Volume of compost

[Guest guest]

>Can anyone tell me if there are any rough figures for the amount of compost

>needed per acre for general vegetable production, or how many square foot

>of

>land I would need to dedicate to compost production for two acres?

 

>Thanks prabhus.

 

>Your servant

>Samba das

 

It depends on what condition you estimate your relevant land to be in.

You can spread, as per the chart in Lost Science of Organic Cultivation page

70: And I must stress that to get all the details you need to purchase

this title.

 

half an inch per acre = 5 tons/ acre

2 inches thick = 20 tons/acre

or 8-10 inches = 100 tons/acre

 

This last amount is enough to mulch out even the worst couch grass

infestation and yield a very heavy crop the same season.

 

I have been growing on this system in my garden for five years now, only

adding 2 inches per year. No cultivation required except forking loose the

soil to allow aeration.

 

If one surface cultivates in the weeds on a field scale then humus is

produced in great quantities anyway so correspondingly less compost

manufacture is required. It simply depends on your available resources.

 

BMW - biodegradeable municiple waste

BP - bull power

L - labour

M - machinery

 

At bhaktivedanta Manor we are currently making around half a ton a week,

(very easily one man a week, including growing food or flowers)

That amounts to 26 tons a year; from only waste around the grounds and

kitchens.

 

We have begun selling to visitors and devotees retail and we have so far

approached two garden centers and they both want to buy at £200/ton

wholesale.

 

Your servant,

 

Radha Krsna das.

[Guest guest]

>

> half an inch per acre = 5 tons/ acre

> 2 inches thick = 20 tons/acre

> or 8-10 inches = 100 tons/acre

 

If the compost is primarily cow manure and aplied at rates above 20 tons per

acre, in many soil types if you are not cropping heavily you can run the risk

of building up too much available potassium inn the soil.

 

In WV, applying more than 30 tons of cow manure(uncomposted) for several

years

and only taking the ear corn and not the whole plant for silage, adverse

levels

of potassium can build up. These soils are clay soils already with naturally

occuring potassium. Just something to think about.