Meet Your Microbes
This Tutorial advocates "aerobic"
composting, which means composting with oxygen loving microbes. Composting without oxygen
is called "anaerobic". Both systems will break down organic matter, but aerobic
composting is generally faster, hotter, and easier to manage. Most importantly, anaerobic
(no oxygen) decomposition creates objectionable odors. So stick with oxygen loving aerobic
microbes.
| Generally speaking, three classes of
bacteria will go to work for you in your aerobic pile: Psychrophiles
- the low temperature bacteria
Mesophiles
- the medium temperature bacteria
Thermophiles
- the high temperature bacteria.
In tropical and subtropical climates, which are warm
so much of the year, composting rarely utilizes the low temperature bacteria. "Most
garden compost begins at mesophilic temperatures, then increases into the thermophilic
range . . . . These high temperatures are beneficial to the gardener, because they kill
weed seed and diseases that could be detrimental to the planted garden" (The Rodale
Book of Composting, Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA (1992), pp. 34-5). Compost thermometers are available for measuring
compost temperature. |
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In later stages, other organisms, will assist with
pile decomposition, including:
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