Composting is an ancient practice; chemical fertilizer is a recent invention.

Composting is an ancient practice;

chemical fertilizer is a recent invention.

Composting is a traditional farm practice passed on to us 

since the start of agriculture.

 Dr Abe V Rotor

Make your own organic fertilizer for home gardening. 

Urban Home Composting 

Composting is a nature-friendly activity, a key to successful gardening and farming. It is both hobby and business. It is art and science. It supports sanitation and beautification programs. It is a small, but noble contribution, to help our environment maintain its balance. 

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog 

avrotor.blogspot.com

  

Compost is the best soil conditioner. Mix compost with soil medium in equal amounts for potted ornamental and herbal plants.

But it's complicated, what with little scientific background - can one produce compost? Many people ask.  Will it not invite pests and vermin to breed?   No, in fact you get rid of garbage that may just accumulate, and not picked up regularly. Have compost and garbage bins separately: The part that is not compostable is picked up by the garbage collector. 

Keep those that are raw materials for composting. Everyday you collect the following: dead leaves you sweep on the backyard and sidewalk, wastes and droppings of pets, peelings of fruits, overipe fruits and spent vegetables, ash from the stove, and top  or surface soil.  

What do these materials contribute? 

• Leaves and stems make up the bulk, they provide the main materials and "bed"

• Animal and poultry wastes and droppings, food leftovers, provide high nutriernts in the compost..

• Fruit peelings, overripe fruits, vegetable wastes, provide enzymes that hasten composting. Papain in papaya is the best enzymatic digester.

• Top soil contains microorganisms such as Trichoderma, Acetobacter, Bacillus, . that serve as inoculants, in lieu of commercial inoculants.

• Ash contains Potassium, serves as filler for easier tilth.

• For the bin, a 50- to 100-gal unserviceable plastic bin with holes and cracks for aeration and drainage. 

• Avoid putting plastics, cellophanes, broken glass, cloth and the like.

Please follow this procedure we adopt at home in Quezon City. The photos hereunder were taken from our home project. 

• Place plastic bin in a shady corner, check drainage to keep the place clean. Cover properly but must not be airtight.

• Make it a routine to put into the bin the materials mentioned, by layer with this sequence: 1) leaves (compress to 2 or 3 inches), 2) kitchen wastes and droppings, 3) soil (scatter liberally, about one liter). Water regularly and moderately (sprinkle, 1 liter)

• Repeat layering. Notice content subsides naturally. Don't disturb. Don't overwater. Probe to test slight rise of temperature. This is good sign. Composting is going on.

• Sometimes you forget feeding the bin regularly. That's all right. Nature is not in a hurry. You can have your compost after six months. But you'll be surprised to find the compost at bottom of the bin ready for harvesting earlier.

• You can either invert the whole bin and harvest from the bottom while the top is yet to mature. Or, cut a convenient hole on the side near the bottom and harvest, allowing the content to subside.

• There is such term as tempering (or seasoning), or in the case of wine, aging. Composting follows this natural process. Look for indicators:

1. Earthworms start building their nest, occasional presence of centipede, sowbug, millipede, beetles. 

2. There is no odor of decomposition, absolutely - just the musky smell of earth. 

3. There is no increase in temperature. It means heat generation by decomposition has completely stopped. 

4. Original materials, specially leaves, have totally lost their structure, which means cells including their cellulose walls have been broken down. 

5. Spongy consistency. Have a handful sample, pressed in your palm, then open. The sample simply crumble softly. 

7. Use compose soonest possible, Mix with ordinary soil as medium for potted plants. When using solely, don't apply directly at the base of plant. Apply in furrow and cover with soil to prevent direct exposure to sun and air. Water properly. 

8. Don't expect plants to respond immediately. Unlike commercial Urea which releases nutrients immediately and one-time, compost releases nutrients slowly with the rhythm of the plant's development. In fact compost delivers trace elements (eg, Bo, Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn) which are very usefulness for the plants, and health of consumers -  environmental  balance as well.

9. Compost builds a sub-ecosystem within the root zone where beneficial organisms from earthworm to Rhizobium form a self-sustaining community.  Such community is enhance by good aeration, tilth, moisture absorption and retention, capillarity (rise of water between soil particles), adsorption as well as polarity of ions, etc. No commercial fertilizer can provide these benefits. 

