|
| Hello!!
This is my third year of actively working on my compost heaps (I stopped during pregnancy and first summer of my son). And it's the third time I see that the compost heap is getting ready, so I stop adding materials and keep turning, and wetting when needed, etc. but before it's completely done it cools down on me and stops decomposing. I had the same in the past... What could I be doing wrong? Thanks in advance!!
|
Follow-Up Postings:
|
- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Wed, Apr 27, 11 at 16:36
| Hi Carol, Since it is impossible to know your circumstances exactly (especially without pics ;-( I will only be able to guess .... OK... Here goes ! ! Add more greens..... TA DA ♪ ♫ ♬ Greens......in a combination with air,water,browns are what heat up a pile.....
|
|
| The material may be too wet if you wet it every time you turn it and excess moisture excludes the air the aerobic bacteria that are digesting that material need. |
|
| WOWWW Jonhughes!! Those piles look sooo hot and what a neat veggie garden you've got!! I'll post pictures tomorrow, but my piles are definately not half as hot as yours. And well, adding more greens, is what I've been always doing and there goes again and again indefinately, and I've never been able to use my selfmade compost because it's never finished.... sniff!! Kimmsr, it's not overwaterd, for sure. Carol |
|
- Posted by jonhughes So.Oregon (jonehughes@hotmail.com) on Sun, May 1, 11 at 15:59
| OK Then... Here goes again ;-) Drum roll please.... Add more browns TA DA Yeah, There really isn't any magic to this, if you keep tinkering , (sounds like my love life ;-) It is all about Greens,Browns,Air, Water..... Tinker until you are satisfied ! !
|
|
| It sounds just right to me, Carol. You said you stopped adding to it, and it cooled. That's what it should do. It's not supposed to stay hot forever. If you keep adding stuff and keep other conditions right, it keeps heating, but it never finishes. Stop adding, it stops heating. ..."before it's completely done it cools down on me and stops decomposing". How long have you waited for it to finish? Weeks? months? years? After I have a batch, and stop adding, I let it sit for months. In hot weather, it might only be a few months. But I have a batch now that's been sitting since last fall. It's slowly working in a cold state. Also, you don't have to wait until it's all totally broken down and looking like fluffy soil. You can either sift out the big chunks and throw them into your currently active pile, or just mulch with it as is. That's what I usually do. It will finish decomposing on top of your garden bed. You are right on track. Karen |
Here is a link that might be useful: composting- hot and cold phases
|
| Hey, Jon, you must be the GOOD composting wizard of the west! Great operation, great garden. hortster |
|
- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Mon, May 2, 11 at 19:45
| Just because it is cool does not mean it has stopped composting. There are 10s of thousands of species of insects and microbes that continue to work on it. My piles have not been hot in years. Yet I get compost every year. |
|
- Posted by pepper_rancher (My Page) on Mon, May 14, 12 at 20:05
| Sorry to dig up this old post, but im having problems with my first batch of compost from my 80 gallon tumble composter. It stayed really hot for about 2 weeks, I only added water initially, and it stayed moist throughout at a good wrung-out-spounge-level. Anyway, after about 2 weeks, it cooled down but it certainly doesnt look finished. Previous posters suggest to add more greens if it cools down, but it still kind of smells, so I think it might need more carbon (?) It possibly is too wet even though I havent added any water since the beginning (rain may have seeped in?) Its not really sopping wet, but it is kind of slimy. One question I have is... Will the decomposition process stop if there is only nitrogen left (without enough carbon)? |
|
| Two weeks of heat with that size of composter is pretty good. Heat comes from large amounts of bacteria working on the easily digested materials. Cornell has a good paper on the phases of composting. Take a gander at it and if you still have questions, fire away. Lloyd |
|
- Posted by tropical_thought San Francisco (My Page) on Tue, May 15, 12 at 0:11
| This is why I don't like tumblers. Since there is less contact with the soil or ground it takes longer to breakdown. The early stage is the hot stage, the later stages are slower stages, that are cool, but I assume it still does breakdown. The worms are helpful for the later stages. I never used a tumbler. This is why you need to remove the finished compost from the bin and keep the unfinished in there. If you just keep adding new stuff it will never be finished. So you take out the finished parts and then add more greens and browns to the unfinished. It just keeps going on and on like that, as you get new kitchen scraps you add those daily, and then remove or harvest about every two weeks. At least in a bin, I can remove some compost every two weeks if I want to. I can keep it going for a month or longer if I feel like it also. You take out what looks finished, but if you want to finished that even more you can put it in a bin for further aging, or you can mix it with native soil and use it when you plant something to amend the soil. Or you can use it as a top dressing, and even put some mulch on top of it if you want. Sometimes I mix compost with bagged browns to make it go farther. This is why everyone needs at least two bins. The second bin is to store the finished and allow it to age further. If you leave the finished it there it will slow down the heating of the newer materials. |
