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my compost pile
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Posted by barb_roselover_in 5a IN (My Page) on Fri, Nov 20, 09 at 23:31
| Maybe this is the wrong place to post this but here goes. I have a compost pile out in back where all of the corn stalks and remnants from the garden are kept. It is piled high, and I certainly don't have the strength to turn it over or whatever. Don't have anybody here that can give me a hand either. It is just "sitting there", and I don't think even leaving it there over the winter can help break it down. I guess it is wishful thinking to think that anybody can give me a suggestion. I remember reading something that said running a lawn mower over it, and even someone else suggested using a mattock (sp) on it but circumstances don't permit that. Do I just have to pray that something will do the trick? As I said, I am waiting for a miracle. I guess I shouldn't even try to compost. Anyway, thanks for even reading this - Barb |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: my compost pile
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- Posted by hoovb z9 Southern CA (My Page) on
Sat, Nov 21, 09 at 0:06
| Patience, grasshopper. It will break down. It won't happen over night, or even over winter (since microbial action slows to nearly nothing in cold temperatures), but it WILL happen. You don't have to turn a pile. Turning and mixing speeds up the process somewhat, but you can get compost without lifting a finger if you have patience. Forget about it until next fall, when there will undoubtedly be some "black gold" at the bottom. |
RE: my compost pile
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Barb,
If the cornstalks and other pieces are large, the composting process can take a long time. Running over larger pieces, leaves, etc., with a lawn mower or garden tractor can shred them into smaller pieces that will break down faster.
I have 5 compost bins in various stages of decomposition. I don't turn any of them. Typically it takes a year for a full bin to turn into usable compost(something that looks like rich organic filled soil). I use mostly weeds and leaves but I will add horse manure occassionally.
Unless you get those corn stalks chopped up you'll have to sift them out of any compost you do get and place them in the bottom or middle of your new pile.
Maultiple piles are better than one. You can fill one of them then ignore it for a year while you fill the others one at a time. I usually have one being filled, three in various stages of composting and a finished one being used.
If you only have one pile and keep adding to it, any finished compost will be under lots of stuff in various stages of composting. You'll have to move it to get to this finished stuff.
In a way this is good. As you move the unfinished stuff you're turning the pile but the bigger the pile the harder that can be.
Like Hoovb said, Patience!
Like s**t, compost happens. How fast depends on how much work you put into it.
I'm a lazy composter. I make sure the stuff is small so it breaks down quickly then let it set for a year. |
RE: my compost pile
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hoovb is right very very right. If you must rush you will will still have to wait till spring and start a second pile next to the one you have now. If anything I'd add even more on top of the one you have now . You want and need compost to get HOT HOT HOT your frezzing tepms are going to have one easy time shattering them items I know you've seen a pot hole maybe even two on your roads, them stalks dont stand a chance in winter snows, ice and frezzing temps Just an example my 8 x 8 x 10 foot high heap will be 3 feet high in full thaw time of next spring. You can win a bet as I do go dig for my black gold then too.
Definatly go to the compost forum read a few threads you'll get the idea of things to add ect. If not just ask LOL grasshopper omg lol Worms maybe but grasshopper to darn funny
Laughing with you not at you
Wes |
RE: my compost pile
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Hi Barb,
It is so good to hear from you.
I intend to start a compost pile, and cannot give you advice on how to maintain it, but I have needed to hire someone to help me, and I had good luck finding someone who was working for a neighbor. My problem is that whatever goes into the trash must be 4 feet long or less. It must be wrapped or bagged. I needed to get rid of the canes from crape myrtle trees and the different plants that I dug up. This man checks in with us periodically, and we can call him. He even uses the weed eater occassionally. Under no circumstances should you do heavy work, but there are endless chores that you can get done for a very small price. It only takes organizing your chores, and I think you have great organizational skills, then at one time ask for whatever you need. Sammy |
RE: my compost pile
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| Barb, I also keep a "cold pile" that I don't turn. You can run the mower over the larger pieces. I put in all of the coffee grounds and left over vegetables that I can for "greens". Otherwise, I just let it sit. I think there is finished compost in there, at the bottom. Next spring, I will take off the unfinished stuff from the top, dig out the finished compost, put the unfinished stuff back, and start again. The folks on the Soil and Compost forum say that adding nitrogen helps "heat up" the pile (blood meal, urea, alfalfa, although I'm not wasting my alfalfa in the compost pile). Just let it happen, it does in nature. |
RE: my compost pile
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| "Just let it happen, it does in nature." Yep, Otherwise we'd be over our heads in leaves in a wooded area. No one picks them up but each summer they're all but gone, making the soil richer. |
RE: my compost pile
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| I think my fingers were going a different direction than my brain when I posted my comment. I think you should be careful, and if turning the compost is a chore, find someone to do it for you. I did not quite complete my analogy, and am not sure that I was communicating. Sammy |
RE: my compost pile
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| just a question, how do you keep rats out of the compost pile? And once we have that solved, is there any danger of roaches ((shudder))? |
RE: my compost pile
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Unless you place meat scraps or foods other than vegetable scraps in the pile you should not have rats. All I've ever found in 25 years is a nest of bumble bees. Same with roaches unless you live in an area where there are wood roaches.
