Composting....please teach me....

[tranquility]

I have never composted before...I usually just threw all of my plant cuttings and all excess WH and WL into the dumpster...However, our dumpster prices jumped big time and I had them to come pick it up....I decided I was better to compost anyways....I always have tons of excess Wh and WL....not to mention I cut back most of my plants when I bring them into the gh.....also banana tops every year......I have a pile of plant material already....so what do I do to make it compost??? I started saving vegetable scrapes after ready another post here....but, do I need to do anything else to it?
Lawanna

[Joyce]

Do you have an enclosed area for it? (the top should be open to the weather)
Create an enclosure for it, and then turn it over with a pitch fork about once a week.

Make sure it is open on the bottom, so that moisture can flow through, and on the sides.
Use something like chicken wire, mesh fencing, etc, on the sides, held up with fence posts.

Will take a few months for it to become compost.
The more you turn it over, the quicker it composts.
Also, should not dry out too much,
needs moisture to support the bacteria that decomposes it.

I always have a few batches in progress,
so you may want to make a couple,
if not more, compost enclosures.

[tranquility]

Joyce I used pallets standing up on their side to make a bin...I didn't know I was supposed to have the bottom open too...So I'll have to figure out a way to do that too...I can always get pallets and make more....I can't wait to see what home made compost does for my plants  ....I remember you saying no meat or dairy products...anything else I can't put in it...like branches are they a no no or will they decompose also....and the place I put them(behind the gh) I should easily have the room for 2 or 3 more....
Lawanna

[Joyce]

Small twigs and branches are fine. Pretty much anything that was once a plant...except weeds.
You can put egg shells into the compost, adds a nice calcium level to the soil.
Also, any old potting soil too.

Pallets are excellent for making perfect size compost bins.
You can leave the bottoms open, but sometimes it is nice to have some kind of mesh across the bottom, like chicken wire (may rust and rot out, heavier duty mesh is better) to keep critters from burrowing into the compost, but lets the earthworms come up and 'help' with decomposition.

[Mikey]

You’ve got the plant material and now all you need to do is make some sort of a structure to hold the material.  It can be very, very simple.  I Googled “diy compost bin” and the first site shows several variations you can make.  http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/pubs/mt9204.html   Just toss your plant material inside and wet it down as you go.  I keep a tarp on top of mine because I live in a dry climate and it dries out too fast.  I only turn mine over every three months or so but as Joyce notes if you do it weekly it will break down quicker.

Some people really get serious about composting and will tell you how much green plant material to add to brown plant material.  It’s the green plant material that aids in the heat process in breaking down the material and it can get quite hot, steamy hot.  A good site to read all about making compost and asking questions is the GardenWeb’s Soil, Compost and Mulch forum at http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/soil/

[Joyce]

Grass clippings work GREAT to heat up a compost pile.
It gets almost too hot to touch!

Like Mikey said, there are some people who make it into rocket science....I don't.
I just add whatever I have on hand.
Gardening should be easy...not rocket science.

[EagleEye]

to add to this, my first compost bin, I bought a brazilion red worms for it. They play a part in the composting.
Watering and turning is important and something that I was not the best at remembering to do.

Mikey, the first link is fantastic.
Thanks,
Steve

[Sean]

You can buy compost accelerators that help a new compost heap get going but they are not really necessary. Another good thing to do is tell the guys in the house to go out and pee on a new heap, it really does help get it going. I saw that about 20 years ago on a gardening program from the UK.

Cheers,
Sean

[froggerLee]

Compost piles are fantastic, what a great way to get the best soil for your gardens, and saves a bundle on trash bills.
It is especially nice if you have somewhere to hide it away, like in back of a garage or something.

I have a bin in my kitchen, where any type of veggie scraps go in, egg shells, and coffee grounds.

When we first started it, about 12 years ago, it was slow to get started. I added some type of compost starter, (forget what it is now), and that kind of seeded the compost, to get it going.

You can be diligent, and stir it, and dampen it on a regular schedule, or I finally got lazy, and just stir it occasionally. Brown breaks down slower than the gren stuff, and yes grass really moves things along!

Good Luck! 

[tranquility]

Thanks guys....and please keep adding all the tid bits....I will probably have to do the tarp thing to come later in the year...It gets pretty dry and hot here thru the summer....
Lawanna

[Sean]

If your compost heap is high and wide enough it shouldn't dry out that fast, the inside really gets hot.

Cheers,
Sean

[tranquility]

Sean,
after fall and spring clean up it is certainly geting high....and wide...and I still haven't cut all of the dead growth from last year off of my hardy aquatic plants....I can't believe I was throwing this much plant material away......but, now that I think of it...during the spring and summer it was nothing to completely fill up my dumpster with plant material.....
Lawanna

[Sean]

I have been trying to get MikeW to create a heap somewhere at his place because he pays the city to haul away a full green bin every week, he often fills up the neighbors bins too. Mike has baked clay soil that inst that great to grow much in. I have been telling him if he just kept all of his garden debris, he could have a wonderful garden that wouldn't take as much water, and water in the desert is expensive!. Perhaps I could get a few people here to agree with me and tell Mike he really needs to save his brown and green matter.

