Loved seeing your Border Collie rounding up the chickens! Our Border Collie used to round up our children when they were on their swings swinging and every so often nip at their behinds! Great dog for a homestead. Thank you for this information. Seems easy to put together.
Great system. Never saw the need to add worms. They move in without any help even in my rotating tumbler composts sitting 1m above ground. Apperantly the climb the metal pipes it stands on or gets in threw materials put in. But as soon as cools down they are there by the thousands year after year. Thats how i got worms gor my wintertime indoors wormbins.
@@CountryLivingExperience just lay a ten foot piece of black drainage perforated pipe. On the ground. And build a pile over it. Takes two seconds. Way cheaper than cattle grate and tarp. If you need a border, just grab fallen branches or smallish dead trees, or rotten lumber and lay a rectangle around it.
@@CountryLivingExperience, could you tell us what state or growing zone you're in when you do your video descriptions? I'm in zone 9, and I'm trying to figure out which techniques have been tried in climates similar to my own.
I have 3 of these built with slightly different materials. I use 6 foot tall fencing for the stabilisation of the inner and outer ring. I use poultry netting(chicken wire on the inside of the outer ring, and on the outer side of the inner ring. This is my first year using this design. I used the original Johnson-Su design, and use about 2 5 gallon buckets of this material to start the reaction. This is a good video. Well explained.
Another great video brother. Had the same thing happen this fall when I was putting the garden to bed. My tiller smokes like crazy, but works...until it didn't. Started with air, then gas, then spark...plug was covered with black crud. Wire brush and back in business. I have made a conscious effort to learn how to fix anything that breaks. The last 5 years has been a great education.
Thank you. It is amazing how many skills one will acquire when they need to. A few years back, I had no idea of the breadth of knowledge I would need to live this lifestyle.
@@CountryLivingExperience I like that I live in ND. Many gas stations here carry non-ethanol. I prefer to run non-ethanol in everything. One of these days (after the vacuum leak is repaired) I'd like to put non-ethanol in for a month, then run the ethanol blend for a month, and see which one helps me get better mileage.
WOW~!!!!! Someone used the word "utilize" correctly~!!!! KUDOS FOR GOOD GRAMMAR~!!!!!!! Most people don't use the word "utilize" correctly because they think it means the same as the word "use." It does not. Good for you~!!
I built one years ago best compost I ever made. Worth the hassle but make it 4 times bigger and fill it with a backhoe 😊 use 4 inch perforated pipe too only took 3 months wet wood chips / wet leaves
I landscaped here in Abilene for 20 years and about 19.5 of that was removing Bermuda from beds lol. im gonna try this method eventually, thanks for the tips
I took a bunch of leaves in a large garbage bags watered them waited a couple of months and got a really good fungal growth. After that I mix it with my compost, and it was amazing the growing results of the plants they really took off. The leaf size was about three times as large as Other plants in the yard
If any of you have oak trees or other nut trees that u don't harvest I've found putting the nuts through the chipper makes an amazing mulch & seed starter medium. I found if I store the whole nuts in a garbage can (do not cover) w holes drilled for water drainage it makes a richer compost from the fungi & seeds that sprouted
Interesting tip, I'll try that. What to do with all the leaves though? ! My oak tree is 122 years old and still going strong. It sheds so many leaves that don't want to break down ever. In some areas I don't mind but I don't want it all over the garden.
@@jinde75 if you give em a pass or two with a mower they tend to break down faster as you ruin the leaves structure. Will require you to at least rake them out of the garden if they're dropping off the tree there, but in the lawn mixed with end of year grass + the leaves makes a great combo once you pass over em with a mower once or twice.
@@jinde75 I do couple things. 1) I mulch them & pick them up in the bagger & make hills where they can get moldy - in spring we'd spread it in the areas where we didn't have trees. (Lived in Ozark mountains secluded in forest). Ur ground was complete rock, spreading the mulched leaves for 20 yrs we built up soil. - some of the mulched leaves I'd run thru the chipper to break down finer. Those leaves r used on top of my raised garden beds & pots to help hold moisture in & keep roots cool. - after garden season over I'd put heavy layer of leaves on raised beds to help feed the soil & stop corrosion - soil from the pots went back into a compost bin to get nutrients back. The mulched leaves along w other organics r added to the different bins - I also use the fine mulch leaves around the outside of raised beds & pots. This helped keep it cool, stop soil loss & retain moisture. It'll break down lively over the summer & I throw that rich mulch into compost w soil from pots Now I live in the burbs (I miss my forest). I have small property so I'm not using all my fancy tools - I'll go over the leaves w mower several times to get nice & fine. Then I'll put the bag on to collect mulched leaves & use as I started above. In the lower part of my back yard I just throw the talked leaves on the ground down one side. This enables them to mold & it keeps the ground from freezing for my hens. The hens will work the leaves & do real good job mulching than up. I just turn them every now & then If I'm building a new raised bed I throw in pine cones & down down branches. Then I fill w the big mulched moldy leaves until bed approx 60% full. I think put approx 3" layer of my chicken compost. I water that down real well, walk on to get out air pockets. Then I fill approx 4" w my soil compost & top w few inches bagged dirt. I haven't made enough dirt here so I have to suppliment w bag. I hope this helps- pretty long... Remember "Leaves leave on the ground"
I clean my hen house nearly everyday vs twice yr & throw manure, chips, & straw into compost. Reason being I built a 16x12 full wall giving herbs 4x12 & rest is my tools & work bench that doesn't smell. I layer with leaves, kitchen scraps, & garden clippings. My chicken r always in the compost foraging which helps break material down & constantly turning
I have been looking for something to suit me for over 12 months and then I find you. This is awesome and also the way you explain everything is good for beginners like me. Thank you 😊
at 7:53 I see your collie has run a literal racetrack around the coop out of obsession. We have a GSP that did the same thing in our back yard. Obsessively running the same thing over and over from not being used for the job, at the intensity required, that hundreds of years of breading put into his DNA. We got him on an SSRI med (think Prozac) and he is a TOTALLY different dog. It took some convincing for our vet, as they wanted to keep prescribing sedatives, but after 6 weeks or so for the med to stabilize his obsession he completely stopped running his circuit. He still enjoys the birds, squirrels, and lizards he originally ran that circuit looking for... but he doesn't have to obsessively run the circuit anymore. TOTALLY different, and MUCH happier dog. Just in case it helps!
