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Field Results

Compost Images web site

This page contains images regarding various field tests of compost on crops.  To use an image, click on the thumbnail and you can view and download the full-size file.  Images are intended for educational use only, not for commercial use. No permission is needed to use these, but please provide a credit to “WSU” or the “CERWA project.”  More details are on the main page for this site.

Flowering field with periodic areas of smaller plants with fewer flowers
The effect of a compost application two years prior to this canola crop can be seen in the “waves”, with the low spots being those without compost. Barley was grown the first year after application. Pullman, WA.
Compost field plots at Pullman, WA. No visual differences are apparent.
WSU Greenhouse Tomato Study showing the effect of compost rates from 0-40% in the potting mix, using water only.
WSU Greenhouse Tomato Study showing the effect of compost rates from 0-40% in the potting mix, using a nutrient solution instead of water.
Rows of wheat, mostly dark green, with an obvious section of lighter green.
A single application of biosolids (dark green stripes) to this field of dryland wheat in Washington State led to 10-15% yield increases.
close-up of rows of wheat. Considerably smaller than wheat grown with biosolids in next photo.
Wheat without biosolids, fertilized with nitrogen; Mansfield, WA. Note the soil probe for scale.
Rows of wheat. Notably larger with fuller canopies that wheat in previous photo.
Wheat with biosolids, but no nitrogen fertilizer. Note the difference in canopy compared to the adjacent strip pictured above; Mansfield, WA. Note the soil probe for scale.
Grass field with darker, larger grass on left and lighter, shorter grass on right
The grass on the left was fertilized with biosolids, the right side was unfertilized; western Washington.
a few small, sad-looking trees grow on foreground side of road. A green, healthy forest of trees grows on the far side.
Conifer tree growth in western Washington was dramatically increased where biosolids were added to the soil before planting (far side of road) compared to the control (foreground).
Effect of dairy manure compost on soil organic matter in southern Idaho.
Yield response of potatoes to a dairy manure compost in southern Idaho.
Yield response of dryland wheat to a dairy manure compost in Utah.
Yield response of potatoes to cull potato comopst in Maine.
Effect of biosolids compost on yields of chile pepper in New Mexico.
Effect of biosolids compost on suppression of damping-off disease in chile peppers; New