All of your questions will be answered here - Vermicomposting (Make your own Worm Castings) There are definitely foods you don’t want to add - meats will stink and draw maggots, no dairy, citrus and onions didn’t seem to do well for me. The attached thread has a lot of pages but it’ll provide a lot of very useful info that can only help in the long run. These folks know their stuff and have a few easier pages. Go here: Home and then click on “Redworm Info”. J
Hi. So I got some sheep dung in it was very heavy ie. Not much straw so I mixed it with a pile of light dung with lots of straw. It has been piled up for about 2 weeks, I checked it today and it is heating but not very high propabally about 40C. I am wondering if I should turn it yet or let it heat more? It’s a decent pile. I have been reading that there is no need to turn a pile. Heres a link. Compost Myths: To Turn Or Not To Turn, That Is The Question I was also wondering how much lime I should add. Thanks
I would turn it. When I turn a pile, I make sure and get the top, to the bottom. After 2 weeks I would turn it again. This will give you a chance to tell if you have enough browns (carbon) in the mix, and make any final adjustments to finish. The straw pieces look very large, so this may take quite some time to fully breakdown. I always contemplate adding lime to the pile, but almost never do. I usually wait until I use the compost to do that. Really though, that is just based on the fact I don't know for sure what I will be using it for in the end (soil mix or top dress or vmc). When the pile cools for the last time and the worms move in, they will make calcium (carbonate I think) for you. NIce sized pile my friend! cheers os
I don't add lime or rock dust to my leaf mold either until it gets a nice screening and goes inside. I just feel like it all goes through the pile into the ground underneath my compost then into the ground water...
I always add rock dust to piles. My rock dust is very free and very easy to get. I feel that especially in thermal composting, the rock dust weathers very fast (in the big scheme of things) leading to earlier availability of minerals. cheers os
I have a giant plastic berrel i throw everything in and add worms and bokashi. Only takes 2 weeks to compost a pretty large amount.
I am still trying to find a local source. BAS is not the most efficient way to obtain it... Boston, MA if anyone has any advise.
I have a Glacier run off creek, about 200 yards from the house. The good stuff sits there at the high water mark and flood plains. Just fill a bucket. The wind blows grd all over the place here. cheers os
How lucky, I have an ancient dry river bed that runs under my house, I have about as much access to as your sweet glacial run off stream... LOL I have a rock quarry down the street from my house and I checked with them but they only have pebble sized granite rock, no fine dust powder like BAS.
So I went to turn the pile and all the dung seems to have integrated, I guess a lot of the water dropped out so now it’s very heavy on the straw so I’m gonna get the same again when I can of dung and mix it through when I’m turning.
I'm not quite sure what you mean, but you are better off having to much straw, IMO. If you finished turning, I would just leave it and see what you get. You may be surprised. keep it up my friend cheers os
I like the hot composting method, my last pile I used all the garden waste, fruit that was rotten from my apple trees and pear trees, a large flush of chicken fat bolete mushrooms, alfalfa straw,leaves and wheat straw, after four days of cooking I turned the pile inside out every other day for two weeks it was done. used it for my grow mix, the plants are looking real good.
Doing my best impression of Jerry! 3 layer lasagna leaf poop. A culinary delight. Makes you want to just jump in the pile of leaves like a kid❤️