Why not just work your dog? Satisfy his instinct instead of just medicating the dog so you can continue to not give your dog the work and exercise it requires!?
PVC pipes with small holes drilled in them, lay horizontally on the ground, glue them together with fittings culminating in a air hose fitting outside the pile. Fill with leaves, etc, then once a month. use an air compressor to blast air into the pipes and in turn aerating the pile. That's the Jackson Lu composteractor!
It would benefit greatly from more frequent blasting. A great number of studies show ~80% of the oxygen is consumed in 15 minutes and close to 100% in 28 minutes.
Very clear explanation. Kudos on that! I think you've given one of the best videos out there for this. Two potential issues? Hopefully the method works perfectly, but IF you get bad smells you might consider: 1. You might end up with > 70% water this way. Too high will drown the biology, which was the reason Dr D-J used a wheelbarrow to drain excess water off while filling the bioreactor. 2. The extremely small chips might (or might not) compact down too much. If they do that, the air flow will be cut off and it'll go anaeriobic (smelly and wrong biology).
For what it's worth.....we set up our bioreactor with drip irrigation in mid summer 2021, we are in Canada just north of Idaho border. Moderate winters and plenty of snow, it can go down to -20C. When it got close to freezing we drained the irrigation pipes and just left the bioreactor alone for the following months. The snow kept it moist. We opened the bioreactor in June 2022 and apart from a thin outer margin of undecomposed material due to it drying out (we didn't set up the irrigation again) the interior was wonderfully broken down into a friable dark and fragrant soil that we mixed into our raised beds. Maybe we were just lucky, but we will be doing this again.
Built one to your plans, layer of chips, layer of spent beer mash from local brewery, layer of cardboard ran through chipper, repeat till full. Got good and hot , level has dropped 1ft. Cooled off so adding worms. Works great
just harvested mine today. Built it like yours. It was chock full of the spider web looking mycorrhiza. Mine went for a little over a year. thank you for everything. :) this build is perfect, though, I didn't cover it.
If you're putting a lot in at once in multiple wheelbarrow loads, make a platform next to it with stacked pallets and a ramp. If you have enough to spiral around you can dump the whole barrow in. Just make sure to cap that center with some more screen first.
Awesome video covering the core topics... 70% moisture Carbon rich = fungally dominant (good) Nitrogen rich = bacterial dominant (perhaps not as 'good' in my interpretation) 12" or less distance to air flow for the compost material when constructing the reactor (central column plays a nice part in this; so basically distance from outer shell-circumference to inner shell-circumference should be < 24") Avoid letting it freeze if possible (this will be tough for mid-northern latitudes but forests in these areas are still healthy/fungally dominant) Great stuff... Last thing... For dimensions/ adequate air flow, take the outer diameter (in feet) minus 4 .. The answer is the minimum diameter (in feet) of the inner column needed to achieve the 12" air flow... This is likely sucking the fun out of a sort of simple but fun project; just letting anyone interested know
I learn something new every day. I add grass clippings to my brown materials because it really gets my compost pile cooking. I had no idea about trying to breed fungus only. On a side note, did you know leaf cutter ants aren't eating the leaves? They are growing fungus to eat. They actually farm fungus!
Another thing I have observed. The growers up north. Say. The forest makes the best top soil. I can go into the woods here in NWC Louisiana, and did down. Once I get past the covering on top. It goes to white sand. No feet deep of black wormed filled soil.
I love this video. as someone that grows mushrooms on the inside I was asking some questions about a lot of worries that we have to deal with most of the time. The first is contamination. I was wondering how you protect the system from contamination from outside bacteria which can ruin early the whole colony. But the cover in the size of the substrate kind of solves it. when growing our cultures we need to make sure everything is filtered including the air because a single bacteria can ruin an entire colony because it's much stronger. it takes over quickly. if the mycelium is that large it is going to be very very difficult for anything to take it over but it is much better to let the mycelium to fully take over because no matter how hard bacteria tries fungus is number one at breaking down wood and wood products.
@@CountryLivingExperience Yup, from that setup you wouldn't get much fruiting bodies. To fruit, fungi need moving air and drier conditions which this system is preventing which is perfect. The mycelium "roots" (not roots, but will use the term since it's easier to understand) will use any nutrients to create more "roots" to spread even more. It opens up the cells in tough to consume cellulose sources like wood and cornhusks so the worms will be able to consume easier. If you ever find a really old log that looks perfect until you try to lift or sit on and it just disintegrates on touch is the end product of fungus. There might be termites and bugs, but fungi is specialized at getting into every cranny and breaking down wood. I subbed and will be following!
huh, i turn my compost bin (around 500 gallon) by digging a trench down the center of it and giving it one hour between each section of trench moving from center outward and get a fairly similar effect in my final compost.
