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Square Foot Gardening Forum
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Best Compost Ingredients - Page 2 Toplef10Best Compost Ingredients - Page 2 1zd3ho10

Hello Guest!
Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum.
There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.

Best Compost Ingredients - Page 2 I22gcj10Best Compost Ingredients - Page 2 14dhcg10

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Best Compost Ingredients

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Goosegirl
yolos
Kelejan
ralitaco
Roseinarosecity
Weedless_
Triciasgarden
llama momma
AtlantaMarie
jimmy cee
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CapeCoddess
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skyrokit
18 posters

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Post  Kelejan 5/3/2015, 1:13 pm

Just come back from harvesting another four plants.  Wish I could share some of it with you.
Kelejan
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Post  CapeCoddess 5/3/2015, 5:08 pm

Comfrey is a wonderful plant.  My mother had an ugly wound on a finger for a couple of weeks that just  would not heal. I went out and got a little piece of comfry leaf and we taped it around her finger. The next day pus poured out of the wound and in a couple days it was healed.

Kelejan, if you want to share your comfrey, it's my understanding that plants will grow from pieces of root. That's why you have to be so careful with the plants and keep them from becoming invasive.

Although nothing I want to become invasive in my yard ever is. I've had comfrey for a couple of years now and it seems to get smaller and smaller. I'm just hoping it comes back this year.

CC
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Post  Turan 5/3/2015, 9:48 pm

I bought comfrey roots to start with 20 years ago.  After hearing about how invasive they can be I planted them where on 3 sides there is sheep pasture.  Any that moves to far that way gets eaten.  Sadly it has only lingered along and never thrived.  Too cold I think.  Or maybe just wrong ecosystem here.

My favorite compost ingredients are sheep manure and alfalfa hay stack cleanings.  Poultry droppings is very strong but I am not fond of chicken coop cleaning.  I much rather rake a barn.  Llama is nice stuff too, they conveniently have a droppings heap where they all go every day.  No raking, just shoveling manure marbles.  I do not have llamas any more though.

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Post  Kelejan 5/4/2015, 12:58 pm

Finished harvesting the free comfrey this morning.  A friend has told me it will put on another growth so I will take note of that. 

Now to go an chop it up.  Yesterday I made two x five-gallon drums of comfrey being soaked of tea. Now to find out how much comfrey I should have put in each bucket and how low to steep it and anything else that need doing to it. Also to read the entry in my herbal plant book given to me this last Christmas. Always so much to learn.
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Post  trolleydriver 6/15/2015, 9:02 am

Can i use cardboard from cereal boxes in my compost bin. I am concerned about the coloured inks used on the outside of the boxes. Are those inks safe for composting?
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Post  jimmy cee 6/15/2015, 9:33 am

trolleydriver wrote:Can i use cardboard from cereal boxes in my compost bin. I am concerned about the coloured inks used on the outside of the boxes. Are those inks safe for composting?
 I wouldn't use them, I have even stopped using corrugated cardboard due to the glue used, not sure about it, so not taking any chances.
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Post  CapeCoddess 6/15/2015, 12:49 pm

trolleydriver wrote:Can i use cardboard from cereal boxes in my compost bin. I am concerned about the coloured inks used on the outside of the boxes. Are those inks safe for composting?

I don't. Actually no boxes like that are being used and I don't know why...I think it has something to do with not using shiny paper like magazines and such. I guess I'm thinking those boxes are too shiny...?
thinking
I do use corrugated and tp rolls though. Never thought about the glue, Jimmy.

CC
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Post  Tilth 6/15/2015, 4:35 pm

I have a worm bin and use both shredded corrugated cardboard and toilet paper/paper towel rolls in it, as well as my compost pile. No problems noted. I also log onto a couple of worm sites and they all encourage the use of corrugated cardboard and the TP/PT rolls as bedding. Apparently, the glue used is animal protein based and worms love it. I haven't verified this, but I use it with no issues and the worms, which are sensitive to chemicals, seem to love it as I always have them in and around it.
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Post  CapeCoddess 6/15/2015, 4:43 pm

Tilth, do you have give the worms cereal or kleenex boxes and such?
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Post  Tilth 6/15/2015, 4:58 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:Tilth, do you have give the worms cereal or kleenex boxes and such?

