Bioreactor Registry Additional Participant Comments

Materials used to make BEAM and in what ratio: Have modified the first two bins to a flow through design, add new material to the top pretty much monthly, harvest matured material from an access point at base now that we are over 12months. Probably only top up 15 to 30cm at a refill, and different material every time, mostly leaves, some aged wood chips already fungal, some aged grass cuttings, some household food scraps covered by leaves, and some sawdust with added lipids. 3rd Bin isn’t 12months yet, haven’t topped up, and was 1/3 third grass cuttings, 2/3rds sawdust. Lipids and extracted plant growth hormone were also added as have found with other experiments that these speed up fungal growth and may temporarily assist mycorrhizal growth. This bin did stay on the warm side for a bit longer initially.

In the first year, there was no real discernible difference in seed set for a new flower crop. In the second year, flower germination was improved. Results are inconclusive due to nature of application here but we continue to use the bioreactor compost by mixing into our imported compost each year.

In the second year, we installed a second Bioreactor with a modified design- a horseshoe shape, to increase ease of loading and unloading. Our framing for the Bioreactor uses a combination of rigid hardware panel (16 foot length, 4" squares, 53" height) The horseshoe , at its open end, is closed by adding a series of tree stake posts (horizontal) through the 4" squares and attaching landscape fabric in front to hold back compost material. This design switch increased our capacity (final yield) and reduced our loading and unloading time by 60%.