compost help

[Camdawg]

So my compost barrel is lookin a little well gross. Lots of ants and huge grubs. I looked around some forums but got lots of back and forth answers so I figured I would bring it over hear hopefully Seamadian can help me out. The compost looks a little too wet and is full of bugs.

 

[caveman4.20]

I love these threads I'm no pro but you could add more browns and turn the compost . ...put a pallet and chicken wire st bottom maybe so juices drain? I also am hoping sea and more people drop some knowledge

 

[Mogrow]

I've never used a barrel Camdawg, what's the thinking behind that? i've seen those tumbler things but never used one. I put my stuff in a pile on the ground and let "er cook, bigger pile the better, more heat to cook it down. I do use sides sometimes to keep material close together, like caveman said, chicken wire is good for the sides, concrete blocks look also.
COMPOST IS KING // MAKE SOME //

 

[yellowhead]

You want to look into 'hot composting' Camdawg. Throwing all your crap in a bin and leaving it is cold composting, which takes forever.

You need to turn the pile regularly to make sure it's aerobic, but not so often that all the N just gases of.

Temperature is important, so having a long thermometer is useful, like the following one:

http://www.reotemp.com/heavy_duty_windrow_thermometers.html

Also, ratios of C/N are critical. Too much N and it'll end up a stinking, anaerobic, slimy mess, which is no good. Too much C and the process of it breaking down will be very slow. You can use online calculaters to get the right ratio of C/N, eg:

http://www.organicsciencesllc.com/composting.htm

Composting is a science and there's a lot to learn, but it's worthwhile.

A well tended compost pile can be ready in a matter of weeks and will be thriving with beneficial microbes.

 

[Seamaiden]

Oh, good stuff! Read what yellowhead's posted is what I'm gonna land with.

So my compost barrel is lookin a little well gross. Lots of ants and huge grubs. I looked around some forums but got lots of back and forth answers so I figured I would bring it over hear hopefully Seamadian can help me out. The compost looks a little too wet and is full of bugs.

I don't know a whole lot about composting itself, I have a single pile that I just throw stuff into and let it feed my figs. We don't really generate enough to compost, you see. But I'm thinking caveman is onto it--mixing in more sources of carbon (aka browns, we also use paper products that I now shred) may be helpful here. It's not unusual to see ants around the pile, but a lot of ants in it suggests it's more readily available N than anything else.

 

[yellowhead]

Yes, that's the right thing to do in the situation. If the compost is wet, gross and bad smelling, it's anaerboic and too high in N. Adding more C will help balance it out - dry leaves or grass clipping, paper, straw, hay, wood shavings, sawdust, wood chips, etc. Mix in a heap until it's looking much less wet.

When you get the ratio right and turn if regularly, it will heat up very quickly. In fact, it will get so hot it will begin to steam, killing off all the insects, weed seeds and pathogens inside it, leaving only beneficial thermophilic microorganisms.

Have a read of this, it explains it well.

 

[Camdawg]

Thanks for the input guys. Its a tumble barrel so you rotate it to turn the compost, these things kinda suck to be honest I miss my old worm bin with juice spigot gonna have to get one ASAP. It just needed more carbon, a little brown bag and dryer lint helped.

 

[salmonslammer]

Check to see if your local paper uses soy ink to print with, theres all your carbon you need if they do just dont use the ads 0r any shiney pages just my 2 cents :D

 

[Jboys3]

Thanks for the input guys. Its a tumble barrel so you rotate it to turn the compost, these things kinda suck to be honest I miss my old worm bin with juice spigot gonna have to get one ASAP. It just needed more carbon, a little brown bag and dryer lint helped.

Dryer lint?

 

[devildog1986]

hey man, hope its getting better.

i run a full organic garden to sell at farmers markets and what not. bugs are always gonna be a problem because of how rich the compost is. after all compost is alive. i am not a big fan of barrels. i have used and tried them but they end up keeping it too wet. and the smell your getting is because it is enclosed when you pile instead of a bin the smell quickly goes away. a few things i would do, 1 is get a compost thermometer they are like 3 bucks bro. they look like the cooking thermometers but they are a whole lot longer. 2 try it in a pile and the scent will get a whole lot better. 3 once compost starts cooking properly it will get crazy hot in the center, way, way to warm for the liking of ants and other bugs. now keep in mind not all bugs are bad. some help decompose everything. I'm not just talking about worms. by the way thats another reason to start a compost pile instead of a bin. after a few weeks of cooking. worms will literally come up from the dirt and move into the compost which is awesome you will start creating a fungal based compost and it will be full of castings man. try a pile of compost and see if it helps any. i would go to a store and pick up a small bag of soil or compost. and add it to your pile it will start cooking super quick. make sure that you get a hard rake and turn it every 3 or 4 days. also make sure you don't water it too much. you wanna exaggerate the 1st time but after that pick up some with your hand and squeeze it you want a few drops to come out when you squeeze it if it starts just peeing water out. then the compost is too wet. on your ratios for Brown and green( brown being carbon and Green being nitrogen) try to keep 2;1 2 parts carbon one part nitrogen then make sure you sandwich it as follows. carbon, nitrogen carbon. after a day i turn it all with the rake. some people don't care much for ratios and all that. and everyone will always do things a little different. no matter what they have your methods and you will create yours. i do a 2;1 ratio because i like knowing exactly what is in there and how much of it. i also have another pile of compost that is pure wood chips. i run a wood shop so i have what they call black gold (Humus) if you have any questions man, shoot me a message. ill help you out any way i can. compost is one of THE most important things in any garden. its what plants eat. hope this helps and sorry it is such a long message. i just try to explain myself as much as i can. Good Luck and God Bless man. you'll get the hang of it once it starts to cook. i would give it like 1 1/2 weeks to start seeing a rise in the compost thermometer.