Great info thx!, well described easily followed, by a noob-ish on my 2nd no-till indoor run, and just 1-2 years of learning/planting veggies etc outdoors... I recently read Teaming With Microbes and learned a ton regarding fungal dominant composts; old growth forests being more fungal... May have to try this soon!, love my worm bins and reasy to add to/use less waste! Thx again
Very well done video, thank you. I’ve only recently dived more into the Johnson-Su process and watching Dr. Johnson’s presentation to CSU was all I needed to hear to be a believer. Everyone interested in composting should definitely check it out.
Hi John, liked your video and the way you built it. But have you looked at using a cattle panel, they come in 16 foot lengths and are cheaper than concrete reinforcement panels
Hello. My name is Eric not John. A cattle panel is very difficult to bend for most people. The cattle panel and reinforcement panel are almost the exact same price where I live.
I’ve filled a few bioreactors and buckets would be harder. For starters the venting tube(s) have a tendency to move around if heavy stuff is dumped/thrown on them and for another when lifting weight a shovel scoop allows you to lift the weight in smaller increments which is easier to sustain. Depending on the diameter, height, moisture level and whatever the ingredient mix of said bioreactor happens to be it’s easily over a ton. Buckets would still require shoveling the ingredients into the bucket to then be lifted. Also I see the value of using bricks to lift the pallet off of the ground but it raises it higher resulting in having to lift the mix a bit higher. The ideal height of the bioreactor is going to vary depending on how much space you have in your yard. A good way of increasing the fungal amount of the decomposition is tossing a few logs into the bioreactor as filling it and reusing them in future bioreactors. Tree stumps would work.
I switched to liquid compost bins using 55 gallon drums. fill it with 3/4 full of green stuff and the rest with water and local soil and leaf mold. Close and let rot a while.
I've seen this method for a few years but have decided to have quite a few heaps with just 1-2 scrap pipes with holes in them. Gives me more flexibility if I get new inputs in but I can just leave them as well (and costs nothing). Hope this method works well for yall.
the whole point of the middle tube is for aeration, right? And air can penetrate about 1 foot into the medium? In that case, for smaller spaces you can simply make a compost system without the middle tube by building a 2'x4' box, yes? Or just make a landscape fabric growbag 2' in diameter?
You have to check inside to see if it is at your desired consistency. This is not a hot process since it is a fungal compost. Only the initial day is hot.
good design and material use. Just started a new build. Central core chimney i feel can be smaller, (6”) in order to “draw” air well. ants are a big concern, as is keeping winter operating temperature above 60F/15C which might help it to mature quicker. initial inoculation may help too. ?
Man that is some great ideas I will use them with some modifications to be able to get the compost a little bit faster. I would like to give you a suggestion to get more fungus If you take some tomatoes of this cart and boil them like if you were going to make a sauce then leave them cover in the pot for a few days the number of days will depend on your climate when you see that you have a white covering over the tomatoes add them to the pile Greetings to you from Peten Guatemala
@@CountryLivingExperience been at this for 19 years. Started with a parsel that had only rocks. I have great abunce now I just want to help. Buy the way A little dirt in the pail may go a long ways
You should look up the jean pain method. Compost for no watering gardening. Heat for hot water and heating for 18 months or so. And lastly q huge amount of biogas for cooking and running an engine
Great video, thank you ! I love how you take potentially complicated projects and simplify them for folks like me ! What home wood chipper do you use? Thanks so much.
Where can I get this quality weed barrier cheaply? Also, how important is it to cover the unit up? Seems Like rain, sun and moisture would be more valuable than covering. Thanks, AWESOME Videos! Very well done.
Thank you. This is the one we use....DeWitt Sunbelt Weed Barrier: amzn.to/3i29Kpm. We did a review on it vs some other ones here....th-cam.com/video/v8UXtmKdBRk/w-d-xo.html
I disagree with disconnecting it from the earth. The medium will break down quicker if in contact with the earth. You could simply put a few PVC pipes with holes to supply air at ground level.
Does this hold up to cold winters? I'd assume you'd need to hand water, rather than use the drip irrigation, but any other issues besides that? Thanks for sharing this, looks intriguing!
This was not our experience. We set up our bioreactor with drip irrigation in mid summer 2021, we are in Canada just north of Idaho border. Moderate winters and plenty of snow, it can go down to -20C. When it got close to freezing we drained the irrigation pipes and just left the bioreactor alone for the following months. The snow kept it moist. We opened the bioreactor in June 2022 and apart from a thin outer margin of undecomposed material due to it drying out (we didn't set up the irrigation again) the interior was wonderfully broken down into a friable dark and fragrant soil that we mixed into our raised beds. Maybe we were just lucky, but we will be doing this again.@@CountryLivingExperience
I see that. He needs to be put inside the coop occasionally to settle him down. He will wear himself out otherwise. Likely he will not bother the birds and they will adjust. Thank you the the well put together content and the supporting reference material. Even a slow, old dog like me learned something new. All the very best.
So the nitrogen you are referring to I believe are the kitchen scraps. You could leave those out and have a conventional compost pile for disposal of the kitchen scraps. Would that work?
Great video, the best explanation of this method I have seen. Bravo. It is like a full time job though. Seems like a full time job rather. Regardless, thank you. I think your other methods would work slower, but not all that much but we will see! Hope I’m wrong
Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments and replies. I was wondering when the cattle panel is laid out flat what is the diameter/ measurements? Also, what are the measurements for the pallet?
