Rebuilding a Compost Pile

I have a tumbler, and could add more brown to the lot.
What did I add?
Leaves that have been overwintered, shredded paper, shredded cardboard.
Any other ideas?

I could use my neighbours lawn clippings but I think he uses poisons on his lawn......

GWN wrote:I have a tumbler, and could add more brown to the lot.
What did I add?
Leaves that have been overwintered, shredded paper, shredded cardboard.
Any other ideas?

I could use my neighbours lawn clippings but I think he uses poisons on his lawn......

You could ask 10 people what your green-to-brown ratio should be and you'll probably get 10 different answers. I've seen equal amounts of greens and browns, 3 browns to 1 green, 2 browns to 1 green, etc. I have no idea what my ratio is but if I had to guess, I'd say it's about equal.....maybe slightly more greens.

Like I said earlier, there's a science behind composting but it does not have to be an exact science. Eventually, it will all compost. How quickly it composts depends on what's in it. Whatever you do, don't sweat it one bit.

Take a look at your tumbler and if you see more greens than anything, add something brown. For a while I was running my newspapers through my paper shredder(took forever to shred because it only does 2 or 3 sheets at a time). That was my main brown component. Then I read that you can add pine shavings(animal bedding) for your brown component. I ran to the pet store and bought a bag(I forget how big) and added that to my compost.

If you do add pine shavings, make sure it's untreated and not treated with any sort of antibacterial additive. I wouldn't use cedar shavings because cedar is somewhat rot-resistant and it will take longer to break down.

The more of a variety of browns(and greens too of course) you add to your compost, the better it will be.

A few websites.....

http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm

http://www.compostinstructions.com/what-you-can-and-cannot-compost/

I leave the temperature probe in my compost at all times. Here's a picture of it taken this morning.



Sorry for the blurriness but you should still see that it's at 159F

"Are you building your compost bin from scratch or getting a pre-made bin?"



Never done this before but was considering building my own but did not know the correct type of fence?

floyd1440 wrote:"Are you building your compost bin from scratch or getting a pre-made bin?"



Never done this before but was considering building my own but did not know the correct type of fence?

I just use pallets to make the sides to contain the compost. You can see my pile in my album. Click on the Gallery tab above.

camprn wrote:

floyd1440 wrote:"Are you building your compost bin from scratch or getting a pre-made bin?"



Never done this before but was considering building my own but did not know the correct type of fence?

I just use pallets to make the sides to contain the compost. You can see my pile in my album. Click on the Gallery tab above.

Pallets are probably the easiest and cheapest way to build a bin. Hammering those fence posts into the ground was a real pain in the backside.

camprn wrote:

floyd1440 wrote:"Are you building your compost bin from scratch or getting a pre-made bin?"



Never done this before but was considering building my own but did not know the correct type of fence?

I just use pallets to make the sides to contain the compost. You can see my pile in my album. Click on the Gallery tab above.

I check the gallery out and you picture is very interesting. But here is my problem. I am overrun with deer and may need to put in in my fenced in area, which is on a slope.

Now I am considering putting a skid of the bottom and level it and perhaps some fencing around it???

floyd1440 wrote:

camprn wrote:

floyd1440 wrote:"Are you building your compost bin from scratch or getting a pre-made bin?"



Never done this before but was considering building my own but did not know the correct type of fence?

I just use pallets to make the sides to contain the compost. You can see my pile in my album. Click on the Gallery tab above.

I check the gallery out and you picture is very interesting. But here is my problem. I am overrun with deer and may need to put in in my fenced in area, which is on a slope.

Now I am considering putting a skid of the bottom and level it and perhaps some fencing around it???

If you put a nice amount of manure on it, I don't think the deer would go anywhere near the pile.

