What is the true Mels mix?

Help, I see all the differnt ing you use 5 differnt compost,in mm.does any one know for sure what you should use.And can I make the compost to hot?

Hello, Kingtoad, and welcome!

Are you using homemade compost or purchased compost?

The reason behind using 5 different kinds is to make sure to get a large enough variety of nutrients for the plants, the same as eating a varied diet for us.

If you are using homemade, and you are using yard waste, grass clipping, leaves AND kitchen scraps, you will have a variety of nutrients and not have to worry about that. If you are using homemade, when your compost looks all dark and crumbly, like beautiful soil, it should be ready to use. I know there are some great photos here on the site. And I hope someone else will chime in and post links - I only have a minute to be here so I can't be that helpful person, I'm afraid!

Allegedly, if you use purchased compost, it should be fully decomposed, and therefore not "hot", but several people here have had that not be the case. I know one thing to look out for is if you purchase something containing chicken manure, if there is an ammonia smell to it, it is too hot and will burn your plants.

Yep good home made compost is = to 5 different store brands accourding to Mel in his book have you read ANSFG yet?

purchased Black Hen will have a very strong odor when first purchased, but it is fully composted and will not burn. By the time you mix in the other 4 composts, the peat and the vermiculite, the odor is almost gone.

Kay

Shows how much I know! And I'm glad for the correction - I have not yet found any chicken poop-based compost, but if I do, I'll now know to go ahead and use it.

Thanks, Kay!

Black Hen is the only brand I have used, so it is the only one I checked up on. But I got great results last year and recommend it to anyone who can find it. It is not widely distributed. It is powerful stuff and I mix it with equal amount of my IFFY compost from Home Depot and count that as two types but mix it as one. ie 1 bucket each of the other 3 good composts and 1 bucket of the hen/iffy compost mix to make my blend.

Kay

+1 Kay with the Chickety-Doo-Doo too! It's a fully composted, fairly well known, pelleted chicken manure. I almost didn't buy it because it smelled so icky in the store. (Note to the easily embarrassed like me - do NOT pick it up first and push it around in your cart all the way across Menards from the garden section to the plumbing section to get your PVC unless you want LOTS of customers to look at you funny).

Nappy smell at first - working with it was almost as bad as the fish fertilizer...but it did dissipate fairly quickly. When I amended the beds with a 5-way compost including the Chickety-Doo-Doo, the yard smelled like it for a few days, but no more smell and my new plants seem to be loving it!

To those of you with dogs...if you can smell this, THEY can smell this. Do not leave it out where they can get to it because it's apparently quite enticing to some dogs...(she says wondering if she should include the picture of the bag with the corner bitten out of it as proof)...