Sonoma Mountain Institute

Here are some recent photos from a few root assessments conducted this week.

I am sending off four samples to Efren tomorrow to compare evaluations. He returns from his conference in Spain early next week, so I should hear the results by the end of next week.

Photos of a sample taken from RED pile on 12/11/07.

Just for interest. Visuals of active decomposition. Photos taken at 400x magnification plus camera zoom.

Created a new compost pile on 12/03/07, using similar methods and ingredients as for previous piles. The ID tag for this pile is C-120307-RED. It has been a little slow to heat up, especially after changing its location. Temperatures should hopefully increase after adding more alfalfa on 12/10. Generally I’d say this ended up being a low-nitrogen pile; we may need to add alfalfa consistently the next several times turning.

Recipe:

• 30% Oak wood chips
• 25% Willow wood chips – includes leaves and ramial twigs
• 10% Rice hay – shredded, partially decomposing in pile
• 10% Dried cut grass – some shredded and some not, also partially decomposing
• 10% Freshly cut greens – forbs growing around compost pad
• 10% Garden greens – mostly beet greens, bermuda grass, & purslane
• 5% Alfalfa – 1/3 bale
• Amendments – oyster shell, rock dust, coarse dry humics, crab, baby oatmeal

Temperatures for C-120307-RED, first 9 days

I averaged and formatted the compost temperature datasets from 2006 and 2007 to allow graphing. The tables are on the fileshare under the Compost folder and can be easily manipulated to show whatever you wish (different piles, time periods, alfalfa addition, etc). Here are two examples, from 2006 and 2007.

Tree Experiment Background:
In June of 2006, Sonoma Mountain Institute (SMI) began a replicated study on the effects of five different biological treatments for improving the health of diseased oak woodlands.

Tree Experiment Data Sheet

The experiment treatments (outlined below) were applied to three separate blocks of six plots each on the SMI property, and replicated in another block of six plots at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC).
The treatment applications were:
• White Plot: Control / Water
• Red Plot: Water plus 1 unit of fungal food
• Green Plot: ACT (Aerated Compost Tea)

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