Biodynamic Pfeiffer™ Compost Starter — 50-Unit Bulk

Published results & practical experience

A practical way to bring biodynamic preparations into your composting routine.

Pfeiffer Compost Starter is a prepared inoculant for compost materials. Published accounts describe its use in garden heaps and farm windrows, offering practical examples of the product at work.^{1, 2, 3}

A garden-heap comparison

In a report published in English in 1967, Katharina Hanke compared two heaps made from the same plant wastes. One received Pfeiffer's B.D. Compost Starter; the other received the individual biodynamic preparations.

After five weeks Heap No. 1 was completely rotted, while Heap No. 2 was still in the midst of the process.²

This was a two-heap observation, with one heap per treatment and no untreated heap. “Completely rotted” was the author's assessment. When the finished composts were used for lettuce and kohlrabi, she observed no difference in growth or total production.²

A farm windrow routine

Patricia Smith's 2003 interview with Joe Francis describes three windrows of roughly fifty tons each, built from cow manure and hay. Francis used Compost Starter during construction and turned the material every seven days. The account reported compost ready for use after twenty-one days.³

The timing belongs to that farm's materials and management. The interview does not provide an untreated comparison or a standardized compost-maturity test.³

Put the experience to work

Use the current product instructions to prepare and apply Compost Starter. Keep track of your feedstocks, moisture, turning dates and progress toward readiness. Published experiences provide useful comparisons for your own composting routine.¹²