To GWN:
Plantoid shared the following website with me in a previous post ("Compost not heating"), and I found it extremely helpful. By following instructions on the site, which includes info on N:C (or green:brown ratios), I was able to convert my old, slow, cold compost pile into a steaming productive pile and made several cartloads of gorgeous compost in only a few weeks.

http://deepgreenpermaculture.com/diy-instructions/hot-compost-composting-in-18-days/

I'll share photos later.

TTT

I am planning to build a fenced compost area and what is a good fence and openning size of the wire mesh?

floyd1440 wrote:TTT

I am planning to build a fenced compost area and what is a good fence and openning size of the wire mesh?

Hey floyd,

I would get galvanized hardware cloth with openings of 1 inch x 2 inches. You can find that at a store like Lowes or Home Depot. If you have a feed store nearby, check them out as well because they would have a bigger selection and they're cheaper than a big store. Galvanized cloth will last longer than non-galvanized.

If you already know how you're building your compost bin, that's great. Just ignore the rest of this post. If you're not sure how you're going to build it, these instructions are easy and it shouldn't take you long to build your bin.

What size compost bin are you making? If you want to make a 3ft x 3ft x 3ft compost pile, plan on getting a 12 foot roll of fencing 4ft high. That extra foot will allow for you to mix it around the compost without it falling over the top. It works for me....you'll see why in a minute.


If you are not sure of how you will support it, I would get U-posts. Get 4 of them in 5ft lengths because you will hammer them into the ground about a foot and you're left with 4ft exposed for your 4 foot tall hardware cloth. After you hammer your 4 posts into the ground, cut 9 feet of your 12 foot roll of hardware cloth(save that extra 3 feet ) and start by fastening one end of it onto the front left post. You can use those plastic zip ties. I used them and they work well. You can use those metal clips you see on your U post and pinch that to hold the hardware cloth, but it's a pain. Zip ties are easy to use and they're easily removable.

Anyway, wrap the hardware cloth around the back post, zip tie it, wrap it onto the next one, zip tie it, etc. Go in a clockwise position. After the fencing is fastened to your posts, take that extra 3ft piece of hardware cloth and zip tie it sort of loosely to the post on the right. After you're done, it'll look something like this drawing...



Those green dots are the U posts. Anyway, that "door" allows you to have easy access to your compost pile. Just open it up, give your compost a mix and pile it up high(now's where that 4ft tall fencing comes into help). Close the door and level out your compost. To keep the door shut, get 2 bungee cords and run them through the door and the post on the left.

Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask
It doesn't have to be pretty, just functional.....just take a look at mine.

Here are the photos of my compost experience. Some of you may recall that I was frustrated with my cold compost bin, and I received several helpful suggestions on the post "compost not heating." As a result of your help, I followed the directions on the link I mention above and rebuilt my compost pile, adding in a good bit of horse and chicken manure to the mix. As a result, I soon had great hot compost. About 5 weeks after I built the pile, it had cooled back down and I was able to harvest my compost just in time for the spring season.

Here's a photo of the compost pile in the bins as I was beginning to sift through it. The pile reduced in size by about 1/3 from its original height 5 weeks ago. I made my bins out of pallets, and I really like them.



In the image above, you can see my compost screen leaning against the bins. It is 2ft x 2 ft and the screen is 1/4 inch hardware cloth. In the image below, I have dumped a shovel-ful of compost onto the screen to filter out the large pieces. There is very little recognizeable material left in the compost.



After filtering everything through the screen, this is a photo of all that was left. As I rubbed the material over the screen, most of the larger particles crumbled. More than 95% of the material made it through the screen; the rest I dumped into the empty side of my compost bin to begin a new compost pile.



I was able to harvest more than enough to use to make the MM to fill my new beds (2x8, 2x8, 4x8, and 4x4)! I used more to top off squares in my old SFG, and still have plenty to use for mulch and MM replacement this spring.

Here's a photo of the "black gold":

You guys are turning out such beautiful compost, and it sounds as though it is in a relatively short period of time. This may be a really dumb question, but what are you using to measure the temp of your piles, and where did you get them? Too Tall Tomatoes' looks like a meat thermometer - is that what it is?