@@CountryLivingExperience I guess I really need to know length so that when I bend it into the circle I’ll be able to fit it on the pallet. Thank you for your information and for your responsivenesses.
So I’ve currently made one of these and things have been composting for the past week. Some advice for people is to only water brown material and do not overwater. If you overwater, the compost will get too compact and might not allow itself to breathe meaning you create an anaerobic environment which is obviously not what you want since it will be a breeding ground for anaerobic bacteria. Also, for those that have done this in the past I have a question. How did it fair with killing off weed seeds? I know you’re not technically supposed to use seeds, but with my grass clippings it’s impossible to do so. I just worry the perimeter won’t get hot enough.
You aren't supposed to put green material in it. No grass clippings....so I don't have any problem with seeds. This is a fungally dominated process and not a hot process. It is the opposite. Correct on not overwatering the material though.
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
Loved seeing your Border Collie rounding up the chickens! Our Border Collie used to round up our children when they were on their swings swinging and every so often nip at their behinds! Great dog for a homestead. Thank you for this information. Seems easy to put together.
He is running around them every day all day. It is quite hilarious. Glad the info helped.
Came to the comment section to talk about the doggo! Awesome video, cute dog.
@@CountryLivingExperienceas a work dog, he’s doing what comes naturally and he’s probably happy to be doing it!
@@dr.froghopper6711 He is a happy boy running around them for sure.
Why cant more u tube tutorials be more like you bro right to the point and good speaker thanks
I appreciate it. Thanks.
Great system. Never saw the need to add worms. They move in without any help even in my rotating tumbler composts sitting 1m above ground. Apperantly the climb the metal pipes it stands on or gets in threw materials put in. But as soon as cools down they are there by the thousands year after year. Thats how i got worms gor my wintertime indoors wormbins.
Cool. Thanks.
We built our main compost out of wood pallets on 3 sides and lined the inside with chicken wire.
Yes we have to turn our pile.
Why not put a big mesh wire in the middle of a regular compost pile and just leave it? Would allow lots of air in
I added vented tubes to my compost pile and was surprised on how fast the stuff decomposed, full of Earthworms too.
Cool. It does help a lot.
@@CountryLivingExperience just lay a ten foot piece of black drainage perforated pipe. On the ground. And build a pile over it. Takes two seconds. Way cheaper than cattle grate and tarp. If you need a border, just grab fallen branches or smallish dead trees, or rotten lumber and lay a rectangle around it.
@@CountryLivingExperience, could you tell us what state or growing zone you're in when you do your video descriptions? I'm in zone 9, and I'm trying to figure out which techniques have been tried in climates similar to my own.
@@carsonrush3352 I am in Texas zone 8b
@@sasquatchrosefarts Excellent idea, thanks....John
Southampton UK 🇬🇧
I have 3 of these built with slightly different materials. I use 6 foot tall fencing for the stabilisation of the inner and outer ring. I use poultry netting(chicken wire on the inside of the outer ring, and on the outer side of the inner ring. This is my first year using this design. I used the original Johnson-Su design, and use about 2 5 gallon buckets of this material to start the reaction. This is a good video. Well explained.
Cool. Thank you.
Another great video brother. Had the same thing happen this fall when I was putting the garden to bed. My tiller smokes like crazy, but works...until it didn't. Started with air, then gas, then spark...plug was covered with black crud. Wire brush and back in business. I have made a conscious effort to learn how to fix anything that breaks. The last 5 years has been a great education.
Thank you. It is amazing how many skills one will acquire when they need to. A few years back, I had no idea of the breadth of knowledge I would need to live this lifestyle.
Non ethanol gas will make ALL of your equipment purr like a kitten...
@@earacheselbowsenoch6251 It would be nice if I could find some. Not easy.
@@CountryLivingExperience I like that I live in ND. Many gas stations here carry non-ethanol. I prefer to run non-ethanol in everything. One of these days (after the vacuum leak is repaired) I'd like to put non-ethanol in for a month, then run the ethanol blend for a month, and see which one helps me get better mileage.
@@CountryLivingExperience Home Depot sells it.
WOW~!!!!! Someone used the word "utilize" correctly~!!!! KUDOS FOR GOOD GRAMMAR~!!!!!!! Most people don't use the word "utilize" correctly because they think it means the same as the word "use." It does not. Good for you~!!
Thank you
I built one years ago best compost I ever made. Worth the hassle but make it 4 times bigger and fill it with a backhoe 😊 use 4 inch perforated pipe too only took 3 months wet wood chips / wet leaves
I landscaped here in Abilene for 20 years and about 19.5 of that was removing Bermuda from beds lol. im gonna try this method eventually, thanks for the tips
I know Abilene.... God bless you !
You're welcome. Yea, that Bermuda is the worst stuff for a gardener.
@@judymiller323 God bless you too, hope y'all have a great day
I took a bunch of leaves in a large garbage bags watered them waited a couple of months and got a really good fungal growth. After that I mix it with my compost, and it was amazing the growing results of the plants they really took off. The leaf size was about three times as large as Other plants in the yard
That is awesome. I used to do it that way too.
If any of you have oak trees or other nut trees that u don't harvest I've found putting the nuts through the chipper makes an amazing mulch & seed starter medium. I found if I store the whole nuts in a garbage can (do not cover) w holes drilled for water drainage it makes a richer compost from the fungi & seeds that sprouted
Interesting tip, I'll try that.
What to do with all the leaves though? ! My oak tree is 122 years old and still going strong. It sheds so many leaves that don't want to break down ever. In some areas I don't mind but I don't want it all over the garden.