Cheers,
Sean

[Joyce]

I totally agree with you Sean.
Especially when you say; make it deep and wide enough, and it wont dry out.
I am talking at least 3 feet squared. (one cubic yard)
And don't forget, all grass clippings go in the compost heap.
And when you do water changes on your pond, the water can be poured over the compost heap,
adding LOTS of good, composting bacteria.
You can also make your own tumbling composter from free plans off the internet.

5 years ago, I used to get glazed over eyes whenever the 'old biddies' in my garden club used to go on and on about compost. Even though when I was a kid, my dad was SOOOO into it. (a rocket scientist in his own 'veterinarian' way) I should have known better, should have known it was black gold.
The garden club ladies would have workshops on compost, for goodness sake. 
I avoided them like the plague.

Then one day I found a few OLD bags of it here at work (some were cow manure, others were
'Hamptons Estate' Compost, leftover from a job, dumped behind one of our Morton Buildings), and decided to use it to ammend a few spots in my gardens. Ended up potting up a few lilies in it too.  HOLY COW SHEET BATMAN! I am talking not even a month, and the plants and lilies took off, showed more growth in one month that other plants did all summer. And the lilies had 3-4 blooms on their worst day! I was SOLD!!!!

Then, I actually did a bit of 'rocket science' research, and realized why plants do so well with compost...it's because compost is what plants digest fastest, and easiest...and can not burn your plant. Not only that....there are essential nutrients and bacteria in compost that helps your plant grow and 'digest' better. And what do water lilies (and lotus) grow in, in their natural habitat? What really is in that muck at the bottom of natural ponds? Yup, it's composting leaves, fish poop, dead bugs, dead fish, dead animals, insects, twigs ...natures compost. No, it's not clay... Or kitty litter.

And since then, I have been using compost. So far, for whatever reason, I have had the best results with composted cow manure...but sometimes couldn't find it and used regular compost at $5 a bag. Which got me thinking...why should I pay for the dammmm stuff.

Now I have 3 tumbling composters and one upright composter.
I think this fall we will make compost bins made from pallets,
since I have an endless supply next door at the sodfarm of the landscape company I work for.

[Jerry]

The city sold us the compost accelerators for only 20.00 bucks. But the city also had free compost near by.  That is no longer true, so I will have to use the plastic accelerators this year.
Sean, yes to the peeing, but it's not just for men anymore!  We are equal opportunity folks!

[SheilaJ]

I have two of the covered plastic bins - one I got on closeout and one that was being sold at or below cost as a county project. I put in my plant trimmings (not grass though - hubby insists on using weed n feed and I don't want the weed killer in there). Food scraps - fruit, veggies, bread, pasta, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags (remove staples), empty toilet paper and paper towel tubes. Makes me feel lots less guilty when I clean out the fridge and have lots of spoiled leftovers.

I rarely turn or stir it - too much work and I'm not in any real hurry, as long as I have a little room in the bin and a little compost to use in my garden. Big branches take too long to break down, maybe would be more manageable if I turned it. My bins have little doors on the bottom, so I just shovel out a few scoops whenever I need it and the rest slides down.

[Mikey]

If you have a chipper/shredder, use it.  Small pieces of plant material heat up and break down much quicker than large pieces.  If you don't have one, don't worry about it.  Do you have a StarBucks or the like nearby?  Spent coffee grounds is a green.  You want to mix the greens with the browns because the greens provide the heat.  I've used a LOT of StarBucks coffee grounds when I was lacking green plant material.  Leave the paper filters in it because they will also break down. 

Some people put their shredded documents into the compost.  I never have done that but I did use shredded paper for nesting material when I was into vermiculture http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/verm/.  Vermiculture was a fun project that I had going on for a few years.  I kept a rubbermaid tub in the house and all veggie/fruit food scraps, except citrus, went into the worm bin.  I started off with 20 or so worms from my garden and in no time at all I had thousands.  It was really fun and I may do it again because it also was fun feeding the worms to the fish......  Below are a couple of photos of my indoor worm farm.


Underneath that brown stuff are thousands and thousands of earthworms.  It looks like potato peelings on the surface.  The worm farm is odor-free....providing you don't put in citrus which does tend to smell when you pop off the lid......  Otherwise, when I would remove the lid to feed the guys there was only an earthy smell.  And even though there  are air holes on the top and side and drainage holes on the bottom, the little guys stay put.  Periodically I would remove a few pounds of worm castings and toss in the garden.  They are now all free in the garden....

