Alternative Compost Ingredients

Here here.
How do you pile it? Thin layers or mix-in management? Mechanically turned/moved piles?

Thinking of Lapsang, (and the fact that my stash had been used up for a few months) I had to go out tonight and get some! The world has returned to smokey order now.
K

Have fires started already down in the southern Rockies? We have escaped several lighting storms so far up here in Montana. Right now I'm in Seattle and it is super dry! They are planning on fires in the Cascades! Unreal.
Mqiq77 you are fortunate to have such a large goal of land restoration. You will never run out of need for compost (or better a slave to turn it) through your life. It is a good feeling to see soil grow.

One of the fires was started by a canyon car rollover, of all things.
There are these dark pillows of water vapour in the sky- I think I recall that they are called clouds. There was a minute spittle of water falling from the sky, I am unsure what it is, but it is odd.
The lack of Precip is not helping. Mind you, a dry spring was good to discourage the growth of fuels like annual grass.

On Topic:
I just read in a soil book today about using stale milk in a compost pile. Lovely.
And that Lobster Shells are slow-release high nitrogen! It said spent hops ("where available"- neighbors of budweiser?) are slow to decompose. I strongly disagree, what do you think, folks?

I know that brewers mash (spent hops and grains) are an excellent source of fiber for ruminants so they must be just fiber and that would make them slow to break down. This I feel is a good thing cause the soil will benefit with the slow breakdown. better soil structure.
As far as the precursors of stale milk and the product of hops flavoring will make a great beverage for before and after work. LOL

I've been lurking up to this point, but now I've just got to say...


EWWWW!!!

Heathrjoy what is bad about beer and milk. Protein buzz on your corn flakes. Ahhhh. Composting is always Ewwww if you have not grown up on a farm. You need to walk bare foot in a milking parlor and take a deep breath! Sooo good and feels so squishy.

Now that's just cruel, Steve.
I think she needs fresh manure exposure.

I just added some layers of aged chicken manure and hay from the barn to my new compost pile of mostly yard waste. Hope it starts to cook soon.

I've been to the milking parlor...with sandals on. I'm pretty sure that counts. I even crawled into the stalls w/ the calfs, especially the Brown Swiss. There's nothing cuter than a baby cow! The folks who own the dairy are friends of my brother's...and they laughed at me too. =^)

It's not that I haven't had fresh manure exposure, or that compost piles gross me out. Just the idea of sour milk + beer does a number on me. The idea does help with dieting though.


Ok, a question now. How far do you let your compost break down before you call it done?

When it is not in the obvious shape of its raw components, like leaf-shape, pineapple, apple core, and unruly child shapes. The main indicator is color. When it is a pretty uniform color, and it ceases to break down much more. (and it will not heat up) It is really up to you.

But mind you, some folks (like me) add uncomposted raw materials to the soil. Others yet (not me) think compost is not done until it is able to go through a screen. But when the color is right, it is more chemically balanced and should not burn your plants, no matter the chunk size.

When shall we look through Cosmopolitan Magazine for your new beer-and-spoiled-milk-diet ads?
Kenton

Cosmo is old news Kenton, it's Vogue or Marie Claire now. Actually it's all gardening mags for me.

How exactly do I know when the compost isn't heating up anymore? I don't have a thermometer, I can't find one anywhere. I'm pretty sure most everything is cooked down except for the last round of grass clippings & other clippings I added. That's all that's recognizable...all else is pretty much crumbly brown/black. No mouthy children to be found.

I'd rather not have it too fine, as in screened. I'm thinking bigger is better for soil structure. Am I wrong? Lots of clay here.

Do you guys top containers w/ compost? Also, won't removing compost from the pile cool it off and make it stop cooking?

Perfect, just perfect Heathr. Soulds like just the right consistency to add to te soil now. Especially for clay. I have found that minimal tilling/turnign on clay is very beneficial. (ie leave .5" clods unbroken) You will forget you have clay next year.

Good grief, I have drainage that is so good in my clay it is better than sand now. This is all good except that water is a good thing and I have to mulch like there is no tomorrow! The plants are so happy.

Containers topdresed with compost: Do this IF your compost does not have soil in it. Just my experience, (That is, inorganic material like sand, loam or clay.) It can build up, clog drain holes or crust. This type compost is best put in ground, as soil structure in a pot is a different ballgame. That is why people put perlite in.

