Things I Have Learned About Composting

shoppintractors · Jan 3, 2004

Now for a question, what does one do if mushrooms start on the pile? Turn 'em in and cook em? Pick 'em out? Never composted... Yet... 

If mushrooms start to grow in your compost pile it means your past due to flip the pile. I would just blend them into the pile. The heat should destroy the spores.

Don

DaveNay · Jan 3, 2004

I have learned that you will never have a lack of material for the compost heap when you have 16 horses! Luckily, our farm has a large cement area that was the feed lot when it was a cattle operation. This makes for a very easy time moving and turning the pile periodically. What amazes me is how much of the marterial breaks down. I can stack the pile about 12' high with my FEL, and within only a few weeks, it is down to about 6'-8' tall. That is when I usually restack it, and mix it up.

Dave

RalphVa · Jan 3, 2004

My cabinet guy only uses pure lumber.

Sawdust is also good stuff to put on muddy spots. Unless you get a hard rain right away, it'll kinda blend it and glue itself to the top. A hard rain right away will wash it away.

Ralph

rambler · Jan 4, 2004

Here on the farm cornstalks have that problem - they take a lot of N out of the soil for a year in decomposing, before adding anything back to the soil in future years.

Greg, I'm not sure I understand your question about grass clippings with fertilizer? What part of this worries you? Fertilizer is just N, P, & K which your plants need.

Now, if your neighbors spray for weeds, a few of those chemicals can last 3 months before breaking down. I've heard of a very rare case where a special weed killer didn't break down totally in 12 months & harmed some very fussy specialty plants, but that is not likely a problem with the 24D used on a lawn. Also that was not composted, but a straw multch. Normally these weed killers will break down in the time it takes to compost.

--->Paul

RalphVa · Jan 5, 2004

He's probably worried about that Weed & Feed fertilizer stuff that so many uneducated home owners use. That stuff is nasty: kills everything in sight except grass.

Ralph

GregJ · Jan 5, 2004

Rambler & Ralph,
I confess to ignorance about pesticides and fertizers. I really don't use them, so I don't know anything about them. The reality is that 99% of my compost is going into our landscaping. Very little will be used for our vegie garden, so I probably am being overcautious. I just look at their yard and see their flower beds looking like a "dead zone" with no weeds and their lawn doesn't have all the beautiful dandelions that ours does. I just want to keep my compost as safe as possible. If the life cycle is over during a composting period, I guess I don't have anything to worry about. Ralph, you mention "Weed&Feed". What is the life cycle of that. Does it break down in compost. Thanks for the feedback.

Greg

RalphVa · Jan 5, 2004

Not sure what the life cycle of the "weed & feed" components are. Probably a lot of it is 2-4D or related stuff. I'd read a label to find out about it if I suspected any of the grass had this applied.

I applied some fert with "weed & feed" in it once in my life. Had a few veggies planted in sunny spots around the perimeters of my grass. The stuff killed all the veggies.

Excess of stuff like Roundup (glyphosate) gets tied up in the soil. Excesses don't harm the plants. Only that which hits growing green plants does its work.

Ralph

kemartin3 · Jan 7, 2004

If I may throw in another question please. We have huge piles of tree parts (mixed hardwoods and softwoods) where the prior owner cleared to create more pasture. They took the big lumber and pushed the rest of it into piles. Probably been 3-5 years ago. If chipped up, would this material still decompose correctly in a compost pile? Or would it be too dry by now to break down in a reasonable timeframe? I don't have much new (wetter) material to mix in with it, though I can probably get a supply of used hay/straw (used for horses/cows) if needed.

Thanks,
Kevin

shoppintractors · Jan 7, 2004

If chipped up, would this material still decompose correctly in a compost pile? Or would it be too dry by now to break down in a reasonable timeframe? 

If I may interject. Dry wood will chip much better than 'green' wood. The dry wood will shatter where the green, wetter wood will not. It has the potential to break down faster because the pieces will most likely be smaller with more surface area exposed to the elements.

