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Do you add soil to your compost?
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Posted by
tcstoehr Z8 Portland, OR (
My Page) on
Thu, Nov 4, 10 at 12:45
I was told to do this years ago but ignored the advice. Then I read Steve Solomon's writings on compost and he advises a layer of soil here and there within the compost pile. After thinking about it, it did make sense. Introducing the soil organisms into the pile makes sense since they cannot move there themselves, not at the rate they're able to travel.
I've always noted how much faster leaves decompose when laying on soil. So I started adding thin layers of soil into my compost bin. And I have to say it has made a difference in my usually warm (not hot) compost. My compost gets one turning and one year to mature before being used. Adding soil to the compost has definitely helped it mature faster, meaning that I end up with a finer, crumblier, more finished product. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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- Posted by hortster 6A, southcentral KS (My Page) on
Thu, Nov 4, 10 at 17:09
Interesting article on home composting attached. I usually use thicker layers of OM and thinner layers of soil than they recommend, but I have a slow 2-3 year cycle because 1) I am lazy and 2) the ol' back won't let me turn it often enough. Usually use a couple of pounds of urea on top of the OM and under the soil layer. Sod stripped for making new bed areas works great as a soil layer since it holds together across the top of the pile and doesn't wash off or pile up in the middle - I toss it in there upside down to kill the roots and keep the stripped sod from continuing to grow during wetter periods.
hortster |
Here is a link that might be useful: one home composting method
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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- Posted by pt03 3 Southern Manitoba (My Page) on
Thu, Nov 4, 10 at 17:20
| I do not intentionally add soil but some of the plants that have been yanked out have soil on them. The windrows are also on the ground and when I use the skidsteer to turn, some soil would be scraped up as well. I can certainly understand the thought behind adding soil. Lloyd |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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| Can't really keep soil out of the compost when pulled weeds are added. If I don't have weeds to add I often just pull wild yarrow from outside the garden with roots and soil attached. I have a couple of times added soil from the forest floor because I read it was a good idea. I don't however do a layer of soil, just a sprinkling - might help and can't probably hurt. |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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| I added a few shovelfuls of soil when I first started my compost bin. I figured it would have most of the microbial life needed for the compost bin, and would help it get started. It was free, as opposed to buying a jumpstarting product. I don't know that adding the soil helped, but I'm pretty sure a couple of shovelfuls mixed in a cubic yard of material is not going to hurt either. |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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| If you're composting in a clean room, you'll need to introduce microbes, but bacteria and fungi are everywhere. If we needed to inoculate something to get it to rot, we wouldn't need refrigerators. |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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| Because the people at Indore always added soil to the compost they made Sir Albert Howard thought it necessary to do that. However, later research showed that the bacteria in soil and the bacteria that digest your compost material are not the same and adding soil is not really necessary. It is not really necessary to add soil to your compost but it is not needed. |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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| I knew it! Yeah, even as I was adding soil to my pile (even just a little) I figured it wasn't going to amount to anything, but I figured it wouldn't hurt either. But, over the years, I'd added so many leaves to my garden and other OM, I figured that there were some microbes there that would benefit me. The key is that I have a firm belief that it did nothing to SLOW the process, even if it may not have actually improved it. |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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| If you're composting in a clean room, you'll need to introduce microbes, but bacteria and fungi are everywhere. If we needed to inoculate something to get it to rot, we wouldn't need refrigerators. That sums it up very nicely. |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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- Posted by claire z6b Coastal MA (My Page) on
Fri, Nov 5, 10 at 12:19
| I'm not composting in a clean room, but my OM is heavy on shredded paper and Starbucks coffee grounds. I figure neither of these are teeming with composting microbes. I sprinkle in a handful or two of half-finished compost if I'm layering the material. If I'm energetically turning the material into the existing pile I don't bother to inoculate it. Claire |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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One of the things Solomon mentions is that there are soil-born bacteria that are capable of processing gaseous nitrogen (in ammonia) which otherwise would escape thru the air. I have no idea.
The notion that soil organisms spread into the compost pile would NOT assist in the breakdown of organic matter is, to my way of thinking, an absurdity. Perhaps because my composting is done by adding small layers at a time and I never get a hot pile going. Hot piles may be a completely different beast, I don't know.
In any case, I've made a point in observing the results of adding thin layers of soil as I build the compost pile for the last two years. The results have been surprisingly positive. It gets crumblier faster. I have truly finished compost in much less time. I'm glad I spent the effort to check it out. |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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| We compost in bins on the ground so it has soil in it. You may think it absurd to add soil, but I know that the compost in the bins gets finished a lot sooner than the compost in my tumbler. |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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| I have added soil to new compost piles where I had no old compost to use. I think the soil helps to get the piles started, but as much as old compost does. |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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| "I'm not composting in a clean room, but my OM is heavy on shredded paper and Starbucks coffee grounds. I figure neither of these are teeming with composting microbes. " I've made compost that had little but UCG and shredded paper. I sometimes got it to 160F in a couple of days. |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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- Posted by claire z6b Coastal MA (My Page) on
Mon, Nov 8, 10 at 20:14
| "I've made compost that had little but UCG and shredded paper. I sometimes got it to 160F in a couple of days." How? Did you turn it ferociously? I run a lukewarm to cold pile with minimal turnng and I've never gotten that kind of heat. Claire |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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| I made a mix of about 50/50 UCG and paper, mixed it a bit and made sure it was damp and not wet. It heated up in a hurry. |
RE: Do you add soil to your compost?
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- Posted by claire z6b Coastal MA (My Page) on
Tue, Nov 9, 10 at 11:20
| Thanks, my issues may that of much more paper than UCG. The grounds come with filters included and I have a lot of paper to deal with. I recently decided to try to compost all waste paper (except nose and toilet) and I'm still working out how to reasonably shred/tear the newspapers, catalogs, junk mail, bills, etc. and still have time for the rest of my day. The only Starbucks close by is very accommodating but others forage for grounds there too, so I can't get as much as I'd like. I'm also not willing to put too much physical effort into turning the pile. Consequently, my compost pile is dominated by fungi, as you can see from the photo from last July:
 Right now I'm pushing a bit so that when I start spreading the compost within the next few weeks the pieces of paper won't be too obvious. Claire |
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