10. Compost moderates sudden temperature change, acidity and alkalinity levels, ion exchange (eg, Free Nitrogen and Nitrate (NO3), 
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Composting is a natural, biological process in which microorganisms use organic materials as food and leave a residue of digested organic matter that is nearly completely decomposed. Composting is the same as the decomposition that happens to all living things when they die, except that you control composting in order to provide optimum conditions for the microbes, and the process takes place in a specific location so that you can collect the product.                                             - Eric Sideman, Ph.D. Composting in the Back Yard or on a Small Farm
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Spread compost on lawn. Put more on balding and yellowing areas. Don't expose compost under the sun without watering the lawn. The earthworm is the most reliable bio-indicator of a mature compost (or a part of it). Compost may lose its nutrients specially Nitrogen if it is not harvested and used in time. 

Compost bins for the backyard and small farm. The most practical compost bin for the home is an unserviceable plastic baldi. Below, raw materials (leaves, pet and kitchen waste, soil), and finished product after 3 to 6 months. 

What's the key to making compost? It's nature's process, we call it microbial decomposition. The agents of decomposition are countless from insects to bacteria, fungi, and porotozoans. The act on the organic materials as their food, releasing digestive enzymes that break the organic compounds (protein, carbohydrates, cellulose, fats, etc.) into inorganic compounds and elements. These are reassembled to become nutrients for the next generation of living things - which include the vegetables, herbal and ornamental plants we grow in our gardens and fields. ~ 

Nature's Way of Composting

 

Rosette arrangement of leaves of Fortune Plant (Dracaena fragrans) works like a funnel, trapping dead leaves, droppings of birds, reptiles, bats and insects. It serves also as a watershed, collecting water from rain and dewdrops that condense from fog and mist. All these are ingredients in making compost at varying levels and stages at the axils of the leaves. The final product is humus, which fertilizes the plant itself, epiphytes and lianas, and generally the surrounding environment.

Aerial composting holds the secret of self-sustaining ecosystems where epiphytes and lianas, orchids and bromeliads grow on trees and rocks. The final and stable product which is humus, is carried down by rain and gravity to fertilize yet another community of organisms on the ground and understorey levels. Which explains the high population density and rich diversity of organisms in rainforests.

This tree-borne bomeliad has a crown that collects water to form a pool that spills down to the lower leaf axils forming a series of pools where insects, frogs and even fish breed. So with a host of protist organisms. It is a compost tank, where the final products of composting are absorbed as plant nutrients by the plant and the host tree and its symbionts. The organic matter ultimates becomes a part of the forest floor.

 

Organic matter is a product of composting leaves and other plant debris. It is harvested as natural fertilizer for growing vegetables, ornamentals and various crops in gardens and farms. Commercial organic matter is increasing in demand as natural or organic food is becoming popular in lieu of chemically grown crops.
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Increasing consciousness of the public on the dangers posed by chemical fertilizers and pesticides has led to the fast growing popularity of natural farming. Actually the key to natural farming is the use of organic fertilizer derived from composting farm wastes such as animal manure and plant residues after harvest. Although comparatively low in nutrient value, organic fertilizer improves soil structure and tilth, enhances biological and nutrient balance, and supplies trace elements absent in commercial fertilizers, thus improves farm’s productivity in the long run.
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Lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid Dr Abe V Rotor and Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

                                         

Composting is a traditional farm practice, passed on to us since the start of agriculture on the Fertile Crescent, and most likely in other places like ancient China, many centuries BC. The principle involved is the same, although the technique has been improved a lot.   

There are three components to produce ideal compost: 

• animal manure (and chicken droppings), 
• crop residues (hay and stalks, weeds, fruit peelings, etc), and 
• loamy soil.  

All you need to do is to make several layers of these materials one on top of another, either in the form of a pile (preferred during the rainy season), or in a shallow pit (for the dry season), of any dimension that is suitable. Install some bamboo tubes to serve as posts and  “breathers” to allow air circulation in the pile or pit. The breathers work like chimney.  Punch the nodes to make a continuous tube, and make several holes staggered along its length. Moisten the pile as needed.  Too much water is not advisable.

Composting also uses seaweeds (like Sargassum) that litter coastlines; scums and algae growing on lakes and rivers; rinds and peelings of cacao, coffee, pineapple, and the like; corn cobs and husk, rice stalk and rice hull ash in rice and corn lands.  Then we have a lot of coconut husk and leaves, and copra meal wastes in coconut areas; guano (bat droppings) in caves; and a long list of materials from wastes in fishery, slaughterhouses, food manufacturing.  Lest we forget, the biodegradable materials by tons and tons which urban centers are turning out every day. The biggest bulk is domestic waste which the Chinese have developed a technique to converting it into humanure for their farms and gardens. A recent composting technique is with the use of biological agents like the earthworm (vermiculture). 

To hasten composting, farmers practice microbial inoculation with Trichoderma (fungus), Rhizobia (bacterium), Anabaena, (Blue Green Alga),   Nostoc (also a BGA), Saccharomyces (yeast, an Ascomycetes fungus), and many other microorganisms ubiquitously occurring in nature.        