[SheilaJ]

I would love to try the worms but my family would veto that due to the "ick factor". Of course, dh said that about a compost bin too, and eventually I just went ahead and did it anyway. He's amazed that it really doesn't stink - and I never told him about the one time I left the door off for a few days and went back and a RAT ran out at me! 

[Joyce]

The worms found my composters on their own.
I added a handful from the gardens to one composter last spring,
but when I was tumbling the other composters...saw earthworms in them.
So somehow they got in. Maybe Jamie 'helped' them.

Sheila,
I leave the staples on my tea bags,
cuz I figure a little iron wont hurt the plants,
in fact it'll keep them from getting chloritic.
I noticed when I dump my kitchen composter into the 10 gallon can in the garage,
the little staples are already getting rusty...which means iron is being released into the compost.

I also add all my dryer lint to my compost.

Oh, and I save my used fabric softener sheets to use at the bottom of my potted plants,
to keep the soil from seeping out of the drainage holes.

[tranquility]

you guys are full of such great ideals..thanks...so can I put paper towels into the compost tooo...we use lots of paper towels.....it would be nice to not have to throw so much stuff away and compost it instead...
Lawanna

[SheilaJ]

Joyce, I remove the staples mainly for self-preservation. If there is something sharp anywhere in some soil, I will manage to get it stuck under my fingernail! I do this constantly at work. :'(

[croft]

MikeW please listen to Sean! Compost is the best thing you can add to your soil. Your plants will love you for it

[lokigal92]

I use a homemade tonic to boost my compost pile. I have used it for a couple of years and it works great.

1/2 cup beer
1/2 cup coca cola or pepsi
1/2 cup liquid dish soap

Mix in a sprayer and apply generously to the pile.

Donna

[Jonna]

ummmm.... back to the 'ick' factor a minute.  Do you find it attracts creepie crawlies?  Like potato bugs?  I just can't handle those.  How about raccoons and similar critters, do they try and dig it up?  Snakes, looking for warmth?

[tranquility]

Wow Donna...I'm gonna do that...thanks...OMG...I can't believe how food I had been throwing in the trash...I keep a popcorn tin in the kitchen with a plastic bag in it...I have had to empty the tin every 4-5 days soo far.....
Lawanna

[LeeAnne151]

I have two plastic compost bins that the city sells cheap. They are shaped like an igloo. I toss all garden debris and non meat and dairy kitchen scraps into them. Even weeds. I am less concerned with making compost for the yard than I am having a place to put all the stuff. Our garbage company will pick up yard debris every other week. One can for free, but you have to pay for extra yard debris. We buy compost by the truck full every year to mulch with, it is very inexpensive. We do get some usable from the two bins but we don't spend much time aerating or worrying about them.

I need a new bucket/crock for the kitchen. I've been using a tupperware bowl and it isn't satisfactory.

I could use another bin too.

Bob has a mulching mower so all lawn clippings stay on the lawn, they add nitrogen so it is win-win.

[SheilaJ]

LeeAnne, I found a nice stainless steel compost crock for the counter at Target a couple of years back. Looks just like the fancy catalog ones but about half the price. It was in the aisle with the cannisters. I like it because it doesn't absorb odors and is easy to clean.

Jonna, I think you have to have some creepy crawlies or the stuff would never break down into compost. Not sure what potato bugs are. I see mostly what I call "rollie pollies" and some gnats.

Except for the one rat, and one groundhog that wandered over from the farm next door during a bad drought, the only non-bug animals I've ever seen are my neighbor's cats - they like to sit on the lid and sun themselves!

[LeeAnne151]

rollie pollies and potato bugs are the same thing.

Stainless steel won't work for me unless I can make room under the sink. I'll keep my eye out though. It is amazing how much one tosses in the kitchen.

[emm]

Here's what we use to collect compost on the kitchen counter:
http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=1&p=10025&cat=2,40733,47775&ap=1

Well the link anyway, can't copy the photo into the message.  We use the small stainless steel pail with a handle and lid.  It can sit on the counter through the heat of the summer and not get smelly.  The small size works fine for our family of 5.  Onion skins always seem to stick to the bottom of the pail so I often add an inch or two of water to the pail just before I take it out to the compost bin.  Everything dumps out nicely and the compost benefits from the extra water.

Many folks add no cooked food or dairy products to their compost but we toss in these without any problems.  We add to our compost bin all winter long.  It does start to build up but it does continue to work through the winter and never fills to the top.

As we all know, compost is good stuff.  And hauling smelly bags of rotting food to the curb for pick up is not good.

emm

[Bonnie]

Good ideas!

First of all,
Donna what do you do with the remaining beer?

My neighbor has goats and is always dumping straw and poo in the woods .....

Would this be good to add to a compost pile?