Whats up GC I'd like to know you fellow organic heads' compost cycle. I'm starting from scratch organic and with the wealth of information on this site in the past couple of weeks I have done the following: - Built a flow through worm bin 13 gallon trash can with one of those flippy door lids - plenty of airflow Cut out an inch more than a hands width worth from the bottom on one side for harvesting Drilled holes big enough for tv cable wire to weave through. 2.75 in spacing between. 1 in above bottom opening. Drilled extra air holes near the top of the bin 2-3 layers of moist kraft paper lined the bottom Threw in old old dried leaves, shredded cardboard, and some coco mixed with kelp/neem/alfalfa/fishbone/greensand/pelletized composted chicken manure (local product, not to sure if I like it or not) Then threw in some frozen then thawed and chopped veggie/ fruit scraps Next went in 1.5 total pounds of red wigglers and indian blues along with a good amount of vermicompost/food from the sellers. Got the worms from two different sources. Topped it with a little more shredded kraft paper then laid a whole paper on top. So far (1 month) theyve been going through a sprinkling of my organic seed meal mix once a week and frozen/thawed food scraps twice a week. The bottom of the bin has not broken through yet but my impatience led me to poke holes in the bottom of the paper to see whats going on. ( I also had a slight fear of overwatering, so I figured it'd help drain at least) its almost pure VC down there. My plan is to stop feeding for a few weeks to a month as I: - Bokashi Compost (sorry no pics) Thanks to LD, I spent less than 10 bucks at Case De Pot for (2) 5 gallon buckets. Plethora of 3/8 in holes on the bottom of one bucket Said bucket inserted into hole-less other bucket Throw on a spigot on bottom bucket for drainage Its about half way full right now, been filling up for the past week Of course layer broken up pieces of food waste with the bran every time its opened When full gonna let it sit untouched for 3-4 weeks then into the tumbler -Build A Compost Tumbler (on to do list) PVC A-frame Outdoor trashbin with secure lid with metal rod horizontally through the middle Suspended up for easy rotation Holes drilled throughout 2 in PVC with holes drilled throughout going through center of bin vertically for extra breathing 4-6 weeks in there till its ready? Got ads up for leaf raking services in exchange for the leaves (and possibly a ride lol) SOOOOOOOOO thats what Ive got goin on right now. phew. All on my apt balcony This is where I need help friends- I want to know what process my banana peels are gonna go through before being used on my plants. So far I believe its- FOOD SCRAPS --> BOKASHI BUCKET = A A + LEAVES/GREEN WASTE + ORGANIC SEED MEAL MIX/EM-1 -- > COMPOST TUMBLER = B A + B (30/70 A/B) --> WORM FOOD/BEDDING IN NEW BINS After the wigglers go at it and a litte cure itll go with my soil mix- base- 1 part home made EWC 1 part pumice 1 part coco peat vitamins- equal parts totaling 2 1/3 tablespoons per gallon base mix- kelp/alfalfa/neem/fishbone/pelletized composted chicken manure a pinch (juuust a pinchhh) of local organic 5-5-5 mix consisting of- kelp/alfalfa/bone/blood minerals- 2 cups per gallon 25/75 mix of- greensand/azomite Gonna hit it with an aact and let it sit for a month. Then its going into 2 gal smart pots ghetto sip style in my cfl ngb cab. 2 sq ft 3 ft high thinking 2 or 3 girls I didnt think I was going to go into that much detail but hey. Let me know what you think of my process and ideas so far. Oh yeah my original question... Whats your process of composting leaves and food and shit and eventually what role does it play in your organic soil mix?