Brilliant! Always use what's available and Nature will NOT disappoint!!
Thank you for sharing!
@@jinde75 if you give em a pass or two with a mower they tend to break down faster as you ruin the leaves structure. Will require you to at least rake them out of the garden if they're dropping off the tree there, but in the lawn mixed with end of year grass + the leaves makes a great combo once you pass over em with a mower once or twice.
@@jinde75 I do couple things.
1) I mulch them & pick them up in the bagger & make hills where they can get moldy
- in spring we'd spread it in the areas where we didn't have trees. (Lived in Ozark mountains secluded in forest). Ur ground was complete rock, spreading the mulched leaves for 20 yrs we built up soil.
- some of the mulched leaves I'd run thru the chipper to break down finer. Those leaves r used on top of my raised garden beds & pots to help hold moisture in & keep roots cool.
- after garden season over I'd put heavy layer of leaves on raised beds to help feed the soil & stop corrosion
- soil from the pots went back into a compost bin to get nutrients back. The mulched leaves along w other organics r added to the different bins
- I also use the fine mulch leaves around the outside of raised beds & pots. This helped keep it cool, stop soil loss & retain moisture. It'll break down lively over the summer & I throw that rich mulch into compost w soil from pots
Now I live in the burbs (I miss my forest). I have small property so I'm not using all my fancy tools
- I'll go over the leaves w mower several times to get nice & fine. Then I'll put the bag on to collect mulched leaves & use as I started above.
In the lower part of my back yard I just throw the talked leaves on the ground down one side. This enables them to mold & it keeps the ground from freezing for my hens. The hens will work the leaves & do real good job mulching than up. I just turn them every now & then
If I'm building a new raised bed I throw in pine cones & down down branches. Then I fill w the big mulched moldy leaves until bed approx 60% full. I think put approx 3" layer of my chicken compost. I water that down real well, walk on to get out air pockets. Then I fill approx 4" w my soil compost & top w few inches bagged dirt. I haven't made enough dirt here so I have to suppliment w bag.
I hope this helps- pretty long...
Remember "Leaves leave on the ground"
Great stuff here...and I love the border collie doing laps around the chicken coop in the background at 7:45.. lol
Thanks. He is a trip. Always running in circles 24/7
Good spot 😁
You say 'we' and 'you' where others might say 'I,' which makes you very likeable. I'm subscribing.
Thank you and welcome to the channel
I clean my hen house nearly everyday vs twice yr & throw manure, chips, & straw into compost. Reason being I built a 16x12 full wall giving herbs 4x12 & rest is my tools & work bench that doesn't smell. I layer with leaves, kitchen scraps, & garden clippings. My chicken r always in the compost foraging which helps break material down & constantly turning
Sleet again today here in the Arkansas Ozarks but I am looking forward to getting into the gardening part of my new place. Thanks for the ideas.
You're welcome. Good luck with the spring planting.
I have been looking for something to suit me for over 12 months and then I find you. This is awesome and also the way you explain everything is good for beginners like me. Thank you 😊
Awesome! You're welcome.
at 7:53 I see your collie has run a literal racetrack around the coop out of obsession. We have a GSP that did the same thing in our back yard. Obsessively running the same thing over and over from not being used for the job, at the intensity required, that hundreds of years of breading put into his DNA. We got him on an SSRI med (think Prozac) and he is a TOTALLY different dog. It took some convincing for our vet, as they wanted to keep prescribing sedatives, but after 6 weeks or so for the med to stabilize his obsession he completely stopped running his circuit. He still enjoys the birds, squirrels, and lizards he originally ran that circuit looking for... but he doesn't have to obsessively run the circuit anymore. TOTALLY different, and MUCH happier dog. Just in case it helps!
He is happy. I just need to get him some sheep to herd.
Why not just work your dog? Satisfy his instinct instead of just medicating the dog so you can continue to not give your dog the work and exercise it requires!?
I saw a video doing this sane build od a Johnson -Sue bioreactor, last spring.
We built 6 of them and they should be ready this spring!
Cool
PVC pipes with small holes drilled in them, lay horizontally on the ground, glue them together with fittings culminating in a air hose fitting outside the pile. Fill with leaves, etc, then once a month. use an air compressor to blast air into the pipes and in turn aerating the pile. That's the Jackson Lu composteractor!
Cool. You should do a video on that.
It would benefit greatly from more frequent blasting. A great number of studies show ~80% of the oxygen is consumed in 15 minutes and close to 100% in 28 minutes.
Very clear explanation. Kudos on that! I think you've given one of the best videos out there for this.
Two potential issues? Hopefully the method works perfectly, but IF you get bad smells you might consider:
1. You might end up with > 70% water this way. Too high will drown the biology, which was the reason Dr D-J used a wheelbarrow to drain excess water off while filling the bioreactor.
2. The extremely small chips might (or might not) compact down too much. If they do that, the air flow will be cut off and it'll go anaeriobic (smelly and wrong biology).
For what it's worth.....we set up our bioreactor with drip irrigation in mid summer 2021, we are in Canada just north of Idaho border. Moderate winters and plenty of snow, it can go down to -20C. When it got close to freezing we drained the irrigation pipes and just left the bioreactor alone for the following months. The snow kept it moist. We opened the bioreactor in June 2022 and apart from a thin outer margin of undecomposed material due to it drying out (we didn't set up the irrigation again) the interior was wonderfully broken down into a friable dark and fragrant soil that we mixed into our raised beds. Maybe we were just lucky, but we will be doing this again.
That is awesome! Sounds like it worked extremely well.
