I have 2- 22 cu ft compost tumblers, they are currently full. One question I have is, Horsetail is plentiful where I live, i put a small amount of horsetail in one of my tumblers and i was wondering if horsetail would be recomended? I have 4 th cut alfalfa, ground up oak leaves (from the leaf shredder) kelp meal, fish one meal, crabs hell meal, and a few other things. Should Horsetail be a beneficial part of my regular thermocompost? Thanks in advance.
hell yes!!!!!!!!! throw her in!!!!! as long as the horsetails will have time to fully compost before you use yer' dirt. they're not like black walnut leaves or anything, if thats what you were wondering. -OSUB
horsetail is a vigorous growing weed and as long as your pile heats up you will be fine. I put almost everything in my compost pile. spent coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells, produce food scraps, leaves, chipped branches and cuttings, horse goat and chicken manure.
Hey there Incredi Nugs. Welcome to GCs Organics forum. What make of tumblers do you have? I have a Compost Tumbler. It claims to be 21 cf, but realistically holds about 18 cf or so. You can see it here in my topic. http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/962201-urban-soil-crafting.html
My compost tumblers say compost tumbler on the ends, they are a composite material on the ends and metal that bolts together... It's green... It has a black handle and the whole drum rotates, it has little gear like things that the whole drum rotates on.. I put horse tail in one of my tumblers because I was unsure how it would effect things. Compost has been working for a two weeks ish and looks remarkable. By day 5, the compost had already made it to 155-160 degrees. I just built a no till soil for four of my lights and can't wait to built the other four lights, ( I run 8K ) my girls are in 45 gallon soft pots, and could not look better. We use an assortment of Botanicals, compost teas, and or water. No Bottle Nutes!
[quote name='"WeeDroid"']Sounds like mine. Pretty certain they're 21 cf not 22 cf. Like it really matters. [/quote] No I would say your correct. The first fill up we over estimated and had to remove some till it was breaking down then w e added the additional and it seems great. The compost tumblers sure are effective tools for composting!
Wish more people would compost... So much benefits, all the wayto the landfill. I will compost this year for my succulents, too scared to grow bud.
[quote name='"OSUB"']hell yes!!!!!!!!! throw her in!!!!! as long as the horsetails will have time to fully compost before you use yer' dirt. they're not like black walnut leaves or anything, if thats what you were wondering. -OSUB[/quote] I just wanted to be sure, we make horsetail FPE's and I had assumed it was ok. The horsetail hat I put in one of the tumblers is breaking down nicely.
[quote name='"Incredi Nugs"'] my girls are in 45 gallon soft pots, and could not look better. [/quote] 45 gallon soft pots? Them are friggin huge, I can't even imagine. Wow I'd have to see em in person to more easily in vision the sheer size of these beasts, what are you growing in them? Trees?
[quote name='"420inMI"'] 45 gallon soft pots? Them are friggin huge, I can't even imagine. Wow I'd have to see em in person to more easily in vision the sheer size of these beasts, what are you growing in them? Trees? [/quote] It's more like shrubs, we're going for the hedge of chronic! Thanks for all your words of wisdom...which brings me to our song... F..k an A, f..k an A, speaking words of wisdom F..k an A.....peace
[quote name='"WeeDroid"'] When I get my next grow on, I'll have four, 65 gallon smart pots running. 2 plants per pot. [/quote] Right on, Weedroid. You are going to use custom square ones tho, aren't ya? Is that still the plan?
Other than those horsetails, nobody actually said what they put into their compost lol. Im actually kind of curious also. This kind of stuff makes me more excited than most anything else lol
Used Soil Grass Clippings Leaves Borage Plants Comfrey Leaves Chamomile Plants Coffee Grounds Alfalfa Meal Neem Seed Meal Fish Bone Meal Miscellaneous Garden Waste .
[quote name='"Russy"']Used Soil Grass Clippings Leaves Borage Plants Comfrey Leaves Chamomile Plants Coffee Grounds Alfalfa Meal Neem Seed Meal Fish Bone Meal Miscellaneous Garden Waste .[/quote] Now thats what i wanted to hear! Sounds pretty good to me. That sounds like something you could plant into directly.
Nah, those were made by another company. I decided to go with the Smart Pots, after seeing the quality of their Compost Saks. ooops! sowwy! So my formula then: My tumbler comfortably holds about 16 cf (with room for air/tumbling). Since I'm going with a 2/3rds brown, 1/3rd greens compost formula, this is what I am doing. 10 cf browns: 8 cf of leaf mold compost (madrone oak leaf) ( http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/923357-black-leaf-mold-compost.html ) 2 cf rice hulls 5 cf greens: 1 cf food waste (frozen then thawed) and yard waste (weeds, comfrey, etc) 1 cf alfalfa 1 cf fish bone meal 1 cf of my ALPHA soil mix ( http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/920810-my-own-way-mixing-bagged-compost.html ) 1 cf mix of cocoa hulls, dried fish powder, composted poultry manure, Hi N bat guano Then: 2.2 cf of sphagnum peat moss 2.8 gallons of rock powder 1.8 gallons of oyster shell powder 1 cup of So Pol Mag 5 cups each of; Sure Start D. Lime Hummic Shale Ore Green sand 4 gallons of pumice And a bucket of Bokashi Compost. My pile did a nice thermophilic phase and is now about 3 months old. I've been throwing in some comfrey here and there and just recently tossed in a bunch of old soil from previous grows (3 gallon buckets mostly). It looks really good.
Wow! That is very impressive! I know its a lot of work. Sometimes people say to me, "all of that for some ganja?" They dont understand that i just like doing this stuff. I like learning about soil microbiology. I feel proud when all of my compost comes out really fine. And by the looks of that compost recipe, im sure you feel the same way Great job WD! You should be very proud to have the highest quality compost around.
Thanks. It's why I bought my compost tumbler (which saves a lot of work) about 6 years ago. I have about 20 cf of exceptional compost now and about 100 gallons of leaf mold compost sitting in a Compost Sak. All I really need now is to get my worm farm scene more robust.
My compost pile is outdoors in a corner of my yard. It gets blasted by all kinds of bugs n shyt. I love it! The more bugs i see the more "lively" i believe it to be. I assume that your bin doesnt get that kind of activity. But that makes it more amazing to me. All of the work is being done by various micro-organisms and no arthropods helping. Thats soo cool. Question tho, how much did that bin cost you? And where did you get it from?