Your nutrients are on the light side. You don't have much for liming agents. Not a fan of greensand or azomite. If you are using coco coir as 1/3 of your mix...you may very well run into problems. Bananas are sprayed with alot of pesticides unless they are organic. When I build a compost pile I will shoot for a 30:1 Carbon:Nitrogen ratio. I want to see temps of 150F. If I use food scraps at all...they must be organic. My worms get fed compost...that's it. Most restaurants will give away 5 gallon buckets for free. Most of this probably isn't what you want to hear. Plenty of good info in both the vermicompost threads. I would suggest copying a soil mix exactly from whoever you decide is your favorite grower around here. Welcome to GCO!! RD
Thanks for the input. Glad the soil mix part is still theoretical lol My resources are limited, and shipping is extra ridiculous being on an island. 2.5 cups of amendments per cf of soil right? Probably calculated to gallons wrong. I've seen mixes with both 33/33/33 coco/ewc/aeration and 33/33/33 spag peat/ewc/aeration..cocos easier for me to bring home. No vehicle. A brick rather than big bale from HD. There's black gold peat moss in smaller bags but Idk bout the brand. Oyster shell is available here, I'll pick up some for pH yeah? My minerals blow but so does shipping. Still trynna source some locally..closest thing I've seen is basalt sand. Pretty fine but definitely not dust. All scraps going in are organic. Soon to be feeding them bokashi'd scraps of all sorts( non organic) but I think cuz of the bokashi it's safe? What do you mean by compost from restaurants? Spoiled food? Or are you talking about just the buckets lol. Do you have a tumbler or a pile? I'm limited on space. If not food scraps prolly manure in your pile I'm guessing. Only bagged shit available for me here unfortunately. Also do you Jumpstart your pile with anything? EM-1? Thanks
My soil mix, if I remember right. \n50 gal peat moss 5 gal composted bark mulch 20 gal homemade EWC (well over 1yr old) 10 gal Whitney Farms Compost (unsure of quality here) 21 gal of uncrushed lava rock 7 gal of pea gravel 1 gal alfalfa charged biochar \nTo this I added approximately 100 heaping tbs of neem, kelp, crab, oyster. 300-400 tbs of glacial rock dust. Around 200tbs of some local clay/basalt. 50 tbs of camelina meal. I couldn't find a measuring cup so I used an old spoon and a salsa jar to measure with. \nJust to give you an idea. I would walk 10 miles for the peat moss if I had to rather than using the coco. Typically 1/2-1 cup per cubic feet of kelp, crab, neem and oyster. Make sure the oyster shell is like flour. This is around 1 1/3 tbs. per gallon. You could substitute fish bone meal for crab...though you'll lose some IPM benefits. Granite, basalt, or glacial rock dust would be ideal. Try to find a place that cuts granite countertops. Even a landscaper or mason that is using granite or basalt as building material may have some 'fines' around from the concrete saw...it'll likely be wet and paste like. Yep free buckets from restaurants and scraps too if you want. Personally, I wouldn't bother w/ Bokashi at all especially with non-organic food scraps. There must be a chicken or two on that island somewhere? There are some good bagged composted chicken manures around however. This mixed w/coffee grounds would work well...and quickly. Don't get me wrong about bananas either, worms love them. Most coffee shops or restaurants gladly give away used coffee for free and worms love it too. Right now I built a 2'x4'x2' horizontal bin that I'm experimenting with it's 83F in the bin and it just dropped below 32F outside. I'm sure it would actually get to the right temp in warmer weather and it's not even half full yet. A 2'x2'x2' wooden box would work just fine and can also be used for a shelf or something. You can certainly compost in a small area is what I'm getting at. Mostly manures for me...lots of cows around here...lol. I kinda feel like tumblers are for yuppies....so there's that. Not much science there...lol. Nope...I don't use anything really special to activate the pile. I don't like spending money on things that are unnecessary.