What really is the secret of compost in enriching the soil?  Here are the benefits.

1.  It contains both major and minor elements (chemical fertilizers are specific only to the elements they supply). 

2. The release of nutrients is slow but continuous, allowing both crop and soil to adjust properly. 

3. The organic content of compost improves tilth (ease in cultivation), as well as the physical structure of the soil. 

4. Compost enhances favorable microbiological condition of the soil.  Fifth, it improves retention of soil moisture. 

5. It makes working on the soil a lot easier because of its porous nature.   

6. It stabilizes soil acidity (pH). 

7. It is not only a good source of income; it is a dollar save.

8. Composting, sanitation and beautification complement one another. ~

With spiraling cost of chemical fertilizer and its cumulative residues that pollute the rivers down to the sea, and destroy the ecosystem, it is time to go back to this ancient practice of composting.  It is the solution to many of our problems in meeting our need for enough and healthy food, and in helping keep the balance of nature.~ 

 

            Newly harvested compost ready for use; composting of kitchen wastes.

                               Practical Composting of Old Leaves

 

 

Harvesting compost from leaves of mango.  Living with Nature Center

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur 

(Acknowledgement: References; Living with Nature by AVR;  Internet, Wikipedia

Symbiosis of Drynaria Fern and Acacia Tree - More than Commensalism

I Like Drynaria for 13 Reasons

Symbiosis of Drynaria Fern and Acacia Tree

 - More than Commensalism

Dr Abe V Rotor

Drynaria fern covers the limbs of an acacia tree. Tagudin, Ilocos Sur

I like Drynaria for her feathery foliage in the distance like the proud peacock and the turkey trotting to win favors of their flock;

I like Drynaria for her sturdiness in the wind, cooling the summer air and keeping the coolness of the Amihan in December;

I like Drynaria for her resiliency, bending with the limbs and branches, turning upside down and up again the next season;

I like Drynaria for sleeping through the dry months while her host takes the show, verdant green, robust and free;

I like Drynaria for resurrecting from a state of torpor, as if she defies death and perpetuates life while others simply die;

I like Drynaria for her economy in sustenance, living on captured dirt and rain, yet discreet of such austere living;

I like Drynaria for touching the clouds with her host taming it to fall as rain and shared by all creatures around;

I like Drynaria for her ability to multiply fast through invisible spores, in one sweep of the wind are sown in far places;

I like Drynaria for its benevolence to many creatures, tenant and transient, keeping their brood in her bosom;

I like Drynaria giving the martinez birds a home, where it sings in joy and praise and thanksgiving for a beautiful world;

I like Drynaria for keeping company to passersby, to tired souls in the shadow with her host, in dark and unlikely hours;

I like Drynaria for giving off oxygen and taking in carbon that poisons the earth and living things, among them no less than I;

I like Drynaria, for caring its host and vice versa through symbiosis - a perfect bond that humans have yet to learn someday. ~

Martines birds, long thought to be extinct locally, find shelter and home with the Drynaria, and the host acacia tree.

Old Home and Workshop Museum

Old Home and Workshop Museum 

Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia

Don't throw away unserviceable and antiquated tools and equipment. They make a unique museum collection, hallmark of old folks' technology, craft and industry.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Old and antiquated, these are now replaced by modern tools.  Not really.

The principles of physics will never change, only designs do.  

Familiar they may seem to us,

DIY (Do It Yourself) guys;

from ruler to caliper to trowel,

 but how many know them well? 

 

Where have all the old kitchen wares and equipment gone?

Modernization is the name of the game today;

the price of change, and willingness to pay.  

  

The  toolshed once treasure of the workman, now an old man, or gone..

Strange these tools are to the new generation,

trained with white collar job and automation.

yet these make an enduring link of tradition

with our changing world in abiding union.  

 

  

  

   

Quaintness of a home is preserved in old collection and sweet memory. 

Work or hobby makes little distinction.   

irrespective of purpose and function. 

What matters most is the happy thought

of achieving and fulfilling, and both.

t

*Redcliffe is a town in the City of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. The author and family visited the Redcliffe Museum in 2023 where he got the idea of writing this article.

The Garden Pond - Microcosm of an Ecosystem.

The Garden Pond

Microcosm of an Ecosystem

"An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life. Ecosystems contain biotic or living, parts, as well as abiotic factors, or nonliving parts. Biotic factors include plants, animals, and other organisms." - National Geographic Society

Dr Abe V Rotor

Garden Pond at the author's residence in  Lagro QC

with surrounding wall mural painted by the author

Are you aware that having a pond to complement your garden is beneficial to you and members of your family? This is so because a pond represents an ecosystem. As such it has the basic features of a functioning ecological unit. 

