Trying to find different composts for the 1/3 Compost part of New Mel's Mix

ONGOING COMPOST DELIEMMA:  
  All set with 1/3 Peat Moss and 1/3 Vermiculite (about 53 cu. ft of each) 
   
  Stymied trying to find 3-4 different types of Compost;  Thought I was set on purchasing the Coast of Maine's Lobster compost but found out that the place in Penn. where its made only puts a small part of the compost as Lobster tails. Most of it I think is made from Cow manure.      Its too expensive to ship from Maine where they do include about 70% lobster tails when shipped locally.  

I can purchase all the loose Food Waste in partial cu. yds, from a local company that collects  food waste from  Restaurants , combined with wood chips and leaves but its not Organic.  

Who manufactures yard waste in bulk that does it organically?    


       *  Daddy Pete's: Cow Manure Compost.... Found 9-12 bags which will cover 25%-33%.   Looks like if I'm lucky I'll only be able to find 3 different types of compost 

       *  Organic Food waste compost:  can't find any
   
       *  Organic Yard waste compost:   can't find any 


QUESTION: What is "Plan B" if I can't find any Organic food or yard waste compost to fill up the last 2/3 of my top 6" of Mel's Mix   ?

Where have you looked?  Big Box stores are notorious for not carrying many appropriate composts.

A somewhat better approach is to check with local nurseries, grow centers (marijuana, hemp, etc.), and so forth.  I've found fish compost, a couple of plant-based types, and one consisting of food waste (Cedar Grove; it IS available at some Big Box stores).  What about mushroom compost?

Many southern SFGers can find cotton burr compost, as well.

I hope this info helps you in your search.

Hi Donna in Zone 5, 
Compost Search Update: 
  1.  Easy find was Daddy Pete's cow compost 
  
  2.  Just found (I think)  2nd compost ....  Wiggle Worm made by Unco Industries out of Wisconsin. (they have a web site called Vermiculture.   Spoke to one of the owners there who says its classified as  a "Fertilizer" but he says I can consider it a compost that I can use as one of the ingredients.  He says its 100% worm castings in the 1 cu ft bags.  And organic.       He never heard of mel's mix so I'd like a confirmation from people in SFG Forum? 
 
  3.  Number 3 is the hardest to find.    I'v resigned myself to only finding 3 compost choices.  can't use mushroom, can't find food or yard waste . Wallace Farms  makes Yard waste compost from their farm but I can't find anyone in this area that sells it  Looks like if they agree to sell me only 18 cu ft. I'd  have to drive 4 hrs round trip to their place to get it.  They say Walmart sells it but not any in this area. 

Alan from Asheville area

Fishtell, the worm castings are very rich, and should be limited to 10% to 20% of the total soil mixture (compost, peat, and vermiculite).

If you can't find 5 types of compost, use 4.  If you can't find 4 types of compost, use 3. The more types, the better, but it isn't critical that you use 5 different types.

Fishtell,
I live in an area where I can buy quality compost from a composting facility that uses a wide variety of materials to make compost, so I don't have to mix my own.  I googled some compost facilities in Asheville, and I found this place.
http://www.dannysdumpster.com/
You should call them to inquire about it.
And this place has a composting program where you let them pick up your waste and then your are entitled to their compost.
https://compostnow.org/home/

Hi Mike, 
I've spoken to Danny personally at  Danny's Dumpter.  I was going to purchase some of his compost but my wife reminded me that he gets all his food waste from many restaurants that do not buy organic food.    My wife only buys organic and that is what I eat when home.   One of the drawbacks is that there is only one restaurant that she can dine out with me so we eat home all dinners and once in awhile she'll eat lunch/brunch with me in that one place that serves organic.   

Alan

Hello Ohio, 
Thanks for the feedback, Its appreciated. 

The Wiggle Worm bags of compost I purchased today amounts to 18 cu ft.  The total  of the MM  to about 159 cu. ft.  

 Peat Moss 53 cu.ft 
 Vermiculite 53 cu. ft 
 Compost  53 cu ft 
    *  Cow 18 cu ft
    *  Worms 18 cu ft 
    *  ?? one more to go      

 18/159=11.32%  
  whew... just made it  

 Alan from Asheville

Hi all, 
Looks like I'm unable to find a 3rd compost to add to my 1/3 Worm Castings and 1/3 Cow Manure.  Can't use Mushroom or any kind of food compost because it's not organic Can't use the Lobster compost because Coast of Maine is telling me the the Lobster shell content is only 4% and other content already have or not allowed to use because of wife's sensitivities.   

CAN I JUST USE WHAT I HAVE, THE WORM CASTINGS AND COW MANURE AND JUAK UP THE PERCENTAGES TO 50% 50% ?  

Alan

Your requirements do make it difficult to find appropriate composts.

However, here's a link that might help:  What is "organic" compost? - Bing

You're just going to have to use what you got for this year.  Hope for the best.   In the meantime, gather up all the organic scraps you can find and start your own compost pile!

Hi Mike, 
Yes our plan is to build some compost bins as soon as we finish up the mew garden.  No way we could have accumulated enough compost for this project, but in another year we should have enough. 

Our neighbor has a donkey and horse and has plenty of horse and cow manure

Alan )

Commercial compost is mostly made up of byproducts from commercial garbage. Much of their indicated ingredients  are waste. My first season with SFG I had no compost other than free offerings from recycle centers for local folks.
It was all brush, grass cuttings, and other natural products. it was good, but did not have everything it needed to be perfect. I added mushroom manure, biochar, a little horse manure, chickitty doo doo, a small amount of bone and blood meal. 1/3rd mixes. It was terrific, my first year was great. 2nd season I depended on my own compost, was in a learning process, it was ok but not great. I buckled down then for 3rd years and after. three 27 cubic foot piles, filing with horse manure, cow manure, grocery stores discarded veggies, grass cuttings, sawdust, even weeds I cut down, didnt matter everything I could find went into them. I made a special small area for coffee grinds I picked up from Starbucks, probably around 800 lbs, and worms loved it. Never knew where the worms came from but it was full of them.
So, my suggestion is to concentrate on compost before getting fully involved. Bacteria, nematodes and fungi are three main characters to be concerned about in compost. areas of the country have distinct material to use for composting. Seaweed by the shore,  as clam shells, shrimp shells, etc, These books helps lots....

this was one of my piles before mixing

Great info, Jimmy!