School me on Composting.

[1bush2hog]

My wife owns a lawncare landscaping business.

They pull a fair amount of "weeds" of all sorts.

The discussion centered yesterday around do you put that in the compost pile or not?

Her view, would not want weeds, or other undesireables in there, as that much more chance to transfer them to the garden etc. later.

My view, they are organic matter, will get chopped, buried, rotted etc, and will have weeds growing in our compost anyway if we do not turn etc. it regularly, it is just that much more "bulk" to me.

Thoughts?

An efficient compost pile will generate temperatures that will supposedly kill the weed seeds - although I usually manage instead to cultivate them in my compost pile

 

[RobertN]

If you compost correctly, the pile will get hot, and kill those seeds. This is true for horse or cow manure too; they have a lot of seed because of poor overall digestion %. A good compost pile will have a mix of brown and green, and will have some moisture. They can get steamy hot when the composting is working properly. That will "cook" everything, sterilizing the seeds and breaking down the variosu materials.

Have your wife ping the local Master Gardener office; they have info on proper composting.

My wife owns a lawncare landscaping business.

They pull a fair amount of "weeds" of all sorts.

The discussion centered yesterday around do you put that in the compost pile or not?

Her view, would not want weeds, or other undesireables in there, as that much more chance to transfer them to the garden etc. later.

My view, they are organic matter, will get chopped, buried, rotted etc, and will have weeds growing in our compost anyway if we do not turn etc. it regularly, it is just that much more "bulk" to me.

Thoughts?

 

[nobull1]

We find the ruminant manure will compost in a short time period if the conditions are right. I use our excavator as well as the tractor to turn the piles on a frequent basis. Our biggest problem with "weeds" is the hay seed that comes from the feed we give our cows (hay). This is why we recommend a customer take the compost and puts it along side of the garden for the first season and plant squash or cucumbers in it. The squash and cucumbers are heavy feeders of nutrients as well as moisture and this makes a great medium to grow these products in. The compost is rich in both of theses areas, and will remain so even after feeding the squash for a season. The other benefits are the extension of time the compost will cure, and the large leaves from the squash that cover over most of the pile that help prevent weeds from getting a start. Until the squash gets established you can easily pick any of the weeds, which will help in having a weed free compost. We don't recommend any of our customers put the manure directly in the garden until it is "at least" one year old and preferably longer. Applying green manure to your garden is like planting all the seeds that might have come in contact with the manure, directly in your garden.

We use large quantities of compost in our own gardens, mainly because we have an ample supply. The value of large quantities is, organic matter increase(worms as well as other living organisms), tilth of the soil(water retention, ease of tilling/plowing) and depth of topsoil/loam( in some of our gardens we now have up wards of 3')which is more than most people need, or will be able to obtain. We also apply it to our pastures, and have for over 100 years. The benefit is better/more grass and better water retention in the summer. When others peoples lawns are burnt from the heat our pastures are still nice and green.

As you can tell I am a proponent of compost, particularly cow. This is a major part of our farm business selling environmentally friendly products, as per this part of our website Natural Fertilizer. I also wrote a article for a local paper saying basically the same as I have said here, if anyone cares to read it Article. Don't take what I say to be a expert opinion just an opinion, and I am open to new ideas.

 

[MarkV]

I’ve had people tell me to add 10 10 10 fertilizer to compost piles to accelerate the composting process. Anyone do that?

MarkV

 

[odleefs]

Here is an excellent site for composting info and/or making your own bait for life for virtually free! Vermicomposting - Worm Composting - for Northern New England: WormMainea.com Within the site, under projects, find info on composting your dog-doo...note, however, that this compost is for flower beds only and not for use on consumables!
Steve