Corn Cobs In Bulk

[joe84330]

hi, not sure where to put this one so i'm starting here. i'm looking for a large quantity of corn cobs for use in my home garden. don't need edible corn as i ultimately only want the cob but obviously will take what i can get. tesco and makro are not suitable as i'm not looking for dinner and samui is not known for corn production so any suggestions would be appreciated.

[WatersEdge]

Corn Cob weighs 272 kg/m3

Relatively light in bulk density.

A full gunny sack, Hessian in some vocabularies,

Thais say gessop

weighs only around 30 kg.

What area do you want to cover?

How deep a layer to you want to apply?

From that you can determine both the volume and the weight required.

Corn Cob takes a while to decompose,

breaking down much quicker of course if it is kept continually damp

and as with anything, added Nitrogen feeds the bacteria that break down fiber

I doubt the practicality of paying the freight,

but if you need enough it is readily available in sack or truckload lots.

A truck and trailer load piled high is 16-20 tons with weight varying on moisture content.

What is special about Corn Cob that local leaf debris lacks?

I've used a lot of it for this purpose, so I'm not negating the idea,

I'm just wondering how you will make it feasible

I bring it straight from the granary sheller by the pickup load,

dump it once on the ground,

and that's where it remains...low cost low handling effort.

If you think there is a commercial market for it in your area,

then a full truck load might be attractive.

At the moment the price is high, granaries selling for B0.70 / kg

then count on another B1.00 in bulk freight.

By the time you bag it in the big poly fabric bags, you will have B2.00/kg in it.

If it is bagged at point of origin then you have less labor on your end,

but not as much will fit on the truck, as there is void space between the bags.

Looking forward to next September / October, it is available while still damp for B0.30 / kg

Bean Straw is actually superior quality mulch, and also is available in more quantity than you can use.

I could ship a truckload of that to you even now in January.

Have a look also at Coconut fiber,

which in my town is free from two different processor / merchants.

After you leach the Tannic Acid out....the rusty red color solution,

it is fabulous mulch,

holding more than 3 liters of water per kg of Coco fiber

You can also counteract the Tannic Acid with Calcium Hydroxide,

but it's a trick to know how much Ca(OH)2 to apply,

as a high soil pH is about as poor as a low pH

Plain Limestone powder is not as active but also not as tricky,

as it will bring the pH only to 8.3 if applied in excess.

The other way to treat coconut fiber is to boil it,

as Tannic Acid decomposes at 100C

I have my entire yard blanketed deep in coconut fiber,

as I pick up a couple hundred kilos per day,

and have been doing so for around 6 months.

It has little or no plant nutrient value, but huge water absorbency value

It does not decompose appreciably in the time that I've watched it,

but it does pack down nicely into a smooth matted surface.

The little particles wash down into the mat,

so that no debris sticks to your feet as you walk on it.

It is continually cool on the surface as it's the ideal evaporative cooling medium.

Mae Sot is a long way from Samui,

but if you need commercial quantity of any of the above,

PM me.

I'm interested in the situation and volumes available for coconut fiber in other areas

as I see it as a large field area soil amendment

[joe84330]

watersedge, thank you very much for that amazingly detailed response. i've got 3,000sq.ft. of my yard that i'm turning into an organic vegetable garden, so this is all for personal use rather than a commercial venture. i've already planned on using coir along with my compost that i've been working on for the last several months. i've got great topsoil to work with however i intend to use raised beds and thought of using around 4-6 inches worth of corn cob as a filler or base to replace the soil i'm digging up to garden with, provided it was easily accessible and cheap.

thanks again, that was very helpful and informative.

[WatersEdge]

An idea that may be helpful for compost material free for the trouble of hauling it.

Your local vegetable market leaves their trash out for pickup at the end of the day.

If you haul it back to the compost heap,

pick out the trash debris

you will have a steady supply.

I have done this on occasion as an easy resource for good pig feed.

I never fail to get 100 kg of vegetable scraps.

I only ever went to the minor market in town,

so who knows how much compost one would haul from the city center market.

It's a burden to be consistent about pickup up trash at the end of the day,

but the reward is significant.

Should you be interested in Black Soldier Fly or Earthworm,

both will thrive on market vegetable trash.

It would also be a good Methane digester raw material

You may gather that I look for what other people disregard.

It's true both on the farm and in town

there is value in what no one else recognizes.

To your original topic, corn cob won't work real well as a raised bed medium,

because it requires many months to decompose.

I used corn sheller debris in potting bags,

using the fine flaky dust with the cob,

and found that the water passes through without soaking into the cob,

and there was not sufficient nutrient in the cob to grow well.

After six months it glues together into a solid cylinder in the bag,

with the bottom nicely decomposed because it was damp longer,

and because the fines settled to the bottom.

A better outcome of course if you blend cob with soil.

By feeding it first to pigs, then pushing the debris aside,

so that the pig waste is combined with the cob

the resulting blend is good potting medium.

Straight from the corral it is not too hot for the plants,

because the cellulose has already absorbed the urea / ammonia.