Inoculants
Howard's technique of mass inoculation with large amounts of
biologically active material from older compost heaps speeds and
directs decomposition. It supplies large numbers of the most useful
types of microorganisms so they dominate the heap's ecology before
other less desirable types can establish significant populations. I
can't imagine how selling mass inoculants could be turned into a
business.
But just imagine that seeding a new heap with tiny amounts of
superior microorganisms could speed initial decomposition and result
in a much better product. That _could _be a business. Such an
approach is not without precedent. Brewers, vintners, and bread
makers all do that. And ever since composting became interesting to
twentieth-century farmers and gardeners, entrepreneurs have been
concocting compost starters that are intended to be added by the
ounce(s) to the cubic yard.
Unlike the mass inoculation used at Indore, these inoculants are a
tiny population compared to the microorganisms already present in
any heap. In that respect, inoculating compost is very different
than beer, wine, or bread. With these food products there are few or
no microorganisms at the start. The inoculant, small as it might be,
still introduces millions of times more desirable organisms than
those wild types that might already be present.
But the materials being assembled into a new compost heap are
already loaded with microorganism. As when making sauerkraut, what
is needed is present at the start. A small packet of inoculant is
not likely to introduce what is not present anyway. And the complex
ecology of decomposition will go through its inevitable changes as
the microorganisms respond to variations in temperature, aeration,
pH, etc.
This is one area of controversy where I am comfortable seeking the
advice of an expert. In this case, the authority is Clarence
Golueke, who personally researched and developed U.C. fast
composting in the early 1950s, and who has been developing municipal
composting systems ever since. The bibliography of this book lists
two useful works by Golueke.
Golueke has run comparison tests of compost starters of all sorts
because, in his business, entrepreneurs are constantly attempting to
sell inoculants to municipal composting operations. Of these
vendors, Golueke says with thinly disguised contempt:
"Most starter entrepreneurs include enzymes when listing the
ingredients of their products. The background for this inclusion
parallels the introduction of purportedly advanced versions of
starters-i.e., "advanced" in terms of increased capacity, utility
and versatility. Thus in the early 1950's (when [I made my]
appearance on the compost scene), starters were primarily microbial
and references to identities of constituent microbes were very
vague. References to enzymes were extremely few and far between. As
early ("pioneer") researchers began to issue formal and informal
reports on microbial groups (e.g., actinomycetes) observed by them,
they also began to conjecture on the roles of those microbial groups
in the compost process. The conjectures frequently were accompanied
by surmises about the part played by enzymes.
Coincidentally, vendors of starters in vogue at the time began to
claim that their products included the newly reported microbial
groups as well as an array of enzymes. For some reason, hormones
were attracting attention at the time, and so most starters were
supposedly laced with hormones. In time, hormones began to disappear
from the picture, whereas enzymes were given a billing parallel to
that accorded to the microbial component."
Golueke has worked out methods of testing starters that eliminates
any random effects and conclusively demonstrates their result.
Inevitably, and repeatedly, he found that there was no difference
between using a starter and not using one. And he says, "Although
anecdotal accounts of success due to the use of particular inoculum
are not unusual in the popular media, we have yet to come across
unqualified accounts of successes in the refereed scientific and
technical literature." I use a variation of mass inoculation when
making compost. While building a new heap, I periodically scrape up
and toss in a few shovels of compost and soil from where the
previous pile was made. Frankly, if I did not do this I don't think
the result would be any worse.
| 
