Decompiculture. turning waste in crap.

[Ganoderma]

I saw this word and INSTANTLY fell in love with it! i may get a bumper sticker made! read more about the word here if you care: Decompiculture: Human symbiosis with decomposer organisms

anyway it is basically turning waste products into "something", usually poop.

A lot of us do this already with vermiculture or any number of "_____cultures".

So lets start a thread about our finds and failures. I have started a series of experiments as i gear up for a self contained farm.

basically i am placing an equal number of various organisms in a container (1 pot per specie). say 10 sow bugs in a tub for example.

I am first looking at food types that are eaten. i am making a table for each specie. It goes like this:

Specie name
Food type-------|----eats it----| doesn't eat it|----notes


i have a code system for it.
For example if i feed them guava leaves.
(1) eats the whole leaf
(2) only eats the thin "flesh" not the veins
(3) only eats when hungry
(4) not easily digested
etc....

i will write this number code in the right column (i have lots of codes, i dont want to type)

right now i am observing:
3 snail species, one being the african land snail.
1 caterpillar specie
German cockroaches (will start a few other species of roaches as well)
Sow bugs (no idea on specie!!!!)
1 type of millipede

i am going to add more as time goes on, such as termites and flies. i used to culture fruit flies a lot, but am not having the best of luck with "black" flies....in time.

my goal for this is to find out what they eat more of and how well it is digested. I really want to know if i can say turn a thick vegetable stock that is hard to dispose of into useful poop for fertilising. Eventually i am going to be choosing the winner speceis and setting up bins on a larger scale and incorporate it into a farm so it works in a circle, or star or something.

What have you guiys found? anyone else interested in this? its easy and doesnt take much time.... use old rinsed 2L bottles and put some air hole sin. note how many of the animal you put in and how much and of what type of food.

anyone else game?

Another big thing is that the species here are WAY different than in say north america or europe (although north america has a TON of introduced european bugs, so they could be useful regardless of country). Other things like cockroaches are world wide.

lets chat.

[Thunderbird]

This compost break down is a food chain ?, are you building like stages from every bin? anyways sounds interesting and fun, here's a good site about composting. BTW When I garden, building a good compost was always a creative fun part of it, and you could not beat the tast and nutritional content of the veggeis. As my dad said "It all starts with the compost pile and the worms".

Invertebrates of the Compost Pile

Tertiary Consumers
(organisms that eat secondary consumers)
centipedes, predatory mites,
rove beetles, fomicid ants,
carabid beetles


Secondary Consumers
(organisms that eat primary consumers)
springtails, some types of mites, feather-winged beetles
nematodes, protozoa, rotifera, soil flatworms


Primary Consumers
(organisms that eat organic residues)
bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes,
nematodes, some types of mites, snails, slugs,
earthworms, millipedes, sowbugs, whiteworms


Organic Residues
leaves, grass clippings, other plant debris,
food scraps,
fecal matter and animal bodies including those of soil invertebrates

[freeztar]

I think it's a great idea Ganoderma!

I would definitely incorporate TBird's food-chain idea above, having different combinations of consumer groups and finding what works best.

On a technical, data-collecting note, I would recommend that instead of using codes in one column, you put the codes across the top in their own columns. That way you simply mark an x in the correct column/row. This also gives you the ability to instead, write in percentages. For example, 20% whole leaf eaten. etc..

Good luck with your experiments and I look forward to the results.

[Ganoderma]

i am still throwing around ideas and reading things like you posts to figure out wahts best. Ideally i would have them setup similar to what you mention. Have a bin of certain specie(s) and let them break down "XXXX" material, then move that to the next bin etc. even better would be to have an all-in-one bin style.

for now i am jsut finding out what individualy species i have easy access to eat what. once i know their food preferences and efficiency i can move onto the more complicated design end of it. all thoughs are welcomed!


i thought about writting it liek that, but i got a space problem. i got to tape teh info on the container (i am using rather small containers). this way i only have 1 sheet a paper (key) instead of a sheet or 2 per container. if i had mroe room and my house wasn't already FILLED with various files it would probably be much better, i agree maybe i will setup an excel spreadsheet, that would probably be much better!

my plan is to use fungi as my promary composer because animals are not good at digesting cellulose! but i still want to look into termites and a couple other bugs to see how they work....

my plan is to first separate the wastes into say 3 groups.

woody (stems)

leafy (leaves)

squishy/mushy rotting crap type waste (fruits and fish poo sludge for example)

everything will get sun baked and try and break as much down with the UV present (makes it easier for some mushrooms to colonize).

use the woody to grow musrhooms from. when teh mushrooms are done and start to die and get contaminated put them into another bin to let molds and other "uselss" fungi break it down more. after that has run for a while introduce certain arthropods and such to eat teh left over "mushroom manure".

leafy type compost i am thinking giving right to the molusks and insects and worms. we shall see. its harder to grow mushrooms from leaves than twigs. or maybe mix them with the second stage of the stem type compost when the mushroom crop is finished and the molds are allowed in.

the mushy waste i am still thinking about....not sure if bacterial or other tiny microorganisms would be best....

[Thunderbird]

the mushy waste i am still thinking about....not sure if bacterial or other tiny microorganisms would be best....

Maggots, then before they mature fully throw in some lime this usually, but not always kills them, when they return throw in a bit more. Then take the putrid slop and bury it under leafy compost outside over the winter and let the worms at it in the spring.

[Ganoderma]

maggots are ok in very wet situations? i guess so eh, they live in garbage can bottoms. but why kill them? even if i wanted them to stop eating the stuff, wouldnt they all mature and fly away?

also, we dont have winters here it goes from F'ing HOT and dry to even F'ing HOTTER and WET lol. so perhaps having worms in with the maggots would be better? what do you think? the idea of 2 or 3 or more species in one bin is ok. just for now i am separating to find out what eats what.

[Thunderbird]

Originally Posted by Ganoderma

maggots are ok in very wet situations? i guess so eh, they live in garbage can bottoms. but why kill them? even if i wanted them to stop eating the stuff, wouldnt they all mature and fly away?

also, we dont have winters here it goes from F'ing HOT and dry to even F'ing HOTTER and WET lol. so perhaps having worms in with the maggots would be better? what do you think? the idea of 2 or 3 or more species in one bin is ok. just for now i am separating to find out what eats what.

The flies are a nuisance, if not a health hazard, plus when they fly away they are removing nutrients.

I looked up you're weather after I posted, so you could produce more compost than I.

[Ganoderma]

i had another thought. have it all phased.

Phase 1: mushroom digestion.

Phase 2: Fly decomposing.

for this i was thinking having a 4 box system. basically like below. have 4 separate bins placed in a square (2 wide by 2). Have these raised up and screen bottom.

Let the flies/maggots eat their hearts out in the first bin then when they have eaten as much as they can, open a hose that runs to the second bin wher ethere is fresh waste for them to eat. allow it to stay open a few days to allow all that can to escape to the new bin. take teh old bin and hose it down so the fine waste can be used for fertilizer. the left over (doesnt go through the mesh) will be larger matter that can be tossed into the next bin and maggots to be fed to whatever.


Anyone have any specie ideas for other decomposers?

the more the better!