A large amount of rabbit manure is produced with the development of the rabbit industry, which will cause environmental pollution without proper treatment. Rabbit manure compost may be suitable for seedling cultivation, considering its low moisture, low ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
To explore Peat alternatives
Gives a sprouting mix study.
Finds ,
%50 bunny
%25 vermiculite
%25 perlite
to be the most effective mix, in order to eliminate Peat.
I don't like seeing perlite around the yard, and vermiculite costs money.
I have an aversion to buying things at the store.
I have gotten my soil down to zero cost
There are many greenhouses in this neighborhood and I constantly scout them for spent coco blocks. Sometimes it is the tomato, sometimes it is cucumber. The Coco is 60/40 chunky or 40 /60 chunky.
I have a large yard, and a large family that supply me with ample compost material.
Been here about 16 years. House is on a river flat, as such, soil is sand and clay.
When we first moved in here the garden soil was so mucky that it would not fall off a spade.
Soil stations are about 8 feet, front to back.
5 stalls, (separated only in my mind), 24 inches deep that span about 20 feet.
I open the coco sacks, and crush them with my feet. I let them bake dry on the concrete pad.
This raw coco is then used as litter for the rabbits
Soiled litter is deposited in the DONE pile.
Done pile is somewhat serviceable potting soil, and consists of the finished product of the preceding stacks.
Material works its way from largest to smallest, right to left.
First stack is raw deal
Xmas trees, elm branch, egg cartons, deadbirds, spoiled milk, beer, sodapop - anything goes.
Ended up trenching a three foot deep grave in there, couple weeks back, for a straw bale that the wasps had colonized.
Next station is food scrap, green and brown bedding, lawn clipping and leaves .
Straw and Hay, ( yes, there is a difference ) takes at least two winters to graduate to the next pile.
Technically, this is not compost.
Compost is exothermic and requires oxygen.
I dont have ample green material or circulation to compost.
Being aerobic, this is closer to Jadam.
Takes longer, yet due of our unique climate, I still get beneficial action during the winter.
Mechanical action.
Lots of Chinooks around here. Funny thing about water is it contracts as it gets colder, until it freezes.
Then it expands
Sodapop in the freezer explosions
Heading into October I saturate that pile good and wet.
Ice crystals are effective at crushing cell walls.
I get a thrill, when the wind starts blowing in the middle of winter, because I know I will be able to turn the top foot of the pile, when the snow melts.
Anywho, back to the present. Today.
I need to prepare, and store, a couple hundred gallons of potting mix, before everything freezes up for the season. Unfortunately, my 'done' media has become too thick- with the never ending additions of bunny dung. I see the soil stick to the shovel, as I turn it.
Saturated, and in great numbers the dung loses its drainage properties and becomes sludgy. Takes a year or two, but those Calcine marbles do start to break down physically. This robs them of their drainage attributes.
Need some drainage
Need aeration
Running low on clean coco. I am saving what I have left to fill the litter boxes.
I cannot simply rob Peter to pay Paul. If I run out of coco, I will be buying litter.
Additionally , not only am I lazy, but it is also next to impossible to safely crush brick with the little guy around.
need some action
need some options
Hit some Sour Taffie and opened my mind to non-monetary solutions
Musical interlude
I got two feet and a heart-beat
Nature will provide
Wagons-Ho !
Would you believe how hard it is to find pine cones around here? Conifers don't do well on the Prairie. The only needle bearing trees I could find on Parkland are surviving on the irrigation for the lawn. The city mowers pick up all of the pine cones, leaving few for Jewels.
Another interesting feature about this biome is we don't get a lot of moisture. Cars dont rust much and a fallen tree can linger for years. Hell, even an upright dead tree can linger for years.
Found a few leads, felled by beaver. Gave me good hardwood bark and coarse chips.
Coarse chips !

I can't imagine how hard those little guffers must leverage their jaw to cleave that greenwood off of there. Finding stuff bigger than bic lighters.
Chips were a lil green
Not really looking for something that holds water.
Got lucky and found a stump, feasted upon by ants.
They took what they needed, and left the cellulose for me
Fine like tobacco, and sturdy
About 7 km over two trips, we picked up a good 100lbs of turface and two bags of fluff