Don

bebster · Jan 7, 2004

Kevin, I have the same situation, and to help the wood chips along, I have them in a pile next to my compost pile. They are slowly decomposing. But I take other material when I get it, such as household organic scraps, and throw that on my compost pile, and then shovel on a layer of the wood chips. I think the blend will make good compost, but it's too early to tell

higgy · Jan 7, 2004

I compost all of my green and horse waste. When ever I turn a pile i toss in a few hand fulls of 10/10/10 or other close ratio fert. This gets the pile hot faster and avoids the possibility of the temperature inside the pile from getting to cold and stalling the compost.

I have had no problem composting paper, but it takes longer and conditions need to be more controlled as paper is made of materials that are harder to breakdown biologically.

Bird · Jan 7, 2004

Higgy, when I was raising rabbits, I initially used hay for nesting material, but later bought a paper shredder, ran our old newspapers through it, and that made the best bedding or nesting material. And after it was used, I tilled it into the garden along with the manure. Don't know how long it would take to "compost" or decompose in a composting pile, but it sure disappeared fast in the dirt.

shoppintractors · Jan 7, 2004

Wood chips are also good to intermix throughout the compost pile. They help keep the pile aerated and keep it from matting down.

Don

higgy · Jan 7, 2004

Bird,

I agree, never had a problem with it either, but with rabbits there was plenty of nitrogen in with the paper and some moisture.

This helps the compost to start and continue to run.

I was suggesting that just tilling it in might slow the process down, or it there was to much paper in one area it might not compost.

GregJ · Jan 7, 2004

Kevin,
I am always adding rotten and dry wood to my pile. I did read where the important thing in composting is the carbon/nitrogen mix. In simpler terms ( I like simple ) carbon/nitrogen = brown / green. So I have tried to get as much soft green debris with the wood chips as possible. One of the best piles I started was last summer when I cleared about 50 - 4" x 30' alders that were covered with leaves. It really took off quick. I am always a little long on the carbon and short on nitrogen, so I may try the 10-10-10 to speed things up. Basically a longwinded response with the theory that if you add some green stuff, you'll probably be just fine.

On the paper topic, the paper I used was computer/copier paper, not newsprint. As far as I can tell, they seem to use some space age preservative on that stuff...... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I have heard that newspaper will compost fairly quickly.

Greg

shoppintractors · Jan 10, 2004

The compost pile is still 'cooking' in mid-winter. After receiving 3" of snow and freezing rain earlier this week and the weather getting down into the single digits the last few nights the compost pile is still putting out heat as evidenced by the disappearing snow on the pile. See attachment.

Don

OkieG · Jan 11, 2004

Ralph,
 ...old Troy Bilt Tomahawk with chipper/hammers. I'd like to replace these sometime with a 3pt chipper, as it'll be easier to move around... 

Have you considered towing your chipper to where you need it? My chipper is also a TroyBilt Tomahawk. I believe TroyBilt has marketed several different models with the Tomahawk moniker, so our machines are probably not alike. But, if it has a handle, you can probably tow it. If you are otherwise satisfied with the performance of your current chipper, a hitch arrangement would save your back, and could save a few dollars in trading to a 3PH unit.

 I think they're too top heavy and don't have very good wheels for moving very far, particularly down my hill and into the woods. Have you taken yours to any hilly/bushy area? (Anyone else do this?) 

My chipper manuevers very well on a level hard surface, but moving up or down hill is a different story. Forget it!! Not worth the trouble!!

Attached is a picture of a hitch I use to transport the chipper. A 3PH chipper will probably be more manueverable than a tow behind, but if you occasionally have someone helping you, being able to unhitch the chipper so you can gather limbs with the tractor while a friend is feeding the chipper is nice.

Anyway, just a thought.

OkieG

JerryG · Jan 11, 2004

That is like mine. When it is cold and I move compost, the steam goes up 15-20'.

RalphVa · Jan 12, 2004

OkieG,

I've a hitch on my TroyBilt. It's just too heavy and too top heavy for me to pull it safety through the woods with my Gravely. Also, I don't think the Gravely has the traction to pull it up my hill in the back.

So, one option WHEN I get my 4wd tractor will be to pull it into the woods, as that tractor would have the weight and traction to do it.

My CFO has agreed to my getting a tractor for my April birthday long as I stay around $10k for the kit and kaboodle. Figure I can get a BX1500/1800, FEL and rear hog and ballast for about that.

Ralph