Drunken composting- turning grass to compost in two weeks

has55 5/13/2014, 12:13 pm

audrey.jeanne.roberts 5/13/2014, 12:46 pm

That was very interesting. Unfortunately I don't have grass clippings as our lawn is bermuda grass and it will spread like an evil fog all over my garden if it were allowed in the compost pile, LOL!

However, I imagine you can use his super charge on anything so we'll give it a try! Thanks for posting it.

**Turan** 5/13/2014, 1:15 pm

Trying to think this out. The ammonia is a high nitrogen blast and the coke adds a wallop of sugar. Not sure what the beer does, he mentions yeast but that kind of beer does not have live yeast in it and it would be dead anyways after that ammonia blast. Not sure why sugar would be a good additive for composting organisms. I bet peeing on your compost pile is cheaper and easier source of nitrogen than diluting ammonia. Or just sprinkle some blood meal.

plantoid 5/13/2014, 10:06 pm

Sugar is yeast food for natural wild yeasts , beer will have vitamin b in it which also helps yeasts grow . Beneficial composting bacteria will feed on the yeast and products of the yeasts as the materials break down . The ammonia gives nitrogen to also feed moulds , any gasses will evaporate bacteria so no probs of ammonia sterilizing the heap .

He's just using a home made composting accelerator made from common liquids instead of a dry form of granular accelerator like fish blood & bone meal .
Bet it only works on full sugar drinks not diet or low aqlchol ones Laughing

All he's doing with the grass is making four inches thick layere .. which each will compress to less than an 1/2 inch and covering it with other rot- able materials and adding four inches of ready made compost and then mixing it well days later using his rototiller & then repeating it in another three days .

This is just like the aerobic composting method many of us use , though I reckon he'd be better doing his first roto tilling mixing /aeration at day 3 then two more aerates at day 6 & 9 by day 14 he'll have a far better product.

has55 5/15/2014, 12:22 am

plantoid wrote:
Bet it only works on full sugar drinks not diet or low aqlchol ones

yes he said only use regular sodas. no diet drinks.

plantoid 5/15/2014, 11:02 am

Cor just reread my post and found several dyslexic errors but I can't edit them as the post has timed out . Ah-well never mind .

**sanderson** 7/9/2017, 3:00 pm

Has anyone used the compressed pine pellets used for horse bedding? John Kohler also said you can buy itty bitty bags of the kitty litter pellets (same stuff) at Target at an expensive price (per volume). In summer I have lots of greens and in the fall I can collect lots of browns. If I run out of browns in the summer, I have to buy a bail of bedding straw and chop it up.

Just wondering.

PS: I watched the Drunken video and I'm not sold on it for various reasons. Then I watched John's video on Tumbler composting. He uses tumblers. :-)

PPS: I found another video of John's where he assembles 2 different composters and one of them was mine!

I can't for the life of my find the 2 videos again. :-(

BeetlesPerSqFt 7/9/2017, 6:14 pm

sanderson wrote:Has anyone used the compressed pine pellets used for horse bedding? John Kohler also said you can buy itty bitty bags of the kitty litter pellets (same stuff) at Target at an expensive price (per volume). In summer I have lots of greens and in the fall I can collect lots of browns. If I run out of browns in the summer, I have to buy a bail of bedding straw and chop it up.

Just wondering.

PS: I watched the Drunken video and I'm not sold on it for various reasons. Then I watched John's video on Tumbler composting. He uses tumblers. :-)

PPS: I found another video of John's where he assembles 2 different composters and one of them was mine!

I can't for the life of my find the 2 videos again. :-(

I've been using what I think are wood burning pellets - they look the same as the bedding in photos. I got several bags free through Craigslist. They disappear quickly, but I'm wondering if the bedding version is more absorbent.

I have a hard time getting browns. My tree isn't generous, and people don't bag leaves around here, so I can't easily yoink those. They sweep them into piles on the curb and a truck comes to vacuum them up. I've been making tiny quantities of homemade straw/hay, but gave myself a blister trying to chop it small enough that it doesn't wind on the tumbler axle.

**sanderson** 7/10/2017, 4:26 am

Take a look at the short video at the bottom of this link: http://www.woodpellets.com/horse-bedding/

Regarding bedding straw, I think mowing it is the easiest way to chop it for composting. Spread a flake thinly and mow over it. I tried the wood chipper but yikes, the air was choking with tiny particles.

This summer I am using a a paper cutter purchased at Office Depot/Supply for cutting the straw into 4" lengths for mulch. Last year I spend hours using hand pruners and gave myself a blister, not to mention my right hand was almost numb.

BeetlesPerSqFt 7/10/2017, 7:15 am

sanderson wrote:Take a look at the short video at the bottom of this link: http://www.woodpellets.com/horse-bedding/

Regarding bedding straw, I think mowing it is the easiest way to chop it for composting. Spread a flake thinly and mow over it. I tried the wood chipper but yikes, the air was choking with tiny particles.

This summer I am using a a paper cutter purchased at Office Depot/Supply for cutting the straw into 4" lengths for mulch. Last year I spend hours using hand pruners and gave myself a blister, not to mention my right hand was almost numb.

It looks like the product bag in that video implies they are for burning, so maybe the products are the same for that brand, and only the labeling is different.

Rent for the house includes lawn service, and it appears to be non-negotiable, so I don't have a 'real' mower. I have a manual rotary mower to mow a little strip close to the garden so they don't weed whack my garden fence and destroy it again. But it chokes on tall grass, or even copious shorter clippings, so I don't think it will chop straw well. I'll have to keep an eye out for a used paper cutter.

**sanderson** 7/10/2017, 10:29 pm

Beetles, If you leave a barrel or a small tarp for the service, will they dump a couple of basket fulls for you?

BeetlesPerSqFt 7/10/2017, 10:36 pm

sanderson wrote:Beetles, If you leave a barrel or a small tarp for the service, will they dump a couple of basket fulls for you?

As near as I can tell they don't collect the grass, and it gets cut frequently enough that the trimmings are short enough that they mostly just disappear into the lawn except for the first mowing of the year.

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