Mines been sitting at 120F for over a week. We got a heatwave of 95F so I've been busy doing other stuff early in the morning. I am going to build another pile using leaves and only plant material. I can source horsetail easily and read it's an activator of compost. Some sources say that it can be introduced to your yard though in compost. I tried looking up how it spreads but again I get a lot of conflicting info. One says just roots. Another says roots and seed cones and yet another says just the plant itself can root. Our mower is a mulching mower so grass clippings really don't accumalate. I tried sucking them up in a mulcher and raking. Not very efficient.
I have horsetail everywhere around me. I read the same thing about being an activator when building my pile but my experience with this stuff just makes me want to beyond belief. It's why I've didn't try and use it. I was too scared it would come up somewhere. It's the most frustrating "weed" I've ever dealt with (trust me here when I say I have a lot of experience with weeding gardens as I wasn't a good kid and weeded my mothers basically every summer all summer, and now choose to do my own.) As far as I know horsetail doesn't actually seed? I thought that's why it's so hard to get rid of? It has to do with spores I thought. It probably depends on which one you have...the one I have doesn't get cones. Just the horsetail looking weed like in the pics... Equisetum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Spore - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In my experience it doesn't matter, anything will sprout. It's supposively So imo once you got it you would never get rid of it...although I heard there's a herbacidal spray that kills it that is really awful stuff none of us would ever spray, so like I said. Once you get it you'd always have it. Maybe someone more knowledgeable can say for certain (and how to be sure temp wise) if things really would get "cooked" out during the process if the pile gets hot enough. I will just say unless you could be absolutely sure it will never ever come up I wouldn't use it. Sorry I've rambled enough. Got off work and was hard and I saw my most dreaded thing horsetails in your post and I got worried...I didn't want you riddled with it ML!
Finally got around to making a new compost pile, hope I'm not to late for the contest lol. Made this pile yesterday morning, temp test 24 hrs later! Really nice!! This batch is 30gals deep litter chicken bedding (alfalfa hay) that I soaked for 2 days to full saturate it. 60 gals organic horse manure, 60 gals green manure, 10% wood chips. Hot hot hot!! Sent from my iPad using Grasscity Forum
Another turn just now. It's probably been a couple weeks. The outside 6" of the heap was getting pretty dry so the outside became the inside and it was soaked thoroughly again. This is the first time I've needed to hydrate it since initial construction. If you'll notice there isn't a lot of material spilling out of the bottom of the heap. I like to round it right to the bottom and rake up the edges So that everything decomposes evenly. I'll be down to once a month turning now and after October it'll sit untouched, just maturing and doing its thing until Spring. J
man, it's crazy how much that pile has already shrunk since you first started posting pics of it. The color change is pretty noticeable too.
Caught up in here. I think that compost maturity is definitely a major determining factor for its viability for gardening. "Humified" compost is what we're after. After everything has been thoroughly decomposed and all of the energy has been sapped from the organic materials, there is a "building up" phase where the large, stable organic molecules called "humic substances" are built. Soluble nutrients are also immobilized in the bodies of microorganisms. It makes sense that immature compost would have more free ionic nutrients (ie "salts"). Ideally, the starting materials in your compost wouldn't have such an abundance of soluble nutrients that they would need to be leached from the substrate to be suitable for plant growth. Losing nutrition to the watershed and atmosphere is definitely undesirable. I really want to try quality testing my compost with paper filter chromatography. Seems to be a good diy method, and the chromatograms are awfully purty.
Very slowly getting there. Yeah, I bet it's at least shrunk in half and still has a ways to go. I bet I still get close to a "pallets worth of bags" out of it though when it's all said and done. We'll see. Once things cool down a little here I'm going to get another big heap going. Hey - excellent points in your next post. "Mature & stable" is what I want. This point is where I feel pH gets taken care of in a soil mix based on good compost such as we make at home. J
Just screened some more compost loaded with worms from my bins. I have almost a whole 30 gallon garbage can full. There is never enough though. lol
Hey guys, new to composting and have a basic question I feel. I feel I know the answer but want to know what you experts think. I grew some biodynamic acclimators this year outside on my garden. The stinging nettle got powdery mildew as did my cucumbers and butternut squash. My green beans got spider mites. Fuck me right. Well I have in the same pot as the nettle, some yarrow as well that doesn't look affected. I'm wondering if I can compost the nettle, w PM. I'm assuming no but thought I'd ask. If I can, can I compost the other veggies w PM as well. I also have comfrey growing next to all this. I'd love to bring this indoors ( for mulching) and topdress this to my ganja plants. Since pm and mites are present this makes me leary. Thoughts? Thanks guys!
Probably depends on your composting methods... If you're going to just throw the infected material in a pile and let it sit until it breaks down into "compost", then I would say no. If you're building a proper composting pile (minimum 3' x 3') that will reach thermophilic temperatures (106F+, ideally you want to be around 160F) for extended periods of time (proper aeration/turning and moisture control is important for this), then I'd say go for it.
I'm going to be pulling it all and composting it all together with all the dead greenery from the garden and even any plants that have already produced this year that are still green along w some other amendments and then all that will sit over the winter in an uncovered pile under the tree. If it doesn't go Thermophilic cuz I some how suck at composting and turning and moisture levels ect, would a cold comost over winter be ok to use it all come spring in my indoor garden or just stick with all of this outside? Lastly for anyoNE that brings in comfrey ect from outside, anyone ever worry about bringing other disease pests in with it? I know comfrey is a boss but I also don't want to just cut, rinse and top dress w it and the get PM from the nettle or something like that. Make sense? @waktoo thanks for the response! I've been looking also all these great plants all summer only to see PM and it made me upset that I couldnt use my goodies, that I specifically grown to top dress my indoor garden Anyone grow mint, comfrey, nettle ect indoors? If so how's it working out?! I think this may be what I have to do to insure a clean garden. Bit off topic but still needed to know about composting the stuff, thanks guys!
So.....I cam across a couple maggots in my compost I have read that a complete saturating of water can help to kind of "drown out" the larvae and eggs. Would there be any other way to rid them? Is this going to render this compost useless?
I got them in my bin from bringing in old watermelon scraps from outside that had larvae in it. They can take over your worm bin so be careful. I took all of then out of my bin. Some ppl have worm bins with just these guys in there. You can even buy/sell them online haha
Hey everyone I just recently started my backyard compost pile. Right now it's just a mix of old mowed grass and leaves that's been accumulating in the back of my yard next to the edge of the woods, along with recently mowed grass and raked leaves. I'm worried the quality of this compost pile will be poor and I plan on sourcing comfrey, nettles, alfalfa and other quality compost material at little to no cost. There is a cornfield in front of my properly just harvested but their is plenty of stalks sticking out of the ground along with full corn plants on the edges I have considered for more carbon. So far my research says it's slow to decompose but helps air penetrate the pile and is mineral rich. I live in a very wooded area. Im still trying to identify the good leaves from the bad. I'm from Indiana close to lake michigan, I think I can grow alfalfa grass and comfrey. I have seen what I believe to be stinging nettles growing in certain areas. Anything else I should grow and search for? I have a huge wooded area behind my backyard where I'm composting and a large corn field in the front. This is my first attempt at composting.
I plan on mixing all that up into one big pile but I'm worried that the older grass/leaves I have been mowing and dumping for years may be no good. Should I just mix the newer stuff I mow and leave out the older grass/leaves? I have been taking what looks "composted" under the pile of old cut grass/leaves and putting it in a garbage bin with holes, adding banana peels and coffee grounds. I plan on feeding this to my worm bin if I can?