FOUR STAGES OF COMPOST

There is a huge difference between a backyard humanure composter and a municipal composter. Municipal composters handle large batches of organic materials all at once, while backyard composters continuously produce a small amount of organic material every day. Municipal composters, therefore, are “batch” composters, while backyard composters tend to be “continuous” composters. When organic material is composted in a batch, four stages of the composting process are apparent. Although the same phases occur during continuous composting, they are not as apparent as they are in a batch, and, in fact, they may be occurring concurrently rather than sequentially.

The four phases include: 1) the mesophilic phase; 2) the thermophilic phase; 3) the cooling phase; and 4) the curing phase.

Compost bacteria combine carbon with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and energy. Some of the energy is used by the microorganisms for reproduction and growth, the rest is given off as heat. When a pile of organic refuse begins to undergo the composting process, mesophilic bacteria proliferate, raising the temperature of the composting mass up to 44°C (111°F). This is the first stage of the composting process. These mesophilic bacteria can include E. coli and other bacteria from the human intestinal tract, but these soon become increasingly inhibited by the temperature, as the thermophilic bacteria take over in the transition range of 44°C-52°C (111°F-125.6°F).

This begins the second stage of the process, when thermophilic microorganisms are very active and produce a lot of heat. This stage can then continue up to about 70°C (158°F),³⁰ although such high temperatures are neither common nor desirable in backyard compost. This heating stage takes place rather quickly and may last only a few days, weeks, or months. It tends to remain localized in the upper portion of a backyard compost bin where the fresh material is being added, whereas in batch compost, the entire composting mass may be thermophilic all at once.

After the thermophilic heating period, the humanure will appear to have been digested, but the coarser organic material will not. This is when the third stage of composting, the cooling phase, takes place. During this phase, the microorganisms that were chased away by the thermophiles migrate back into the compost and get back to work digesting the more resistant organic materials. Fungi and macroorganisms such as earthworms and sowbugs that break the coarser elements down into humus also move back in.

After the thermophilic stage has been completed, only the readily available nutrients in the organic material have been digested. There’s still a lot of food in the pile, and a lot of work to be done by the creatures in the compost. It takes many months to break down some of the more resistant organic material in compost such as “lignin” which comes from wood materials. Like humans, trees have evolved with a skin that is resistant to bacterial attack, and in a compost pile those lignins resist breakdown by thermophiles. However, other organisms, such as fungi, can break down lignin, given enough time; since they don’t like the heat of thermophilic compost, they simply wait for things to cool down before beginning their job.

The final stage of the composting process is called the curing, aging, or maturing stage, and it is a long and important one. Commercial composting professionals often want to make their compost as quickly as possible, usually sacrificing the compost’s curing time. One municipal compost operator remarked that if he could shorten his compost time to four months, he could make three batches of compost a year instead of only the two he was then making, thereby increasing his output by 50%. Municipal composters see truckloads of compost coming in to their facilities daily, and they want to make sure they don’t get inundated with organic material waiting to be composted. Therefore, they feel a need to move their material through the composting process as quickly as possible to make room for the new stuff coming in. Household composters don’t have that problem, although there seem to be plenty of backyard composters who are obsessed with making compost as quickly as possible. However, the curing, aging, or maturing of the compost is a critically important stage of the compost-making process. And, as in wine-making, an important element to figure into the equation is patience.

A long curing period (e.g., a year after the thermophilic stage) adds a safety net for pathogen destruction. Many human pathogens only have a limited period of viability in the soil, and the longer they are subjected to the microbiological competition of the compost pile, the more likely they will die a swift death.

Immature compost can be harmful to plants. Uncured compost can produce phytotoxins (substances toxic to plants), can rob the soil of oxygen and nitrogen, and can contain high levels of organic acids. So relax, sit back, put your feet up, and let your compost reach full maturity before you even think about using it.

Source: The Humanure Handbook. Jenkins Publishing, PO Box 607, Grove City, PA 16127. To order, phone: 1-800-639-4099.
http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/

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