CapeCoddess, no, I don't give them any of the "painted" cardboard, though as I am throwing it into my city recycle bin, I often shake my head. Actually, I have plenty of food and bedding for them and will be adding another, bigger worm bin soon, but it just seems like a waste of a resource that could be used if...

I do give them ground up grains and cereal, egg shells, kleenex and paper towels, as long as they have only been used to cleanup non-toxic substances(in this case, mucus is non-toxic - Lol!). I don't use the Kleenex boxes, only because I don't know about the inks used on the outside. I have tried to research this, but in general, have only gotten the run around.

One other thing I have learned is that white paper towels, pretty much all white paper is bleached to get it white, so it is pretty acidic, like a pH of 4. When I put it in the worm bin, they generally won't use it for a week or two, I assume it takes a while for the acidity to neutralize.


Last edited by Tilth on 6/15/2015, 5:09 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : added more info)
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Post  jimmy cee 6/15/2015, 9:59 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:
thinking
I do use corrugated and tp rolls though.  Never thought about the glue, Jimmy.

CC

I never considered not using corrugated cardboard till just recently, maybe the glue is helping, maybe not. I just think I have so much going into my compost piles, why even chance it when I don't need it.
This is becoming a banner year for me, especially after last years root failure. My6 wife has started using my compost on her flowers and noticed a considerable improvement. Just being careful.
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Post  llama momma 6/16/2015, 5:15 pm

Tilth wrote:I have a worm bin and use both shredded corrugated cardboard and toilet paper/paper towel rolls in it, as well as my compost pile. No problems noted. I also log onto a couple of worm sites and they all encourage the use of corrugated cardboard and the TP/PT rolls as bedding. Apparently, the glue used is animal protein based and worms love it. I haven't verified this, but I use it with no issues and the worms, which are sensitive to chemicals, seem to love it as I always have them in and around it.

Hi there tilth
I've got worm bins and use cardboard all the time with newspapers plus some unfinished compost, small amounts of aged llama manure plus the usual fruit and veggie scraps.  When I looked up cardboard glue it was interesting that all I could find is starch based glue was only being used. I'd be interested in reading more on animal based glue if you ever come across that information.
Thanks!
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Post  MrBooker 4/19/2016, 6:06 am

skyrokit wrote:Actually store bought. But, home made ingredients are helpful too. Have plans to put up a compost bin. Smile 

Nothing in stores yet, so the suggestion to look on Craigslist will be a start.
As for other ingredients-- vermiculite is available at Menards here for $14.88/3 cu. ft. (Micaflake Attic Insulation -- MSDS lists it as A-4 extra course grade) and Peat Moss 2 cu. ft. for $7.97 at Menards.
Skyroket. I just built a 4x4 compost bin but had no grass clippings or leaves to get the compost started so I bought a bale of straw for $6.00 and a 40 lb bag of Alfalfa meal for $15.00 at a local feed mill.
              
I laid down layer of straw and watered it lightly then a layer of alfalfa meal and a little water. I repeated the steps until I had a huge pile. In just two days the compost pile was at 140 degrees. By the third day the temp went down to 130 degrees. So, for $21.00 I got my compost started.

Since I have a lawn tractor that only mulches, yesterday I bought a self propelled mower with a bager which will eliminate the need to purchase anymore Alfalfa meal.
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/fertilizing-with-alfalfa-meal.htm
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Post  sanderson 4/19/2016, 1:54 pm

Mr. B, Good that you got the compost going. This thread is from 2015. You can go to your Profile and change Preferences to show the year as well as the month and day.

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