Our Microbial Friends may be far too small to see with our naked eyes, but whatever they lack in size, they make up for in their numbers.   The spreadsheet below is used for doing bacterial assays.  Simply look at the numbers in the upper right blue fields.  In bio-remediation, we are primarily concerned with ACTIVE bacteria and fungi.  99.5 million active bacteria per teaspoonfull of compost is a very substantial workforce, and they come free.  We simply need to provide them with good working conditions.

Very few composters have evolved to where they focus on providing the microbes with great working conditions.   Very few composters have a basic understanding of the oxygen realities of composting, how fast a healthy population of active bacteria can exhaust the oxygen in the pore space within the compost.

Research that we did back in 1996 showed that the microbes can exhaust the oxygen in 15 minutes, dropping the level from 19%, down to 2%.  According to our own oxygen research, aeration by passive convection is a popular myth that doesn't work well in the real world.

Your biology and mine would change significantly if we were deprived of oxygen for more than a few minutes.  Is it so hard to appreciate that the biology in a compost pile would also change significantly, in the absence of oxygen?

Many people believe that turning the pile of compost will keep it aerobic.  The above graph shows that the microbes can exhaust the oxygen in 15 minutes.  How often do you suggest turning the compost?  We want our microbial workforce to work full time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Sundays and Holidays included.  Accordingly, we provide them with a constant supply of fresh air, so they won't raise a big stink.