What's the magic to making compost?

[RickF]

Ok.. So I'll fess up that I've tried to make compost many times but have never been able to follow-thru and ended up with dry piles of old grass/weeds that don't resemble anything much.. I've also tried building spinning drums and the same turns out there too.. I've now started a new fresh pile a few weeks ago consisting mostly of freshly cut grass mixed with pine shavings from the chickens along with the own additions

After about 2 weeks, it's pretty much dried out except for the last 2 inches or so but has reduced size considerably. I needed to relocate the pile yesterday and it's now sitting up against a block wall and I've re-wet it, added compost helper (some product I bought at the local store a while back -- supposed to add natural enzymes to help it get started) and turned it obviously. I've got to keep it covered to keep the chickens from scratching the pile into a big mess.. Oh yeah, I added more weeds and some odd scraps to it yesterday (for more green)..

Should I be turning more frequently than once a week? Anything else I should be doing? If it can drain into the soil below, how often should it be watered to keep it damp? I'm assuming soggy is bad.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yeah, soggy is bad. It can go anaerobic and turn slimy and smelly. You want it to stay damp, not wet, somewhat like your garden. Those microbes need some moisture to reduce that stuff to dirt, but they don't need a lot of moisture.

I add a shovelful of old compost whenever I start a new batch to introduce the right microbes. If you don't have any living compost, just use some topsoil. That should have the right microbes in it. I think that compost helper is just the right microbes.

That's pretty much it. Don't ever let it totally dry out, which is my problem. I have to regularly carry water to the compost pile. If it dries out, the microbes can die and it can take a long time to get to compost. Turning it speeds up the process a whole lot and evens out the process, but it will eventually reduce anyway even if you don't turn it. But turning is really good.

Another thing that turning helps is that it should heat up after you turn it. That heat kills weed and grass seeds. If it never heats up, it should decompose anyway, but you can have a lot of seeds in it.

 

[digitS']

I don't get in any hurry, Rick. I was "digging out" part of my compost yesterday. It looks for all the world like good garden soil. I don't think that this would work in Ridgerunner's yard because of his stories about heavy rains and flooding. It may not work at your home either but it works for me:

I have a designated bed between one garden and another where I bury "compostables." What I dug out yesterday was what had gone into the ground thru September last year. It was mostly green material. The material was covered with soil after I'd put in about 8 or 10-inches of compostables. Actually, the soil was already a good part compost since I have been doing this in this bed for several years. Compost/soil is hauled away but there is always some available to cover another "patch" of compost as the bed is filled horizontally. Nothing is grown in this bed (altho' I've got a lot of self-sown Red Orache across one end of it right now ).

Activity underground during the winter is likely very limited because of the cold. Once it warms up a little, it decomposes rapidly. Of course, the soil was warm enuf to start the process last fall.

I'm not trying to create anaerobic conditions and really think that there is quite a lot of air in the soil because of its rocky nature. There's a lot of pea gravel in that garden. What I'm doing, however, is keeping the compostables moist by getting them partially below grade and piling dirt on top. I've long used soil in my compost no matter how it was made. And, I've found that just having an 8-inch deep pit to layer even 6-feet of compostables in, helped maintain moisture throughout the pile. There's no possibility of ponding - note the presence of the gravel previously mentioned . Digging out the 8-inches gives me soil to put in whether the compostables amount to 8-inches or 78-inches.

I don't turn it. 6-feet of compostables will decompose fairly well in 18 months. 8-inches of compostables will decompose in 6 months thru winter or in a couple of months during the summer.

Steve

 

[RickF]

Thanks all.. I think in my case (I'm in the Los Angeles area), our piles will have more of a tendancy to dry out -- particularly during the summer months. I guess I'll have to actively check them perhaps twice weekly to ensure they're still moist. I think in my case I'll plan on turning the pile weekly to ensure proper mixture, aeration,etc. We checked the pile yesterday after it had been sitting for a day and it was at 100F which is pretty good since it was only 60F before we relocated the pile the day before. That seems to indicate something is alive in there.. I will admit that the pile tends to be more brown based at this point -- but when I started it, it was almost 100% green based (all fresh grass clippings) and was cooking really warm at about 145F for a few days until I added in some brown to equalize it a bit.. At least it's shrunk -- now by about 50% in size which I gather is typical.

I may have to empty our other compost boxes which have been inactive for several years -- dry -- completely dry so nothing is going on outside of bugs making their homes. I may opt to just throw it out and start over. I've got two of those square style boxes similar to the first one shown here : http://dpw.lacounty.gov/epd/sg/bc_bins.cfm and another more cone shaped larger one also, so capacity is not an issue..

 

[OldGuy43]

I'm certainly no expert, but nature does it constantly. It just takes time.

 

[ducks4you]

I couldn't do it here (Midwest...old swamp,really) BUT you might try putting YOUR compost pile on top of an old tarp to help trap moisture.

 

[so lucky]

During gardening season, I water my compost pile when I water the garden. I don't turn it very often, maybe 4-5 times per year, but the chickens get in there and turn it when I throw something tasty in. I have to admit I don't pay any attention to ratio of green/brown, and I don't check to see if it has heated up. It gets kitchen scraps, yard scraps that aren't seedy,sometimes grass clippings, garden scraps, and clean-out from the chicken coop (poop plus straw) In spite of this lackadaisical approach, I still get lots of good compost.
I have been thinking about removing the top inch or so of chicken yard dirt. It has lots of old straw and poop mixed in. I think I will do that in the fall; put it in the garden area and cover it up with garden dirt. Should be good to go next spring.

 

[ninnymary]

Rick, my compost is always cold but it still does the job. I notice that when I add coffee grounds it steams up in a day or two. Unfortunately it does not stay steamed for long. Maybe around 3 days. Wish I could keep it hot. I would prefer hot compost because it cooks faster and burns seeds that could later sprout.

Mary