|
| TT, some of the stuff you come up with is just plain hysterical. Lloyd |
|
- Posted by blazeaglory 10 SZ22 OC Ca (My Page) on Tue, May 15, 12 at 1:56
| I kind of agree with TT. My operation is almost the same except I leave mine in my bin for longer. I have only one bin but I also have a pile. I start it out in the pile and then move it to the bin. This is my first "harvest" of compost and it looks almost done. Its been about a month and a half now. Its not much but its MINE...hehehe |
|
- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Tue, May 15, 12 at 11:56
| Pepper Rancher: It takes a lot longer than 2 weeks after the pile cools down to have finished compost. Think of a car on the highway. When you're hitting the gas and going 70, that's the hot stage. When you take your foot off the gas, that's when you stopped adding greens. It takes a long time for the car to coast to a stop. Compost needs that long tail, and there's stuff going on that's not as obvious as heating. If it smells bad and is slimy, it probably is too wet. It may not have too much N. I would leave the door open in dry weather, and tumble daily to get it dried out a bit. And give it some time. Problem with having a tumbler - or a bin, or a pile - is that you really need two. One to add fresh stuff to, and the other that's finishing. Re TT's post: I really can't find much wrong with most of it, although most of it doesn't address the poster's question. However, it is tragically comic to imagine sorting through a compost pile that has daily additions of food waste, trying to pull out 'done' stuff. When I use a compost pile, it hasn't had anything new added for months. I don't wanna have to handle last week's rotten banana again. Are you serious? |
|
| "This is why I don't like tumblers." then later "I never used a tumbler." This alone makes it entertaining. "Since there is less contact with the soil or ground it takes longer to breakdown."...There is no requirement to be in contact with the ground and I can't recall any reputable source that mentions this as a detriment to composting. I've used and continue to use three different types of tumblers, worms are never an issue in tumblers. I chuckle at the thought of the worms rappelling up the stand, opening the door and climbing in. "This is why everyone needs at least two bins." Needs? Hardly, I know several families that get by just fine with one bin. They have their own technique that works quite well for them. Lloyd |
|
| "Since there is less contact with the soil or ground it takes longer to breakdown."...There is no requirement to be in contact with the ground and I can't recall any reputable source that mentions this as a detriment to composting. Yeah, in fact, I read a lot about bins before I built mine and many suggest a floor. Ideally I'd think a raised small-gauge mesh floor would allow oxygen into the bottom to faster results. With that said, mine is on the ground. |
|
- Posted by idaho_gardener 6a_sw_idaho (My Page) on Tue, May 15, 12 at 23:28
| I think that many beginning gardeners/composters have unrealistic expectations about how soon they will have compost. There are many claims, including by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, that assert that you can have 'finished' compost in two weeks. In two weeks, your compost might have passed through the thermophilic phase and transformed into the 'brown crumbly' material that looks like finished compost, but it takes time for the mesophilic bacteria/fungi to finish the job. I've made many yards of compost and I've given up on the idea that it takes less than a year for compost to be ready to use as a soil amendment. I do use unfinished compost as a mulch, but not as a soil amendment. I use pallets to make bins, and the compost sits on the ground. I make compost in batches, mostly from leaves and grass clippings. My hammermill chipper/shredder pulverizes the material that goes into my compost bins and that is a huge help in speeding decompostion. |
|
- Posted by tropical_thought San Francisco (My Page) on Tue, May 15, 12 at 23:42
| Since I am constantly adding new materials, I can take away some finished compost every two weeks, if I wish. This does not mean if I started a fresh bin of all new materials that I could make the whole thing finished in just two weeks. I do use it as a soil amendment, but mixed with native soil. I think a good ratio is about 15 to 20 percent compost to native soil. If the plant likes more compost, I may use more, but using too much is not a good idea. Young compost can be good compost, but you have to mix it with native soil, or use it as a mulch. If you mix with bagged browns that will also be helpful. But, you don't have to do that. Nothing is really set in stone, you just have to try different things until you hit upon a system that works for you. I like to always to keep tweaking things. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Soil Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.