Compost bioreactor really sounds like something that I should build. Thanks!
You're welcome
Built one to your plans, layer of chips, layer of spent beer mash from local brewery, layer of cardboard ran through chipper, repeat till full. Got good and hot , level has dropped 1ft. Cooled off so adding worms. Works great
The one I built is not meant to be a hot process since it is fungally dominated. Glad it has worked out for you.
This is one of the absolute best ideas I've ever seen.
Thanks. I learned it from Dr. David Johnson
just harvested mine today. Built it like yours. It was chock full of the spider web looking mycorrhiza. Mine went for a little over a year. thank you for everything. :) this build is perfect, though, I didn't cover it.
You're welcome. Glad it worked well for you.
I enjoyed the composter
I enjoyed the dog running around the chickens even more 😂
Lol. Thanks
If you're putting a lot in at once in multiple wheelbarrow loads, make a platform next to it with stacked pallets and a ramp. If you have enough to spiral around you can dump the whole barrow in. Just make sure to cap that center with some more screen first.
I love your dog with such an earnest heart. What a good fur baby!
He is a good dog.
Thanks, this is the simplest and easiest Johnson reactor video I have found... shared around. cheers!
You’re welcome
Excellent teaching and opportunity for a soil nerd. Thank you.
Thank you
0:00 Start
2:00 Reactor materials
2:35 Background
3:42 Reactor build
8:24 Compost Ingredients
10:44 Vital step (don't miss)
It's 15 minutes.
If anyone is actually interested they will watch start to finish.
Dog running i cirkles! th-cam.com/video/bxH5PPO31F4/w-d-xo.html
7:49 Dog obsessing over chickens
Awesome video covering the core topics...
70% moisture
Carbon rich = fungally dominant (good)
Nitrogen rich = bacterial dominant (perhaps not as 'good' in my interpretation)
12" or less distance to air flow for the compost material when constructing the reactor (central column plays a nice part in this; so basically distance from outer shell-circumference to inner shell-circumference should be < 24")
Avoid letting it freeze if possible (this will be tough for mid-northern latitudes but forests in these areas are still healthy/fungally dominant)
Great stuff...
Last thing... For dimensions/ adequate air flow, take the outer diameter (in feet) minus 4 .. The answer is the minimum diameter (in feet) of the inner column needed to achieve the 12" air flow... This is likely sucking the fun out of a sort of simple but fun project; just letting anyone interested know
Thank you Scott
If you don't teach horticulture, you should. Great video. Love your channel.
I appreciate that. Thank you
I learn something new every day. I add grass clippings to my brown materials because it really gets my compost pile cooking. I had no idea about trying to breed fungus only.
On a side note, did you know leaf cutter ants aren't eating the leaves? They are growing fungus to eat. They actually farm fungus!
Cool!
Another thing I have observed. The growers up north. Say. The forest makes the best top soil. I can go into the woods here in NWC Louisiana, and did down. Once I get past the covering on top. It goes to white sand. No feet deep of black wormed filled soil.
Forest soil is amazing and works well.
Watched your presentation from Europe, I learned a lot.
Thank you
Have you tried this in a bulk bag, like the ones used for aggregate? that way they can be mobile with a forklift or small tractor using the loops.
I haven’t, but that is an excellent idea.
I've tried, but the problem is that they don't resist sunlight well.
maaaan, thanks for that Jonhson Sue discovery!
For sure!
I love this video. as someone that grows mushrooms on the inside I was asking some questions about a lot of worries that we have to deal with most of the time. The first is contamination. I was wondering how you protect the system from contamination from outside bacteria which can ruin early the whole colony. But the cover in the size of the substrate kind of solves it. when growing our cultures we need to make sure everything is filtered including the air because a single bacteria can ruin an entire colony because it's much stronger. it takes over quickly. if the mycelium is that large it is going to be very very difficult for anything to take it over but it is much better to let the mycelium to fully take over because no matter how hard bacteria tries fungus is number one at breaking down wood and wood products.
Thank you. I have not had any common types of mushrooms visible, just beneficial fungal growth.
@@CountryLivingExperience Yup, from that setup you wouldn't get much fruiting bodies. To fruit, fungi need moving air and drier conditions which this system is preventing which is perfect.
The mycelium "roots" (not roots, but will use the term since it's easier to understand) will use any nutrients to create more "roots" to spread even more. It opens up the cells in tough to consume cellulose sources like wood and cornhusks so the worms will be able to consume easier.
If you ever find a really old log that looks perfect until you try to lift or sit on and it just disintegrates on touch is the end product of fungus. There might be termites and bugs, but fungi is specialized at getting into every cranny and breaking down wood.
I subbed and will be following!
Great info. I have a Geobin, an adjustable cylinder with holes all around it. It makes sense to put the open mesh cylinder in the middle. Thanks!
You’re welcome
This is an AMAZING video! Thank you. Saving this one for when we have our homestead.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for developing my idea.
Now all I have to do is copy you.
huh, i turn my compost bin (around 500 gallon) by digging a trench down the center of it and giving it one hour between each section of trench moving from center outward and get a fairly similar effect in my final compost.
Great info thx!, well described easily followed, by a noob-ish on my 2nd no-till indoor run, and just 1-2 years of learning/planting veggies etc outdoors... I recently read Teaming With Microbes and learned a ton regarding fungal dominant composts; old growth forests being more fungal... May have to try this soon!, love my worm bins and reasy to add to/use less waste! Thx again
You're welcome.
Sounds like a good book, I have never heard of that one. I may have to pick up a copy.