Fine I'll get some damn peat moss..lol cheaper anyway I thought of the counter top place but would it be okay if it were mixed with other stuff? I don't want it to be dirty dust. Is separation of the dust a normal practice for the guys? What should I look for in a good bagged chicken poo? Most are pelletized but they do say it's local. Yuppie? Idk your slang sir lol but the tumbles speeds the process up does it not? Whole reason behind the bokashi and tumbler was to make for a more timely process. I like the box idea and have a perfect spot for it but without fresh manure I'm concerned about the compost speed. There's a couple of local bagged compost, no real in depth info on production and not certified organic so idk. Thanks again
The rock dust from a countertop place will most likely be sludgelike or pasty because they use water to cool off the diamond blades. Around here they fill up 55g drums of it to get dumped somewhere. It will have to be dried out in order to mix it with the soil. Local is always good. I would try to find out what they are feeding the chickens...does it seem like the chickens are overcrowded? Go check the place out. It doesn't sound like it's been composted yet...so that's something to consider. Really a proper compost pile should be 3'x3'...you'll be fine with the 2'x2' especially since you are using it to feed your worms. As far as the tumbler goes it is no different than turning a bin with a shovel. Here is a chart so you can decide for yourself what you want in your compost pile. Small amounts of fish go a long, long way...so be careful....it will stink if you don't do it right. Might be a good N source since you are on an island. If it starts to smell you simply need to add more Carbon like...leaves, straw, sawdust. Grass clippings from an unsprayed lawn, coffee, fish(crab and shrimp would be great) , for N. Coco coir would probably work OK for Carbon...oh yeah chart. View attachment cnratio.pdf
niunurseryhawaii.com/products.html My local stuff what's up Thanks for the info, got my work cut out for me for today. So far I've got on hand- All Down to Earth: alfalfa meal neem meal kelp meal fish bone meal azomite greensand From these guys-www.pacificagricultural.com/products.php?start_from=0&ucat=&archive=&subaction=&id=& - Chicken poo and all purpose 5-5-5 (bone meal, sulfate of potash, blood meal, dried poultry waste, feather meal, alfalfa meal, and kelp meal) [first two products in link] Got some granite to collect and a bin to build. what's your estimated compost time before it goes to the worms? I was thinking possibly a trashcan with holes and I'll just roll it around from time to time. Also that compost goes into your soil mix as well right? Any who I was thinking equal parts of all amendments above cept a tad less on the all purpose and more on the neem. Might do 75/25 peat/coco to finish the stuff I have already
The products from Niu Nursery look very promising. I would contact your states Organic Certifying Agent w/ the Department of Ag. Some states allow compost producers to label it 'organic' even if it is not. I would ask about this specifically if a compost made from bio-solids is allowed to be labeled organic. I would also ask if these products were allowed for use on certified organic farms. This will be 15 minutes well spent. They have been in business a long time and it 'appears' that they are a legitimate organic company. Unfortunately I only got voicemail when I called the nursery...different time zones I suppose. Your island is made almost entirely of Basalt. It may be possible to find the material 'fine' enough for our purposes in nature...a mountain side perhaps? Where lava rock is being crushed on the island and screened is also a likely source. When your compost pile cools off to under 90F it can be used for worms. I had a very bad experience using compost I had made that wasn't finished enough, so I don't use it in my soil mix. The fastest way for you to get VC would be to use the compost and chicken manure from Niu Nursery. It would take less than 2 months w/ your current setup to be ready. I would bring the azomite and greensand back and exchange it for some oyster shell. Get yourself some Basalt and Granite and you will be a very happy guy. 75/25 peat to coir sounds fine to me.
Thanks for calling lol I'll hit em up again. I really hope organic farms use them. Otherwise ima be really strapped I was thinking about places I could just go pack some dust up but Idk how I'd identify it. Lava rock is mainly produced on a different island. Hopefully this countertop place gets back to me. The compost and chicken doo would be mixed and into the worm bin correct? Will throwing the poo in the compost pile benefit at all? Lotta great info I appreciate it
I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner....send SeanDawg a PM. He lives in Hawaii and knows what's going on in your part of the world. I imagine if you just looked up his profile and typed in a few different kinds of compost from Hawaii something would pop up. I don't want to discourage you...I'm sure there is something in your area. That niu compost looks very promising.