Taking from a single pile: What kind of compost pile have you? Hot compost works in batches. Collecct all material, Compost all, harvest all. Cooler compost that has had things added at different times: Harvest your most composted material and leave anything that is halfway. If it is all harvestable, leave a bit to have a ready supply of decomposing bacteria, etc, for the next buildup.
Hope this helps, good job on the black gold!
Kenton

When the compost is the same temp(by touch),as the soil,its through cooking,actually you can feel it with your hand,and it smells pleasant,oh sooo pleasant.Partical size is not important,because it will break down with,and in the soil.My dad taught us that the soil was the farmers life blood,and loathed people who over fert.to make a money crop,or over planted,yr.after year,same crop.I guess it is all because he had been an apprentice in Ireland on a dairy farm,and believed that the cow was a lady that desirved the best.From my early teaching I am the same way about soil,it can be depleated,or built.Humas is the name of the game.Mike

Ok, um, what???? I thought I had a basic knowledge of compost, I guess not, because now I am confused again.

Minimal tilling on clay. I have 2 new beds I want to establish. They are old beds that had been covered w/ landscape fabric...hate the stuff now. Have a few inches of topsoil underneath then clay. Was planning on tilling in some compost to improve drainage. Are you telling me to only till it in a bit? Also will be tilling in the old wood chip mulch too.

Now I'm not even sure what kind of compost I have. LOL! It's an open pile on dirt. I layered greens and browns...yard waste and clippings, small branches, kitchen scraps that were cut up small and buried in pile. I also added 1/2 bag of manure and some peat for brown when I ran out...but very little. I'm wondering about what y'all said about coffee filters before because mine disappeared very quickly, and so have paper towels and sweetener packets. So, what kind of pile do I have? (I know I'm asking for it with that question)

With starting a new pile I'm planning on adding a bit from the old pile to it.

Thank you for the tip about temps, now I get that. I'm very fortunate in my garden because my MIL gardened here before me and she was very good at building the soil. I'm really trying to get away from synthetic type ferts and go more organic. I don't know if I'll ever be 100% organic, but I'd like to try.

Now, why is it that every time I post here I always feel like what I write can have more than one meaning???? hmmmm

Ok heatherjoy everything has more than one meaning so do what you do best. Completed compost even if not completed becomes good nutrients after it is buried anyway.
I bet you have never had a "moose river hummer" Beer (in glass) with a raw egg at the bottom and down the hatch.

Ok then, on with my plan as planned...and on with my confusion as confused.

Noper, never had a moose river hummer. But, I'm betting you've never been injected with radioactive material. Ha!

Oh yes I have when I had a scan for a pulmonary embolism. But then it didn't affect my mind. When did you get one. LLOOLLL

That would be classified

Way cool. Can you run fast and leap tall buildings. And do green rocks scare you.

I'm sorry, where are my manners? I hope your pulmonary embolism really wasn't one and was just a scare.

I had that injection about 15 yrs ago when the docs wanted to remove my spleen because it was enlarged from Mono. Why does that sounds so funny?


Ok, ever have a CATscan machine blow up, as in black smoke coming out of it, while you are stuck inside it???

No but I have had a black cat that I was scanning blow up. I'm a veterinarian. You are dangerous type of person who has a magnetic field. I bet you have all kinds of computer problems when working on hard drives? No if I had a PE I would be dead. Thank you though for your concern.

Well, then I'm glad you didn't have a PE. Sorry about that. I don't know what a PE is, I've never had one, I was a deprived child. I had PE when I was in school, but I think that was something different. PE in school could kill you, but only if you were playing dodge ball.


About the bins, 4x2'. 2' wide? Shouldn't that be bigger?


How'd you know I have a magnetic field? Have had that ever since the radioactive injection. Actually, I do have a lot of computer problems, but at least I can fix most myself.

Superwoman;

That is big enough if you think you will not fill it in no-time. I would fill it in a week, personally. Whatever your normal output is.
"There's a double menaing in that." - Benedick from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

The most impressive compost I know of is Butchart Garden's in Victoria, this pile is 100% deadheadings from pansies, petunias and such (you know why if you've been there- mass planting capitol, Canada) , but they need front-end loaders to turn it!

I'm sorry to be unclear about overtilling: Till it deep but not too much, ie, don't pulvetize the soil into a fine powder, leave 1/2 inch chunks. I used to think this was the way to go and the effects are still lasting.

Back to the topic: Alternative compost ingredient # 327: Kryptonite

For the record, I was great in dodgeball. Hard to hit a lanky target! -And I'm going to have laughing fits all day about black cats blowing up.
Kenton

Thanks for the info on tilling. I'll set my magic lasso to 1/2" setting.

Normal output is around 57,000 Hurtz. I think they may fill up pretty quickly, or at least I hope they will. Wouldn't it be better to have them too big rather than too small?

Kyrptonite can be a good compost ingredient, depending on the variety you have. Green and red will compost well. Yellow and Jewel Kyrptonite you'd NEVER want to add to a compost pile. Of course, I can't ever be near the stuff myself.

I'm wondering what happened to that poor black cat?? And why Kenton must always deny that he is from Canada??

