Giant compost pile

hwatkins · Jul 30, 2015

I have a very large pile of debris left from some land clearing.

It would eventually rot away, but I'm trying to speed it along. I pull logs out with the tractor, then I've been slicing off 3 inch sections from the logs, lay them out on the horse manure.

Then I cover it with another layer of horse manure in the morning and start the process over again.

It will take several years, but hopefully I'll end up with some good fertilizer in the end.

Any suggestions on how to speed it up without bringing in a chipper for thousands of dollars?

I plan on getting a grapple bucket for my tractor to help with handling the logs, I'm putting the 3rd function kit on the tractor now.

KennyG · Jul 30, 2015

I would have split the wood and burned it in the stove. Looks to me like a 10 year project you've got started.

Sodo · Jul 30, 2015

Doing work for compost is just wrong. Can you flatten it some and just bury it with dirt? Do you "need this land area"? Or can it be "the place where you're composting manure (over logs)"? I'd look for solutions that "make the pile gone" in one afternoon.

Utopia Texas · Jul 30, 2015

You can speed the process up with nitrogen, oxygen and water. A bit of nitrogen fertilizer thrown in will increase bacterial activity even with the manure added. Stirring the pile occassionally with a FEL will add oxygen to the lower areas that do not get enough air and help out the bacterial action also. Rain is a plus......

oosik · Jul 30, 2015

Without help from some kind of equipment - I think you may have a lifetime project. Once you get the grapple - you could move the logs away from the tree line - into a new pile and burn them.

hwatkins · Jul 30, 2015

Unfortunately it's mostly yellow pine, so too much sap to burn in a fireplace, I did split all the oak.

CalG · Jul 30, 2015

hwatkins said:
Unfortunately it's mostly yellow pine, so too much sap to burn in a fireplace, I did split all the oak.

Lay the logs in a row (or rows) and stack them 5 -6 feet high, keeping as narrow a base as possible. Cover the log row with organic debris and soil a few inches deep.

Plant your garden right on the hillside you have created. The entire "strip mound" will compost down, and all the while, you will have a no stoop garden.

If you don't want to garden, let weeds replace whatever veggies you might have planted. Something needs to combat rain erosion however.

The growth on top of the pile assures rapid decomposition of the woody material below. Not like burying it at all.

xzcVAbc5 · Jul 31, 2015

CalG said:
Lay the logs in a row (or rows) and stack them 5 -6 feet high, keeping as narrow a base as possible. Cover the log row with organic debris and soil a few inches deep.

Plant your garden right on the hillside you have created. The entire "strip mound" will compost down, and all the while, you will have a no stoop garden.

If you don't want to garden, let weeds replace whatever veggies you might have planted. Something needs to combat rain erosion however.

The growth on top of the pile assures rapid decomposition of the woody material below. Not like burying it at all.

What you mentioned is more or less called "hugelcultur". Instrad of piling up the woid and then covering I'd go one row and then cover. Another row and more cover, etc.

edkemper · Jul 31, 2015

If you're going to do Hugelkultur, do it right and reap the benefits. The experts say pile it up with the largest to smallest. Dirt and such on top. Cover with hay to keep it together and keep the moisture intact. The trees breakdown and start acting like a sponge for rain that is distributed all year long. Far better for the earth to bury carbon instead of releasing into the air by burning it.