Adding compost to existing soil

[schoolsout]

Going to be starting the process of taking about 3 tons of compost to our property this weekend and wondering how I should mix it in to existing soil.

The area I'm starting with has turnips growing in it now, but I'm planning on tilling all of those back in to the ground to start them on their way to breaking down for the Spring planting.

I'm guessing I'll take a load at the time with the FEL on tractor and spread it out as best as possible in different areas then come in and till it with the tiller?

We have disc, tiller, and cultivator for this project.

Any ideas?

 

[SLHawkins]

Schoolsout,

Ccultivate, disc, spread compost, and then till.

Hawk

 

[DAY]

The "best" way is a manure spreader, pto, not ground drive. For a one time job, see if a neighbor will lend/rent his.

 

[schoolsout]

Won't have access to a manure spreader, I don't believe.

Thanks for the input so far, though.

 

[Baby Grand]

1 man; 1 shovel. Fling from FEL. Good exercise!

 

[Jesse11]

Composting is an organic way to return waste to the soil. You can compose food waste, grass clippings and other yard waste, sawdust, paper and cardboard, and many other types of garbage. Adding this compost to your garden can increase its productivity, working as an all-natural fertilizer.

 

[Short Game]

Wood chips for carbon make the nitrogen components go a long way.

Compost Fundamentals: Compost Needs - Carbon Nitrogen Relationships

 

[hunterridgefarm]

I would load a trailer to pull behind the tractor. Put the tractor in low range with 2-3 people in the trailer with shovels or seed forks and sling away.

 

[charlz]

Depends on how heavy you are putting it down, which you pretty much have to put it down heavy as it disappears fast. I usually dump in spaced out piles with the FEL and then spread by hand... or pay my kids to do the spreading One of those big aluminum landscaping rakes comes in handy for jobs like this if you are putting it down heavy. Otherwise you can fling it around with a shovel.

 

[schoolsout]

Depends on how heavy you are putting it down, which you pretty much have to put it down heavy as it disappears fast. I usually dump in spaced out piles with the FEL and then spread by hand... or pay my kids to do the spreading One of those big aluminum landscaping rakes comes in handy for jobs like this if you are putting it down heavy. Otherwise you can fling it around with a shovel.

This is what I envision

The compost is coming from the local landfill for $10/ton so I will be buying more as we get the property cleared to make way for some sunshine to reach the ground. I plan on putting it on fairly heavily.

Will have a dump trailer to haul compost to property and then dump it in a pile and grab a FEL Bucket at a time and go from there. I may just have pops keep tractor in reverse while I scoop from FEL and spread accordingly.

I'm guessing the tiller or disc won't really spread anything "out," just down into the existing dirt.

My main goal of doing this is to turn sandy soil into a little better growing medium.

 

[schoolsout]

Wood chips for carbon make the nitrogen components go a long way.

Compost Fundamentals: Compost Needs - Carbon Nitrogen Relationships

I've got one of those big compost ball things at the house. Been putting in hickory/oak leaves lately, but will get some wood chips when neighbor chops down a hickory tree soon.

Thanks for the link!

 

[charlz]

My main goal of doing this is to turn sandy soil into a little better growing medium.

I have decent soil and have put down compost 6" deep and tilled it in. By the next spring you couldn't tell I did anything. This past summer I did Buckwheat as a cover crop 3 times in part of my garden. I am interested to see if you can even tell come this spring. It is amazing how fast the soil breaks down compost.

 

[schoolsout]

I have decent soil and have put down compost 6" deep and tilled it in. By the next spring you couldn't tell I did anything. This past summer I did Buckwheat as a cover crop 3 times in part of my garden. I am interested to see if you can even tell come this spring. It is amazing how fast the soil breaks down compost.

I'm kind of afraid of that. I planted turnips to till back into the soil to add organic matter, but this is sounding like it's going to be a life-long endeavor for nice, composty* soil

 

[Localmotion]

One of my first jobs was working on a dairy farm near Gloucester. The owner didn't believe in paying for contractors, so had become quite inventive when he needed equipment he didn't have.

His answer for muck spreading was to have me take 10t trailer loads out to the stubble field and tip them "randomly" all over the field. Once this was done I'd take the JCB Loadall out there and push the much around with the forks, until the field wss evenly covered.

It was then left for a few weeks (to let the smell REALLY annoy the neighbours) and was then ploughed in. It was a time comsuming process (and given the quantity probably worked out more expensive than employing a contractor with muck spreaders to come in and do it for us) - but it worked :laughing:

So to sum up - get the compost into your field, then have fun pushing it all over the place with the FEL, and disc... :thumbsup:

 

[Short Game]

It is amazing how fast the soil breaks down compost.

Here are some magic words to do searches on: "net photosynthetic production" or, "NPP."

If you can find ways to maintain an increase in NPP, you are improving the conditions for life on the planet. Leaving things alone usually works. But of course, we don't do that, can't do that. The good new is, we can assist it and not disrupt it. We can make the planet get healthier. If the NPP of an area is steady or decreasing, something isn't right.

Compost happens.

 

[DAY]

I spread 20 tons of mushroom soil a couple of years ago- and I also didn't have that manure spreader!
Next best thing is to dump a FEL load, then back drag to spread it evenly. Depending on how you set the bucket, you can lay down an inch, six inches, or whatever.
It goes faster than you think!

 

[Stimw]

I've been adding composted horse manure to my garden for a couple years now. I give it 3-6 months to decompose then I scoop it with FEL and dump/spread it. Then I till it in very well. My soil looks like saw dust when I am done tilling. It has really helped blacken the soil and make it look so much better.
My biggest problem is the weeds that I get from the horse squease!

 

[DAY]

Properly composted, manure-horse or otherwise- reaches a temperature that kills seeds.

 

[forgeblast]

When I was with a landscape crew, we would use the composted stuff from a recycling center and put it in before we planted anything. We also used the rakes to move it around yards before we seeded.

 

[flusher]

Going to be starting the process of taking about 3 tons of compost to our property this weekend and wondering how I should mix it in to existing soil.

The area I'm starting with has turnips growing in it now, but I'm planning on tilling all of those back in to the ground to start them on their way to breaking down for the Spring planting.

I'm guessing I'll take a load at the time with the FEL on tractor and spread it out as best as possible in different areas then come in and till it with the tiller?

We have disc, tiller, and cultivator for this project.

Any ideas?

My neighbor (87 years young) puts in a 1-acre veg garden each year. He uses his offset disc to plow the ground. Then he hitches up his twin-axle dump trailer, heads for the worm farm and gets a load or two of worm casings. He spreads the casings using the FEL on his tractor (JD 2640) and then works this compost in using a rototiller (his is attached to an Allis Chalmers 712H garden tractor, hydrostatic tranny).

Good luck.