Very well done video, thank you. I’ve only recently dived more into the Johnson-Su process and watching Dr. Johnson’s presentation to CSU was all I needed to hear to be a believer. Everyone interested in composting should definitely check it out.
Thank you so much
Thank you for another great video, I like this no turn method. Much love and respect from Utah
You're welcome. Have a blessed day!
Hi John, liked your video and the way you built it. But have you looked at using a cattle panel, they come in 16 foot lengths and are cheaper than concrete reinforcement panels
Hello. My name is Eric not John. A cattle panel is very difficult to bend for most people. The cattle panel and reinforcement panel are almost the exact same price where I live.
basidally a bioreactor design first seen by Dieago Footer...nice work...
A modification of Dr. Johnson's.
Thanks for sharing this awesome info
You’re welcome
Probably would be much easier to fill it using a bucket. Great video, thank you for the information!
You're welcome
I’ve filled a few bioreactors and buckets would be harder. For starters the venting tube(s) have a tendency to move around if heavy stuff is dumped/thrown on them and for another when lifting weight a shovel scoop allows you to lift the weight in smaller increments which is easier to sustain. Depending on the diameter, height, moisture level and whatever the ingredient mix of said bioreactor happens to be it’s easily over a ton. Buckets would still require shoveling the ingredients into the bucket to then be lifted. Also I see the value of using bricks to lift the pallet off of the ground but it raises it higher resulting in having to lift the mix a bit higher. The ideal height of the bioreactor is going to vary depending on how much space you have in your yard. A good way of increasing the fungal amount of the decomposition is tossing a few logs into the bioreactor as filling it and reusing them in future bioreactors. Tree stumps would work.
I switched to liquid compost bins using 55 gallon drums. fill it with 3/4 full of green stuff and the rest with water and local soil and leaf mold. Close and let rot a while.
That's fine but it is a completely different type of compost. We also do your method.
Very clear explanation. Can you make a video and post it for when you empty it?
I will do an update video when I has completed the process.
I've seen this method for a few years but have decided to have quite a few heaps with just 1-2 scrap pipes with holes in them. Gives me more flexibility if I get new inputs in but I can just leave them as well (and costs nothing). Hope this method works well for yall.
It worked well but improvements can always be made.
the whole point of the middle tube is for aeration, right? And air can penetrate about 1 foot into the medium? In that case, for smaller spaces you can simply make a compost system without the middle tube by building a 2'x4' box, yes? Or just make a landscape fabric growbag 2' in diameter?
Correct. You could do that.
Man that's f****** great thank you very much for that information thank you man God bless
You're welcome
Thank you! How do you know its done? What's the temperature?
You have to check inside to see if it is at your desired consistency. This is not a hot process since it is a fungal compost. Only the initial day is hot.
Merci from Montreal, Canada.
Je vous en prie
good design and material use. Just started a new build.
Central core chimney i feel can be smaller, (6”) in order to “draw” air well.
ants are a big concern, as is keeping winter operating temperature above 60F/15C which might help it to mature quicker.
initial inoculation may help too. ?
Great composter, and love the chicken hearder in the back.
Thank you. He does a good job.
Thank you for the video, I’m going to try it. Have you thought of cattle panels instead of concrete mesh?
I thought of cattle panels too! I’m going to give it a go using them.
The mesh is easier to bend. Those cattle panels are thick but you can give it a shot.
cattle panels are more expensive and harder to bend...are you seeing an advantage that I am not?
Love to see an update video on composting results so far!
It may take a while for that video. The process is fairly slow.
Man that is some great ideas I will use them with some modifications to be able to get the compost a little bit faster.
I would like to give you a suggestion to get more fungus
If you take some tomatoes of this cart and boil them like if you were going to make a sauce then leave them cover in the pot for a few days the number of days will depend on your climate when you see that you have a white covering over the tomatoes add them to the pile
Greetings to you from Peten Guatemala
Thanks.
Be careful mold and fungus are two totally different things.
@@CountryLivingExperience been at this for 19 years.
Started with a parsel that had only rocks.
I have great abunce now
I just want to help.
Buy the way
A little dirt in the pail may go a long ways
@@CountryLivingExperience beautiful mulcher, wish I had one.
You should look up the jean pain method. Compost for no watering gardening. Heat for hot water and heating for 18 months or so. And lastly q huge amount of biogas for cooking and running an engine
I have seen that.
Great video, thank you ! I love how you take potentially complicated projects and simplify them for folks like me ! What home wood chipper do you use? Thanks so much.
Thank you Judy. I appreciate it. That is a Powerhorse 420cc wood chipper. This is the one here: amzn.to/3rsM2e4
@@CountryLivingExperience many thaks... i order from your site on Amazon
@@judymiller323 Thank you so much Judy.
@@CountryLivingExperience so you don't use any until all composted? How do you get it out?
@@carissacantwell9355 We do not use any until it is completely composted. When done, simply lift off the outside cage.
Awesome iam going to make two of them thanks
Cool
Mine are 3 year composts , I got some ideas from your system thanks
You're welcome.
Where can I get this quality weed barrier cheaply? Also, how important is it to cover the unit up? Seems
Like rain, sun and moisture would be more valuable than covering. Thanks, AWESOME Videos! Very well done.
Thank you. This is the one we use....DeWitt Sunbelt Weed Barrier: amzn.to/3i29Kpm. We did a review on it vs some other ones here....th-cam.com/video/v8UXtmKdBRk/w-d-xo.html
Love the Border Collie running around in the background. Just for interest Border Collies don’t have owners, they have staff
Asheville Aussie 🐨
I disagree with disconnecting it from the earth. The medium will break down quicker if in contact with the earth. You could simply put a few PVC pipes with holes to supply air at ground level.