 

[Seamaiden]

Hey devildog, are you familiar at all with cold or cool composting? I just read a quick blurb about it, fellow who practices it says it preserves a lot more terpenes, metabolites, and nutrients from the input materials.

 

[urbanfog]

Dryer lint?

Yep, we recycle chicken feathers, dog hair and dryer lint. Having read a yr or two ago that all of them were great for the pile, started adding them and have never noticed any detriment

 

[Seamaiden]

Did you know that bird feathers are 85% PROTEIN? That's why my cats nom them down, hard.

 

[devildog1986]

hey sea maiden,
the first time i brought up cold composting to someone that is what they consider a "Master gardner in Tx" told me that cold composting is for those who don't feel like working much, lol. me in the other hand, i simply like to tell people, do whatever works for you not everyone else. cold composting is simply stacking everything in a sandwich, brown,green,brown. and thats it. maybe water it from time to time but thats it. you don't turn it or anything. as far as preserving more terpenes, metabolites, and nutrients from the input materials. I myself believe that there are more concentrations of them in certain areas, simply because you are not turning it every couple of days. i prefer the hot composting simply because it feels to me that while you do not get huge concentrations of nutrients in certain areas you get a even amount of nutrients all around the compost pile. anyways i hope this somehow makes sense to you cause it can be a little hard for me to explain things right. as far as bird feathers and anything else you can think of adding it is al great, when you buy feather meal for your plants its the same thing except that you know where those feathers are coming from instead of buying a box of unknown lol. egg shells are amazing too. a lot of calcium and if you can get a hold of crushed oyster shells or ground oyster shells it does wonders for your plants. just be careful with citrus. because it tends to raise your PH. I'm not saying not to add it, just be stingy with it. hope this makes sense to y'all. if y'all need anything just shoot me a message. God Bless. Gotta go Play with dirt guys!!!

 

[Seamaiden]

What's wrong with not wanting to work when you don't have to? :) My back can't take the turning and since we don't generate enough green waste for hot composting, we don't do it. Mostly it came to be this way for me by accident, I didn't know there was a name for it til I read that article. It takes HELLA days! Better to just do it near plants (trees, like my figs) that you want to help along than to site remotely, IMO.

 

[neverbreak]

cold compostin is the way organic matter breaks down naturally. think about a forest floor. material is added slowly n breaks down slowly.

neverbreak

 

[devildog1986]

well hopefully i didn't upset you sea maiden, like i said, it comes down to preference. and if you can't do certain things because of a disability, do what works for you not everyone else. I was shot and left paralyzed from the waist down, so i am all up for working smarter not harder. when i did the whole master gardeners thing here in texas they explained both methods. some people want the more natural way of composting which is cold composting. technically both ways will create heat. it simply means that it cooks at a cooler temperature than hot composting. everyone has their own way of doing it, and in the end do what works for you. thats the problem with the web, instead of learning sometimes you get confused. regardless of what method you go with to get the pyle started going back to the subject of the thread its the same start. you add a lasagña of layers. if its the first time ever go buy a bag of compost or good soil. and do soil, brown,soil, green,soil,brown, soil. after that just start adding brown,green brown, and it will heat up like crazy. theres people that prefer 2 parts green one part brown, simply for me its worked a whole lot better with 2;1 carbon instead of 2;1 green. hope people don't start hating me because i simply prefer love over hate. its a picky subject because if you ask 10 different people you'll get 10 different answers. i was just trying to help out the guy that started this thread by explaining my experience with compost. it took me a long time to finally get things going right. hope this ends up helping someone. God Bless guys, and remember opinions are like assholes, every single one of us has one. lol

 

[Seamaiden]

Not at all upset, devildog, just a lazy procrastinator is all. :D

 

[caveman4.20]

Not at all upset, devildog, just a lazy procrastinator is all. :D

Sea check out a method called "Bokashi"