Barrel compost (Maria Thun)
A concentrate of the preparations to kick-start soil life.
Barrel compost, or Maria Thun’s concentrated compost preparation (CPP), combines manure, ground eggshell and basalt, fermented with the 502–507 compost preparations.
It serves as a practical concentrate that gathers the effect of the preparations into a form that is easy to dynamise and spray on the soil. It is widely used to “seed” soil life in conversions and as a complement to compost and 500.
Effort
Medium — production and occasional applications.
Cost
Low — small quantities.
Time to result
Gradual complement to soil life.
What it advances
Contribution by goal — click through for detail and metrics.
Soil vitality
It distributes the compost preparations in concentrated form on the soil, to stimulate biology — useful especially in conversions.
Time horizon: 1–3 seasons
What to measure for this pairing
Demeter certification
It gathers the Demeter-required preparations into a documentable, traceable application.
Time horizon: Ongoing
What to measure for this pairing
Biodiversity & farm organism
It ties into on-farm preparation-making and the farm’s fertility cycle.
Time horizon: 1–3 seasons
What to measure for this pairing
How it works
Dynamised in water and sprayed on the soil, it distributes the compost preparations in concentrated form to stimulate biology.
How to apply
- 1Make or obtain the barrel compost (CPP).
- 2Dynamise in water.
- 3Spray on the soil, useful in conversions.
- 4Log the applications.
What to measure
Frequently asked
How is it different from 500?
500 is horn manure; barrel compost concentrates the compost preparations (502–507) into a sprayable form, used as a complement.
Is it useful in conversion?
Yes — it is widely used to speed up the establishment of soil life at the start of a biodynamic conversion.
Related reading
Related practices
How GrapeFlow helps
Plan and document this practice by plot, with an audit-ready history for Demeter certification.
Weather & spray windows
A 7-day per-plot forecast with the windows where applying makes sense — wind, rain and humidity decide the hour as much as the calendar does.
Electronic field notebook (Portugal)
In Portugal, every operation — compost, cover, animals, treatments — logged by plot, with the DGADR notebook filling itself and staying certification-ready.
Phenology & field observations
Budbreak, flowering, veraison and everyday occurrences logged by plot and date — the vineyard’s real calendar, the one any work programme is read against.
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