Your choice. Forget all the research.
Awesome. An easier way to do it. Thanks
You’re welcome
Can you post regular updates on this? I have seen a few TH-camrs post videos about setting it up, but none of them post updates.
Sure, I will try. Diego Footer does a great update on timing and % breakdown on his channel.
Good job give you your dignity. Well done mate
Thanks
Thank you Eric, I like your design, great tips and ideas. 👍
You're welcome. We also did a results video for this method.
Does this hold up to cold winters? I'd assume you'd need to hand water, rather than use the drip irrigation, but any other issues besides that? Thanks for sharing this, looks intriguing!
You're welcome. No actually, you cannot let it freeze or it will interrupt the process too much. Hand watering would work too.
@@CountryLivingExperience Hmmm, not sure how you could avoid it freezing during the winter. That's disappointing! I appreciate the response.
This was not our experience. We set up our bioreactor with drip irrigation in mid summer 2021, we are in Canada just north of Idaho border. Moderate winters and plenty of snow, it can go down to -20C. When it got close to freezing we drained the irrigation pipes and just left the bioreactor alone for the following months. The snow kept it moist. We opened the bioreactor in June 2022 and apart from a thin outer margin of undecomposed material due to it drying out (we didn't set up the irrigation again) the interior was wonderfully broken down into a friable dark and fragrant soil that we mixed into our raised beds. Maybe we were just lucky, but we will be doing this again.@@CountryLivingExperience
Great video, thank you for sharing all the great info
Thank you. Glad it was helpful!
I see that. He needs to be put inside the coop occasionally to settle him down. He will wear himself out otherwise. Likely he will not bother the birds and they will adjust.
Thank you the the well put together content and the supporting reference material. Even a slow, old dog like me learned something new. All the very best.
Can you use fresh cut chips from oak trees and azalea bushes ? also would it be ok to put in with the mix alfalfa pellets?
Those are more nitrogen rich. The compost will be different if adding a lot of nitrogen. This is fungally dominated compost with mostly carbons.
Thanks for sharing. So how to harvest the compost? You deconstruct the whole thing?
You're welcome.
To harvest, simply pull up the outer ring. No need to deconstruct.
Great build and talk about it all!
Thank you
This is so encouraging! Thank you! 😊 loving this system!!
You're welcome
So the nitrogen you are referring to I believe are the kitchen scraps. You could leave those out and have a conventional compost pile for disposal of the kitchen scraps. Would that work?
Kitchen scraps, grass, manure, etc. You could leave them out, just let it sit there, water it, and that would work.
Great video, the best explanation of this method I have seen. Bravo. It is like a full time job though. Seems like a full time job rather. Regardless, thank you. I think your other methods would work slower, but not all that much but we will see! Hope I’m wrong
Glad it was helpful.
It is a little more work than some methods but less that methods that have you turn the compost.
Good explanation on bio reactor and good herding by the doggo :)
Thank you. He does a good job.
Your dog loves running in circles hahaha look at that track
He is a trip.
Thanks for the info very useful
You’re welcome
I just found a plastic pallet and was planning on using it for the base, what do you think?
That would work.
Amazing, thanks for sharing!
Our pleasure. Cheers!
very great God bless!
Thank you. God bless you as well.
I use old carpet for fabric. It free and it last years.
Love the instructions
Thank you. Glad they helped
Very niceb
Thanks a lot.
From INDIA
You’re welcome
Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments and replies. I was wondering when the cattle panel is laid out flat what is the diameter/ measurements? Also, what are the measurements for the pallet?
Hello. I mentioned the the concrete mesh is 42" tall by 84" wide. The pallet is a standard size. Don't use cattle panel as it is difficult to bend.
@@CountryLivingExperience I guess I really need to know length so that when I bend it into the circle I’ll be able to fit it on the pallet. Thank you for your information and for your responsivenesses.
@@avig144 You can always adjust it as you need depending on the materials you have. Just remember that 24" rule for the airflow.
Excellent video, but I have a question, how do you drain the leachate generated by the worms?
greetings from Chile
There are not enough worms to really produce that much. If they do, it just drains out of the bottom through the fabric which is permeable.
So I’ve currently made one of these and things have been composting for the past week. Some advice for people is to only water brown material and do not overwater. If you overwater, the compost will get too compact and might not allow itself to breathe meaning you create an anaerobic environment which is obviously not what you want since it will be a breeding ground for anaerobic bacteria. Also, for those that have done this in the past I have a question. How did it fair with killing off weed seeds? I know you’re not technically supposed to use seeds, but with my grass clippings it’s impossible to do so. I just worry the perimeter won’t get hot enough.
You aren't supposed to put green material in it. No grass clippings....so I don't have any problem with seeds. This is a fungally dominated process and not a hot process. It is the opposite. Correct on not overwatering the material though.
Great video, somebody needs to introduce you to hog ring pliers, would have saved you a lot of time.
That would be cool. I like new tools.
you mentioned your rhizome grasses. i have a food forest and annual beds. how do you keep bermuda from taking it all over?
Bermuda is the bain of my gardening. It is a challenging daily battle. I am not winning the war unfortunately.
Loved your dog circling the chicken yard. 🙂
Thank you. He loves to herd the chickens.
Thank you for everything.
You're welcome
You might try a ranch and farm supply store and ask for Hog wire fencing. for the frame structure.
Cattle panels re a little too strong to bend like that. It can be done but the concrete wire is easier and cheaper.