A wet yucky mess of compost

jamieb29 Mon May 07, 2012 4:03 pm

I got all my bags of compost this weekend and I just opened them up in the garage to start mixing it and found out that 2 of my bags were wet and the compost was like a giant ball of mud! I went ahead and put each of them on separate tarps in the garage in the sun. My question is....will this dry out in a couple days so I can use it or should I just get more?

I went ahead and opened up the Oma Grow and my other composted manure bag and they were fine.

I thought I got one back of cotton burr, but now it looks like it is just composted manure. Is it okay to have 2 composted cow manure sources if they are from different companies?

I was really hoping to get the stuff in my box today, but that doesn't look like it is gonna happen right now.

Thanks!

littlesapphire Mon May 07, 2012 4:14 pm

Depending on how the stores store their compost, it can get waterlogged. I hate that! I bet leaving it in the sun for a while will dry it back out and make it much easier to handle.

jamieb29 Mon May 07, 2012 4:18 pm

I figured if I aired it out for a couple days it should be workable by the weekend.

Now I am worried I don't have actually 5 kinds of compost...I have chickety doo doo, Oma Grow, composted steer manure, another composted manure by another company, and I thought I had cotton burr, but it says composted steer manure too. I am not sure if this will be okay or not. Just when I thought I had it all figured out!

tomperrin Mon May 07, 2012 4:19 pm

Don't worry about it. Once you mix it with peat moss and vermiculite, these last two will soak up excess moisture within minutes.

But remember to first mix your 5 different kinds of compost together, then take your blended compost and mix 1 part each of blended compost, 1 part each of fluffed peat, and 1 part each of vermiculite.

Once MM is in your square, then thoroughly saturate with water. And be sure to test it. You may be surprised at how much water it takes to saturate MM the first time.

Tom

jamieb29 Mon May 07, 2012 4:26 pm

I will remember to make sure it is watered down after I get it in the box.

Let's see if I am gonna do this right. I will have 1 5-gallon bucket of each compost and then 5 buckets each of vermiculite and peat moss? I had the book, but I think my son either threw it away when he was cleaning or he can't remember what he did with it!

tomperrin Mon May 07, 2012 4:44 pm

jamieb29 wrote:I will remember to make sure it is watered down after I get it in the box.

Let's see if I am gonna do this right. I will have 1 5-gallon bucket of each compost and then 5 buckets each of vermiculite and peat moss? I had the book, but I think my son either threw it away when he was cleaning or he can't remember what he did with it!

You've got it right. It's a lot less heavy lifting to mix it in batches. I use the smallest tarp available at Home Depot, about $6. Then one 5-gallon pail each of vermiculite, peat and blended compost. It's real easy for one senior citizen to roll it, spread it out with a garden rake, roll it again, and then dump into a square. Repeat as needed.

Tom

subsonic Mon May 07, 2012 6:54 pm

I collect my neighbors bags of leaves to add brown to the compost pile, I wait till they rake them and then ask if I can have them Rolling Eyes

leaves really help balance the load and are full of nutrients.

Goosegirl Mon May 07, 2012 9:54 pm

I always have the opposite problem - way too many browns. Today I mowed my lawn and was able to put 4 mower bags of freshcut grass on top of my 4x6 stack of browns!

GG

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