Composting is fun !

Ajay Nair

Assistant Professor, Department of Horticulture
Iowa State University

Seems winter has spared Iowa this time (true at least for Ames). Everyone was busy doing something this winter- running, biking, jogging, and for us it was composting ! In January students in the Vegetable Production and Management course (HORT 471) started creating something which is valuable for most vegetable production systems, yes you got it - COMPOST. As part of the course students had hands-on experience in creating a compost pile. The recipe included straw, hay, horse manure (thanks to ISU horse barn), dining waste (thanks to ISU dining services), mature comopst  (from ISU compost facility), straw and water. Students observed the quick change in temperature from 75F on the day of mixing to 160F in 3 days. It was quite an activity and lots of fun ! Cheers to the Compost gang ! Please enjoy the pictures below !