Have you done Hugel before? I was reading what trees NOT to use, but are there specific ones that work best? I live in wisco
I think it might be late for nettles, yarrow is a good one. Whatever greens you get for making compost, take the time to make it into small pieces. Also try to avoid letting anything “mat” up in the pile. That’s probably almost more important than what ya use. Cheers Os
One more tip. Get your browns first. Figure that part out and have it ready. Then go out and get your greens. It’s best to use the greens the day ya cut em. The compost heats up way better. Cheers Os
I always keep a plastic grocery bag wadded up in a pocket when I’m outside or going to the mailbox because there is always something to be found for compost.
I wouldn't pass them off as a cure for anything, but studies have shown that ganoderma applanatum contains compounds with anti-tumor, anti-fibrotic, and antibacterial properties. I bet if you look hard enough you can find some, I find them all the time here in Michigan.
This setup had been working great. Mini float valve in bucket, overflow hole above intake hole,covered by plastic screen. Lava rock for sip base. I have another sip setup with blumat carrots , I had 2 floods so I stopped using them, the way the valve opens and closes isn't always so accurate. Scoobies switched to to surface mounted blumats.
Not too bad, the hugels hold the heat, thermal mass, the bottom holds water. I did have some strong winds and stuff growing at top of hugels needed support. It's bin 50° mornings but stuff is still growing .
IIRC, blumat carrots require a minimum psi. Something like 14psi. I don’t think a 1 gallon pail would do it. You may be better off with the moisture meter and learn your max and minimum. Do not follow the scale printed on the instruction manual. VOE When you set those carrots place straight peat in the hole soil it has good contact with the soil. Otherwise you may get incorrect readings. They work on soil tension.
Thnx for reply,I had the carrott hooked up to a 50 gal drum, in one bed,the 1 gal pail has a float valve valve in it,( works great ) in another bed. I put a 2 inch pvc pipe with holes in it,to take in water,and a cap on bottom.i put that pipe in a perlite sip media bed,i put carrot in pipe with hopes that it would work with water only, not sure why it didn't work, I tested on a basin of water. Only thing I can think of is that carrot sits on an angle? Do you have any moisture meter recommendations?
One of the best resources in your area is dairy farmers. You should be able to find a list of organic certified producers. If you can’t, do a bioassay using some of the manure. It’s pretty unlikely that dairy cows will be eating anything that can cause killer compost. Find a place that can load your truck. It’s worth renting a dump trailer too. Easy to create windrows for worms this way or if you want to hugel you just put rotted logs down first. Avoid cedar and black walnut. Very, very little (almost nothing) of the composting I do whether small or larger scale consists of wild harvested materials beyond my yard. If I want to make more at my place I’ll use more straw, sawdust, cardboard for C. Or I’ll use grass, alfalfa hay or pellets if I need N. Sawdust is one of the highest C sources and fish is the same w N….this combo is badass. Im really stoked about leaves this year. Bags of em on the street for free sure beats raking em up! Just got to be wary of dog poo, most of the time I ask the homeowner. Leaves are my favorite C source but straw is damn close, would almost be a tie if I didn’t have to do a bioassay w straw. I’d probably pick goat manure for my N favorite. Favorite wild harvested material is easily mushrooms, ya won’t need garbage bags full to get some benefit and it’s something I like to do anyways. Worms can definitely provide a side hustle. I was making about $600 month on eBay alone. I had a 2x4 vertical flo thru inside and a 2x4 horizontal outside to replenish it. This is my 4x10 vertical. It’s 5x the size so I reckon I can get 3k a month out of it…just worms! Except…I’m going to rock African night crawlers that fetch 2x the price. Even better…I have connections to get rid of all the castings. Really need to get my sh*t together, it’s been sitting like this for months. RD
It might be the pressure. That would be my guess. You don’t have enough “head” to produce sufficient PSI with the 55 gallon. The blumat moisture meters are pretty good. DO NOT FOLLOW THE RANGE PRINTED ON THE INSTRUCTIONS. Find your own scale, it really depends on your aeration. When setting the meter/carrot make sure to place peat or un-aerated soil in the hole. You want good contact on the clay tip. HTH https://www.blumat.com/storage/app/media/Manuals_TB/blumattropf-systemmanual-weben-2017.pdf
FYI anyone trying to calculate static head pressure. Each foot of water column ie height above emitters equals .42 psi. 10’ equals 4.2 psi. Cheers Os
Great lakes area you say? I am currently in Wisconsin. To boost my heap I seek out nettles, echinacea, dandelions, clover, yarrow and horsetails. Nettles is the big one though; best array of nutrients and super abundant.