A variety of composting thermometers are available, both digital and analog. Here is a sample of some from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=composting+thermometer&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=4062880787&hvpos=1t3&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1727909536323496699&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&ref=pd_sl_7xqspxokq7_b

Oh perfect, thanks! Amazon is great!

I use meat thermometers in my garden soil and I don't see why they wouldn't work for compost also. I got them at a restaurant supply store. A caution about the restaurant supply store, there are a lot of things in there that you will see and say to your self that would be great in the garden so you might want to just carry in $20 in cash and leave all other forms of payment at home.

Whoa, I have a restaurant supply right around the corner. Great idea! I generally stay out of there for my budget's sake, but the suggestion of taking $20 cash and leaving everything else home might just work.

I got a yellow mustard squeeze bottle at the restaurant supply store and it was super cheap and that is what I keep my B.T. in. When I need the B.T. it is easy to point and squeeze to apply the B.T.

I also love to cook so those stores can be dangerous.

Another question - some of you guys are sprinkling dried blood in your piles. I have a bag of blood meal from my days with the old SFG book - is this the same thing or no?

Menditha wrote:Another question - some of you guys are sprinkling dried blood in your piles. I have a bag of blood meal from my days with the old SFG book - is this the same thing or no?

Yes

Thanks tons! I love learning great stuff from all of you! Hope I can pass some of it on somehow.

I've been playing at rearranging the five x 11 cubic feet bins of various manures today , used the Mantis electric rototiller with the lawn de thatcher attachment .

Caution if you do this trick wear a boilersiut , steel toe wellies , have the legs of the boiler suit outside the wellies, wear eyeprotection and a face mask . For I got more on me than you can see in the picture.

My boiler suit legs were inside my wellies . So so I got my boots full as well .

I had my glasses on thankfully , but I did get a liberal covering on the lenses .

The face mask is essential unless you like the taste of new " flung dung " , ( it's not the nicest of things I can tell you ) & you can't get rid of the bits that get in your nostrils ( for a couple of days ) no matter what you do .

Guess how I know all this ?

On the bright side ... the five bins of brewing compost was well and truly fluffed up , had a 6 pound bag of fish , blood & bone meal sprinked in it over the whole aireating session , all lumps were trashed to a nice fine mix . The five bins worth went back into 2 & 3/4 bins as it had reduced considerably beforehand . By this time next week It should be down to two bins worth and I'll give it another Mantis session.



As I dismantled the heaps I took out ten or more large brandling red worms and slipped them in to the wormery .. .. I'd noticed earlier today that there were a shed load of small worms and cocoons so a few bigger ready to lay worms should give the wormery a welcome bost.

Hey neighbor......

Thanks so much for the info and diagram!!! That was very important for me as a newbie in the compost areana.

IMHO composting is the most important part of square foot gardenning, but I could be wrong.

Now I though some type of fence would be required and I will have to check into the type of galvinized mesh as you mentioned.

As I may have mentioned earlier will a 3x3x3 compost pit produce enough compost for two 4x8 beds?

Going back to the rabbit food...do rabbits come and eat in your compost bin because of the food?

We have two Earth Machine composters. One bin, which is farther from the house, has bite marks from something that tried to get in to it. We have deer, turkey, rabbits, and all kinds of critters in our backyard.

JustMe wrote:Going back to the rabbit food...do rabbits come and eat in your compost bin because of the food?

We have two Earth Machine composters. One bin, which is farther from the house, has bite marks from something that tried to get in to it. We have deer, turkey, rabbits, and all kinds of critters in our backyard.

I have never seen any animal going after my compost. One reason is because it's kept in a bin so it might be kind of hard to get to. Secondly, I don't see how any animal would be able to smell edible food if it's covered up with manure and other junk.