Never place anything other than vegetable scraps and yard waste in a compost pile or you'll get all sorts of vermin. |
RE: my compost pile
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| I also do cold pile composting. If we just leave a pile, it takes about a year to break down. When my husband turns the pile twice a year (spring & fall) the compost breaks down quite rapidly - in a matter of weeks sometimes. Either way, you'll end up with lovely compost. For the past 4 years, I've kept a large plastic garbage can, lined with a heavy duty plastic bag, in the basement. I add all my kitchen vegetable waste to it along with paper from our paper shredder and sawdust from my husband's workshop. In the spring we just wheel it out to the compost pile, dump it in and fork some compost over it. In no time at all it is completely composted. Since I only use fruit & vegetable waste and coffee grounds, there is never an odor from the can in the basement, and I don't have to hike through the snow to get to the compost pile. This year we added a couple shovel-fulls of earthworm-filled compost to the inside container - a sort of vermiculture experiment. I'll let you know how it turns out. So far the worms seem very happy when I give them their daily coffee ground & apple core meals! |
RE: my compost pile
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| I started a compost pile in an obscure area. Lots and lots of green, and I threw in some vegetable scraps. I kept noticing that my piles were disappearing. I knew they weren't breaking down that rapidly! Finally figured it out - the possums were rooting around for the scraps, displacing the 'greens'. HAHA!! Mother Nature will compost your pile - given time. OR - some friendly little animals may help! ;) Seriously, don't overdo it. All the 'formulas' for making compost are probably good to help it get there faster, but I have found that organic piles will turn into compost if they are left alone. And I like taking the easy way! :) |
RE: my compost pile
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- Posted by hoovb z9 Southern CA (My Page) on
Mon, Nov 23, 09 at 1:46
| just a question, how do you keep rats out of the compost pile? And once we have that solved, is there any danger of roaches ((shudder))? Rats seem to like to nest in them here as well. Rat traps baited with peanut butter work. :( I'm thinking of changing from wire fencing for my compost to garbage barrels (with lids) with holes drilled in the bottom--or with the bottom cut out and replaced with hardware cloth. Also barrels will keep the compost moist here in dry So Cal. It dries out too fast with the wire fencing. |
RE: my compost pile
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| I just make piles behind the trees and butterfly bushes. The trees that have the piles are 3x the size of the ones that don't! Then each fall I try to chip/shred what I can, hubby helps with the chipper. All the big woody stuff gets chipped. I also have a leaf vac/shredder which is great for leaves and other small stuff. Then I just pile it on my beds. It's usually half composted at that time because it's been sitting. Since it's not in the soil, it's not robbing any nutrients. Maybe it's not an exact science, but it seems to be working. |
RE: my compost pile
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| I had no idea when I started this post that I would get the replies I did. I was feeling kind of "down -in -. the dumps" because I didn't think I was achieving what I had hoped to achieve. I also realized that I alone could not, but you all made me feel better, and I just have to realize that this is part of God's plan when all of this "just happens" even though I have no direct effect myself. Thanks again. I feel much better now and will rest much easier as I know it's out of my hands. I need to have more patience but sometimes feel my limitations. - Barb |
RE: my compost pile
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| Barb...that's an awesome realization! I have nothing to give in the compost advice department, but patience in spite of limitations is a good lesson. composting definitely doesn't seem like an exact science. |
RE: my compost pile
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| Great thread Barb, thanks! Anyway, with some trepidation and advice from Hoovb I am planning to move forward with composting. The plants will love all that wonderful garbage! |
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