Catch 22 Composting

[mixedbreeds]

When it’s getting closer to fall I start saving my grass clippings. I put the clippings on tarps and get them good and sun dried then bag them up till I have what I will need. I also get bags of coffee grounds from the shops when I’m ready to put my compost piles together. I picked up a leaf shredder and use that for the leaves and my dry grass clippings. Then I layer all my stuff in the compost miles clear to the top then water it till it starts to drain out the bottom then cover and wait. I end up turning it twice a week once it starts to really cook. It’s normally done in three months if I stay on the turning twice a week.

 

[IamRainey]

I've got one more thought for you, jthornton. Get some stout straight sticks. Trim off any side shoots and shape the more robust end into a sharp angle. Shove it into the center of your pile. Gather as many of these sticks as you can and keep a small pile of them onhand. Put one in each pile and keep a reserve.

When you want to know how your pile is doing, pull out the stick. You'll be able to feel how hot your pile is at the core and just how damp it is. Shove your stick back in there and keep it in the pile. Add water or turn as you see fit based on the info the stick provides./

Over time these things will decompose too. Just cut a new sharp end when you need to and replace them when there isn't enough left to be useful.

 

[IamRainey]

The rule of thumb, mixedbreeds, is to leave your pile alone when it's hot and turn it when it goes cold. But you seem to be doing very well so perhaps you should continue what you're doing and pretend I didn't just stick my nose into it.

 

[mixedbreeds]

I do have a good system that works but your nose is always welcome. I have a thermometer I check the temp with when it gets down in temp that’s when I first start to turn the pile. If it shoots back up I do leave it alone but it doesn’t take long after the first high cooking to go down in temp again.

 

[jthornton]

I have a thermometer I check the temp with when it gets down in temp that’s when I first start to turn the pile. If it shoots back up I do leave it alone but it doesn’t take long after the first high cooking to go down in temp again.

What kind of temperatures are you seeing? I just checked my piles and they were ambient temperature. I have a 12" probe for my Fluke thermometer which almost goes to the middle of the pile.

JT

 

[jthornton]

The rule of thumb is to leave your pile alone when it's hot and turn it when it goes cold.

More good information.

JT

 

[mixedbreeds]

Mine normally shoots up to 155 to 160 degrees when it’s first cooking but after it cools down and I turn it, it might make it back to 150 or a little lower.

 

[jthornton]

To compost the daily chicken poop do you folks have an "active" pile that you add poop and a bit of carbon rich material to on a daily basis or so you save it up then build a pile... and I hope not lol.

JT

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Why can’t you rake up the leaves, bag them, store them somewhere, and then in the spring use them?

 

[IamRainey]

When you've got anything, add it to your active pile.

When you start out you'll only have an active pile. In time it will fill, heat up, collapse down, get more added, rinse, repeat, etc. Eventually, it will fill and stay full. That's when it's time to set up a second one. Maybe a third one in time. I have 4 because 1) I'm lazy, 2) I've got the space, 3) I'm not in any kind rush (and you can't be if you're #1 lazy) and 4) I compost all the no-no's like manure from meat-eating animals, branches of poisonous things like oleander and (god help me) chicken carcasses. These #4 items need to be composted at least a year before they're completely safe to use again.

When you go back to the first one and you can't get it to heat up anymore by turning it or adding water it's time to break it down. Remove or loosen whatever you've got surrounding and containing it. I get a seat, a cold drink and set up my dumping wagon with a hardware cloth sieve on top. I load in a few shovelsful of my compost and sieve out the uncomposted stuff. That I add to my most recent, most active pile. When the wagon's full, I take it to the spot in my garden that can use a little rejuvenation and dump it on. This is when I'm setting up my newest pile again and that's where I put the really big stuff that it's clear will need all the time it can get. Happily, if it's already come from a previous pile, it's loaded with all the micro flora and fauna that inoculate the new pile and get it ready to start digesting what follows.

Lots of people don't bother sieving it out but I'm a lazy composter and I'm not careful that what I throw on the pile is in small pieces or doesn't have any colorful plastic printing coating the cardboard or will break down in a single run through the pile. I take care of that stuff on the back end. Some things like bones, large branches and roots will go through 3 or 4 piles or even more.

So, to sum up, eventually you'll have a finished pile ready to go back into your garden, a pile that's full but still breaking down/heating up and a pile that's still accumulating waste. This is the conventional 3-bin system you may read about. Not necessarily the required way for everyone but an efficient system that's been developed by generations of gardeners.