The pond is a field laboratory for microbiology. Plankton organisms (PHOTO) are revealed under the microscope. In their diversity, a whole new world unfolds - a world man did not know before Anton van Leuwenhoek introduced the science of microscopy sometime in the 17th century.

There are monerans and protists, the world’s oldest- yet simplest- organisms. It is a wonder why these organisms did not evolve and develop into complex organisms like the plants and animals we know - and why they are ensconced in a confined environment such as a pond.

The microcosm of the ocean is the pond; it is like “seeing the world in a grain of sand.” And for the eons of time and generations these organisms have passed through, it is like “holding eternity in the palm of the hand.” Thus the pond is the representation of our biological world, manifesting how little we know of God’s immense wisdom contained in a drop of water that teems with myriads of micro-organisms. 

Anyone who takes time to sit by the pond could lose his thoughts in the larger realm of nature and the countryside. Cattail (PHOTO) and umbrella plants rise among the floating water lilies, whose pink to purple flowers break the monotony of the pond scape. But the centerpiece of the pond is a community of white-flowered lotus or purple flowered Nymphaea. 

From the deep green water, one may be surprised to see a school of colorful carp and tilapia, stirring at the slightest hint of company and food. Their graceful movement creates gentle waves and soft lapping sounds against the shore line. To an observant eye, small fish like Poecilia and rainbow fish form small schools that inhabit the edges of the pond and its tiny islets and coves formed by aquatic plants and stone. These tiny fish are always mindful about staying out of the path of their large counterpart. Other than small insects that fall into the water, they subsist on the latter’s morsels.

All these illustrate how the principles of food chain, food web and food pyramid work in nature.

At the bottom of the pond lies the harmless, independent janitor fish (PHOTO) known for their role of eating crust of algae and scum. That is why they are important in keeping aquariums and ponds clean. In the process, they convert organic matter into detritus, the pond’s natural fertilizer, and are the source of sediments that accumulate and become a foothold of aquatic plants. Seldom to these helpful creatures rise to the surface, but if you want to see these shy, docile fish, peer into the water on a clear day when the sun is directly above, and you will find them lying prostrate at the bottom, like sunken ship on a sea floor.

The pond relieves tension. When you need to relax, observe the turtles basking in the morning sun, stretching their neck and appendages. Or watch those cooling off on a hot day, their nostrils and carapace protruding out of the water. Nearby, a toad might patiently sit on a leaf pad, sheepishly eyeing an unwary insect for its next meal, its long tongue coiled like spring, ready to strike like lasso.

Bees buzz from flowers to flower, while dragonflies - red, green and brown - hover prettily above the water as they search for a suitable place to lay eggs that will hatch into aquatic nymphs that feed on mosquito wrigglers and Daphnia. Strung on leaves and stalks are spider webs glistening with dewdrops. These resemble strings of diamonds that will soon turn into nearly invisible death traps for the hoppers, mosquitoes and flies that stray into them. 

Frogs are permanent residents in a small pond, singing at the onset of rain and exchange love calls throughout the breeding season. They remain quiet in summer as they aestivate and wait for the rains to come again.

Kataba or canal fish (Poecillia) PHOTO thrives without any care, as long as there is water, living on plankton and insects that fall into the pond or attracted by a nearby vigil light. Whenever there is stagnant pools around, I put a pair of these mosquito-eating fish and that solve the possibility of malaria or dengue to occur in our the place. Our pond serves as kataba nursery of sort; we give relatives, friends and students who wish to grow kataba in their own aquarium or pond.

The green water in the pond is a good hunting ground for microscopic flora and fauna. With a microscope on hand I have discovered a lot of planktons, many of which are unfamiliar. The green color is made up of millions of one-celled green algae PHOTO which constitute the pasture of zooplankton organisms. They are the autotrophs, the base of the food pyramid in a pond ecosystem.

Would a backyard fill in the vacuum created by our wanton destruction of natural resources, the rape of our forests, the draining of swamps, the conversion of mangrove to fisheries? Or the gross negligence in keeping our lakes and rivers full and clean – or at least for having nature to take care of them? I doubt. But the little Eden each one of us make in our backyards would collectively recreate little by little that bigger Paradise we lost, when and to what extent we can only surmise and struggle with will and resolve. It is our little contribution in regaining the Lost Paradise. ~

We look for nature, but nature comes to us, too. We can make the backyard a sanctuary of living things. It becomes a corner of Eden so to speak, in the inner eyes of the English poet John Milton, in the soul searching music of Beethoven, and in the quasi-spiritual reverence for life of John Muir and Aldo Leopold. ~

Acknowledgement with thanks: Internet images