Forgot to say....
I'm off to watch a match of the second most deadliest (normal) sport for adults....Soccer: Parents vs. Kids. I get to videotape my DB and SIL getting the snot kicked out of them by 10 yr olds. Literally. What a way to spend an afternoon! =^)

Sounds like a great topic for the worst-in -the-galaxy dirt-talk thread:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/619964/
Water-cooler chats are old news. Today, it's compost pile chats.

Who's got the next big alternative compost ingredient? Experiences?

You folks know your compost but are weak on superheroes. Radioactivity affected Peter Parker when a radioactive spider bit him. So Heather would be Spiderwoman not Superwoman.
Superman just changed atmospheres to gain his strength. The man of steel would not compost, spiderman would.

I have been traveling from Seattle and missed all this deep information. Heathrjoy I am magnetic and can't have MRI's done, can't down load new programs on hard drive, make electronic things fail, I work at many practices and 3 of the ones I have returned to won't let me near the hard drive. Really!
Ok composting new ideas, sawdust, wood chips etc I let it compost in the soil not the compost bin. I apply them as top dressing and add manure when available and let cook for 6 to 12 months to make new soil in my woodlands. I have used it before and shoveled it on to the snow to let it get started and it made an insulating effect that let the snow stay at least a month longer. I am using about 12 to 14" on the existing topsoil unjder the ponderosa's above. I irrigate it once weekly to start the breakdown and because I am short of manure for the 6000 sq ft area I am spreading Amonium Sulfate every other week to give the N to break down the sawdust and shavings.

This message was edited Jul 10, 2006 9:15 AM

OK, so we've established that you are all a bunch of composting Superheroes, so who are the compost villains?

Plasticman & Milkman

back to lurking:)

Good idea wormboy. Amonium nite rat., Miracle grow gal, 2-4 Dracula, Roto the Con Poster, Artic Blaster, Dung Beetle Buster, Worm Cast Blaster, Dee HY Drator, Doo Doo Distaster, Super Sucking Wood Chipster (Nitrogen Nuker), .........

Y'all forgot the villain Nasty Neighbor Thinks Stinks who never knows what they are talking about.

I cut a rug and added it to the pile, does that count as alternative? It was made of Coconut Coir. The birds love to pick it apart and use it for their nests.

I read somewhere to throw the contents of vacuum cleaner bags in too, but I dunno about that one for me. Lord only knows what my dogs are dragging in.

Also spent 4 hours deadheading my SIL's flowers yesterday and got lots of nice compost material there...while they were nursing their charlie horses & twisted ankles.


Sofer, just an idea, but wrap yourself in metal sheeting to block your magnetic field. It will work. he he he

Prince of Decay, checking in:

Heathrjoy, your dogs are probably bringing in bits from the compost pile! A coir rug is funny. Tell us how that goes.
K

I didn't add the whole thing, just the ends that the birds had picked apart. It's gone now...to compost heaven. Maybe it'll be a tomatoe in it's next life. It's still on hand for er brown resources.

I've read that leather can be added, but wouldn't that take a long while to break down? Even if it was cut into bits it seems to me that it would take forever. Whaddaya think?

Back to the beer part. My compost pile started as beer byproducts on some stuff 3 years ago and now has come full circle to making beer with the raspberries and hops grown with my compost this Sunday. I am looking forward to adding plenty of byproducts back to the pile after enjoying my Raspberry Stout in a couple of weeks.

Mmmmmm

Bill

Yes Bill, I have had huckelberry stout here in Montana. Good stout. I would think that stout could be made with compost tea and vodka. What do you think?

Would probably better than the spoiled milk & beer

Hi, new to this thread? forum? whatever? I have wretched, scraped down to bedrock, compacted soil, cannot purchash compost ANYWHERE, and have a ton of leaves raked up to begin my own pile which will, of course, not be ready for the ton of plants I have waiting to be planted. So I have been lurking anywhere I see the word compost. I ask how, what, when on another site but stopped to read this one. Since I have to come out of retirement and really want to do something different, have you guy thought of taking this show on the road? I could be manager. Not that I am a good manager but I don't think ANYONE could manage you-all! You all really ought to consider printing this out and publishing it. Best doggone reading I have done in a long, long while! Thanks so much for the info and a ton of laughs!

So you wouldn't be a good manager? Does that mean you'd spend all the profits on compost tea and vodka?

Well I have been talking to my wife about an HGTV thing but she won't be my straight person. I have several shows that deal in comedy and follow with information on how to do it right. Not exactly like tim the tool but similar with many stupid ideas going astray as I learn the art of gardening. I need a script writer and we would keep busy to send to the HGTV people. Look here for some example. http://davesgarden.com/journal/d/t/Soferdig/3149/ Then we would follow with a humorous disclaimer about how composting takes only the sharpest minds to accomplish this act of rocket science.