Compost Grass, Leaves,
Plant Wastes To Improve Garden
UNIVERSITY PARK
(Centre Co.) Composting
allows home gardeners to recy
cle organic material into a useful
gardening product.
“Leaves, plants killed by
frost, vegetable scraps, and grass
clippings all these materials
can be composted,’’ said Robert
Nuss, professor of ornamental
horticulture in Penn State’s Col
lege of Agricultural Sciences.
“You can operate a compost pile
year-round. The composting
process will continue through
the coldest days of winter.”
Nearly 30 percent of the ma
terial homeowners throw away
can be composted. This keeps
these wastes out of landfills and
creates a product that adds
valuable organic matter to the
lawn and garden. “Many land
fills no longer accept leaves or
garden wastes,” said Nuss.
“Composting may be the easiest
way for homeowners to dispose
of them.”
Composting decomposes or
ganic matter into a dark, crum
bly material similar to humus.
Along with providing nutrients,
finished compost helps soil
retain water by increasing its or
ganic content.
“Compost is a valuable soil
conditioner that can be used in
gardens, around trees, and on
lawns,” said Nuss.
“You don’t need a special
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compost bin, but unconfined
heaps can be visually offensive
to neighbors,” Nuss said. “If
you have neighbors living close
by, you may want to consider
using a compost bin. Other than
that, you need few tools except
for a manure or garden spading
fork for turning the material,
and a soil thermometer.”
Composting tools and bins are
available at hardware stores and
garden centers, or you can order
them from gardening catalogs.
An inexpensive bin can be made
from masonry blocks, boards,
wire, or snow fencing. “Make
sure your bin is at least three feet
high and three feet wide, so that
it can hold enough material to
function properly,” said Nuss.
Once you have your bin situ
ated on level ground, you can fill
it with plant and vegetable
scraps, egg shells, coffee
grounds, sawdust even small
bits of paper.
The pile should contain a mix
of carbon- and nitrogen-rich
materials because both are es
sential for the microorganisms
that do the decomposing.
“Green, leafy wastes usually are
high in nitrogen, while woody
materials tend to be high in
carbon,” Nuss said. “Fertilizer
and manure also are good nitro
gen sources.”
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The microorganisms that aid
in composting need some mois
ture, so you may need to water
the pile from time to time. One
way to gauge moisture is the
squeeze test. “Tightly squeeze a
handful of the material,” Nuss
said. “If a few droplets of water
come out, it’s just about right. If
it looks and feels dry as a bone,
hose down the compost pile.”
Decomposition without
oxygen can cause bad odors, so
turn the pile every few weeks
with a gardening fork to aerate
it. Using a fair amount of coarse
material dry leaves or bulky
plants, for instance also helps
ensure that the pile gets proper
aeration. If you detect any odor,
turn the pile.
Complete information about
starting a home compost pile Is
available in “Composting to
Reduce the Waste Stream: A
Guide to Small-Scale Food and
Yard Waste Composting,” a 48-
page publication featuring easy
to-read charts and guidelines.
Copies of the guide are avail
able for $8 from the College of
Agricultural Sciences Publica
tions Distribution Center. For
ordering information, call (814)
865-6713 or visit the college’s
publications Web site at pubs
xas.psu.edu. To order using
Mastercard or Visa, call toll
free, (877) 345-0691.
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Researchers Use Constructed
Wetlands To Reduce Odors
UNIVERSITY PARK
(Centre Co.) Feces, urine,
and wastewater that are by
products of hog farms smell to
high heaven.
To reduce the odors, two re
searchers in Penn State’s Col
lege of Agricultural Sciences
have found that low-tech, con
structed wetlands work well to
clear the air.
Field trials in small-scale,
constructed wetlands in a green
house showed an 80 percent re
duction in offensive odor
compounds from unadulterated
swine facility wastewater, said
Eileen Wheeler, assistant pro
fessor of agricultural engineer
ing. Wheeler and doctoral
researcher Susan Wood sought
to confirm anecdotal evidence
that water treatment in a con
structed wetland can reduce
odors.
“Swine and other livestock
producers in southern states
have used constructed wetlands
to treat animal waste, and re
searchers had noticed that
smells were not as strong,”
Wheeler explained.
“We wanted to see if we could
quantify a reduction in odor in
trials that would reflect real
world practices.”
Wood, of Batavia, N.Y., con
structed eight experimental wet
lands in 100-gallon livestock
tanks. She filled the tanks with
gravel, added a layer of peat
moss, and planted a commercial
wetlands seed mix containing a
wide variety of plants, including
fescue, redtop, and wild rye. She
also tested unplanted wetlands
containing just gravel.
“Some of the grasses died
where the water entered the wet
lands,” Wood said. “But in gen
eral, the planted wetlands
effectively reduced odors.”
Wood organized eight volun
teers in a sensory odor panel
that compared air samples from
untreated swine wastewater and
water that had been treated in
the wetlands. The panel rated
air samples on an odor scale of 0
to 5, with 5 being the most offen
sive.
“Most of the untreated sam-
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Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, May 20, 2000-A29
pies were rated as a 4, and the
samples from wetland treatment
had an average rating of 1,” she
said. “The water that had been
through the wetland had a stag
nant, earthy smell, but it wasn’t
offensive.”
Wheeler said Wood’s research
is focused on finding an alterna
tive to other methods of treating
swine waste for odor reduction.
Current swine waste treatment
practices include:
• Mechanical aeration of
manure lagoons. Oxygen is bub
bled into the wastewater, pre
venting anaerobic conditions
that produce smells. “However,
this technology has large power
requirements that results in high
energy costs,” Wheeler said.
• Anaerobic digestion of
wastes into biogas. This method
requires expensive investment in
equipment and high mainte
nance costs.
• Chemical or biological ad
ditives that counteract smells.
Research has indicated that the
effectiveness of most additives
has been questionable.
The next step in Wheeler’s re
search is to construct a large
wetlands treatment facility on a
local hog operation. If the larger
wetland continues to effectively
reduce odors, the researchers
then will focus on whether it is
economically feasible to use
treatment wetlands on commer
cial farms.
The researchers also want to
test how the wetlands function
under different temperature
conditions.
“The constructed treatment
wetlands that have been built in
the South have warmer weather
year-round,” Wood explained.
“We would like to see how these
wetlands function during a
Pennsylvania winter, or whether
some kind of protective struc
ture is required to keep them
working.”
Wheeler said swine opera
tions can use the treated water
as wash water for hosing out hog
pens, or they may be able to
store the water for use as ferti
lizer for crops.
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