You da man Rancho. I shot him a PM So I think Im going to go with- Kitchen Scraps ----> Bokashi = A A + Chicken poo + Lil Organic Compost? + Leaves and stuff + vitamins/minerals -----> compost bin = B B = Worm food. The composted bark mulch stuff you use, is that from home depot? I think I saw bags of it... Im getting a big smartpot bin getting set up for breeding purposes- Peat/coco bottom layer 50/50 compost chicken poo second layer Worms/unfinished vc next layer Topped with shredded cardboard/paper Leave alone for 3-5 months That will go into a nice horizontal flow through eventually. I wish more people posted their recycle/composting process...
Were you able to find any old posts from SeanDawg? I'll try to find something for you if you had no luck. I'm not sure how often he posts up around here think I saw a post a week or two ago. Being that you are in Hawaii...there must be all kinds of really great materials to use in a compost pile. I mean...I'm jealous. I just don't have the local knowledge or have even heard of most of the plants that grow there. Seriously man. Contact your local county extension agent...maybe take a Master Gardener class. Either way they should be able to provide you the local information that I cannot. Or maybe ole SurfBiter will get back to you AKA - SeanDawg. He's been growing for years and I'm sure he's probably making his own compost. Yep...the composted bark mulch (pine) was from HD. I'll be honest most people don't use this in their mix. Your plan does sound pretty good overall. I'm kind of a 'purist' when it comes to making my humus component. See that year-old VC in my mix...it saves my ass. What I'm trying to say is I'm a little more critical than most regarding inputs for my compost or wormbin. Starting to feel like we're having a private conversation over here. I know Jerry is good friends with SeanDawg...he might remember how SD makes his compost...Jerry is also damn good at making compost himself.
Hahaha I know no one else has anything to say about their process or ours! Yeah I've tried looking to Seans posts briefly. He's posted I think it was 3 threads? Out of 2000 posts or so. I've read countless of Jerry's posts. Been lurking for a while on old threads... You're the first I've seen using the bark mulch. What's it's specific purpose? I'm getting my veggie garden started soon. I was actually thinking about taking a class! I want a kitchen garden with micro greens in a raised bed on my sunny balcony. Speaking of critical input...once my population builds I plan to have a 'designer' bin where the little wigglers will get only the top notch researched and produced food/environment. Gonna keep a couple other bins for recycle hero/non edible plant food purposes.
Yesterday I fed the worms some bokashi'd scraps from the bottom of the bucket. It has been sitting for two weeks fermenting. The banana peel was shredded to small pieces before being placed in one corner of the bin. I cannot find any of it a day later. The apple core however is still there. Alot taken out of it though. Gonna let the remainder of the scraps in the bokashi bucket to ferment for another week before splitting it up between a worm food container and the compost bin. Right now I have a bagful of plumeria leaves waiting for some other stuff to heat it up good. That's how my compost circle of life is doing currently...how bout yours GC?
Freezing fruits/scraps prior to adding them to a worm bin or even compost will help it break down quicker - ya know how it will turn to mush after freezing? Just a thought... J
Rancho, I recently read something about greensand being ultra-beneficial.... In the LONG run though. Is there any truth to that?
Jerry- I've been doin the chop freeze thaw feed regime for a while. Works well but I got the bokashi going just for even faster processing through the entire cycle. I was hoping you'd stop in! Learned alot from you lurking around haha. Lussid- Just from what I've read yes, it contains a lot of beneficial elements and what not but it takes around 5+ years to break down.
There is NOTHING special about the nutrient content contained within glauconite, unless your soil suffers from low iron content. Kelp is your friend... http://webmineral.com/data/Glauconite.shtml#.VNVyjE10zcs Just another organic gardening gimmick...