/13/2021
Great compost has many benefits. Especially when it’s something you make daily.
Our Berkeley Composting Method allows us to create temperatures of 160 degrees (f) within 2-3 days of finishing the pile. Until 17 days have passed, we turn that pile every second day.
During the process of experimentation—which Farmer’s love to do, we discovered another use for our compost. During the initial heating process, the high temps make it great for germinating seeds that require high heat. Those include tomatoes and peppers.
During the cooling down phase and for the next 43 days, the compost makes for a great heat mat. It’s nature’s way of giving back.
If we can help you do something similar, let me know.
5/21/2021
You’ll learn a lot on our daily journey of continuous improvement!
The Berkeley Composting Method is based on good science. We’ve used that knowledge and decided to improve our own composting method to improve soil quality, plant yield, and seed germination.
The key is in maintaining discipline to the process and understanding when to do what.
Here’s our method and some pictures to go along with it.
We begin by gathering horse, chicken, goat, goose, pig, and duck manure. But if you only have horses or one if the other animals, that’s fine too.
In step 2 we let the manure dry for a week. This makes it easier to go through step 3—the shredder.
In step 3 we add one shovel of dried leaves for every ten shovels of manures, add water and worm tea, and then run it through our chipper shredder. This gives us a carbon to nitrogen ratio of about 30:1—an ideal ratio for composting. It also improves the surface area of the compost, allowing it to break down much faster.
In step 4 we let the pile sit, in our case a 27x27x30” soil saver bin, heat up for four days.
In step 5 on the 4th day we’ll turn the pile into an empty 27x27x30” soil saver bin that’s placed right next to the existing compost. This allows us to save the extra step of loading and unloading, while keeping the pile in a nice organized spot. In addition, each of the two bins will be right next to the 4x4 beds the compost is ultimately going into—saving us hours of transporting and moving compost around.
Step 5 require we turn the compost from one bin to the other every second day until day 17.
After 17 days, in Step 6 we place the compost on the ground in a 4x4 template at a rate of 1 1/2” per bed. Each 27x27x30 Soil Saver Bin will produce (5) 4x4 beds 1 1/2” deep.
In step 7, we’ll place a basket of worms in composted horse manure on top of each the 4x4 beds after day 20. This does two things to vastly improve the Berkeley Method: 1. It allows red wigglers to turn the compost into vermicompost and beautiful soil while you’re sitting comfortably in your house! 2. In 60 days you’ll have worms and worm castings in the basket to use in any new 4x4 beds you’re creating.
In step 8 you’ll start your seedlings at the same Day to Harvest rate which your new 4x4 beds will be ready. In just 60 days you’ll have beautiful soil, happy plants, and knowledge you can share with others!
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5/16/2020
Seeds and science, a marriage made in heaven!
I must say how difficult it’s been germinating tomatoes this season. I live in California’s high desert, where it’s routinely 19-25 degrees at night and 62-68 degrees by 12:00 pm. Add a high tunnel to the equation, and the temperature during the day inside the high tunnel will easily reach 108 degrees.
As it turns out, seeds hate these wild swings in temperature and humidity levels.
So what can you do to control the variables? And just what are the potential variables that are in play?
Let’s first isolate the inputs.
- Seeds
- Water
- Seed starting mix
- Temperature
- Humidity
- Light levels
Since my other seed starts were started with no controls over temperature, humidity, and light levels, and given that I was using a seed starting mix that worked well for other varieties, and lastly, my seeds were new and were from two well known commercial seed growers, I started thinking that I would eliminate as many variables as possible all at once.
Here’s what I did.
- I added 10% hydrogen peroxide to my water.
- I placed the seeds in a paper towel, then moistened the towel and seeds with the H2O Peroxide mixture.
- I then placed the paper towels inside a plastic storage bag that I left open for ventilation.
- Lastly, I placed the storage bags inside a cardboard box, closed the lid, and placed it above the refrigerator to maintain a constant temperature and humidity.
Frankly, the fun part of science is getting a result from your experiment that varies widely from your initial theory/hypothesis.
Here’s the result: My first tomato sprouts of the year, even with a light dusting of snow last night.
The bottom line?
Learning which variables impact the problem your trying to solve is invaluable. Isolating those variables to test your hypothesis is even more priceless.
Seeds and science, a marriage made in heaven!