Composting...

[Dreamzchaser]

@NatJ

Moldy cheese and moldy bread have never hurt my chickens. (They haven't hurt me either, when I took a bite before I looked at the food.)

This made me choke on self. I never try anything out but instead, tell hub to try it and he not only smells it but drinks or bites into whatever,

 

[Dreamzchaser]

Oh cool! It is growin like insanely fast!

I bet. It was exploding at that time like 1999,lol I left Ft Campbell around 2002-2003

 

[787junglist]

Who would not love breadfruit? Too bad I have to drive an hour away to get a small bag of frozen breadfruit tostones,lol

I still get my breadfruit from a neighbor....but last month I planted 3 cuttings from his trees to propagate and have my own. If you contact me later on I could send a package of fresh frozen breadfruit tostones to you over the mail. I'm from Puerto Rico btw

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I keep a big pile of leaves, layered with chicken poop and shavings, food scraps, eggs that get thrown out of incubator, chicks that dont survive, grass cuttings from the yard, weeds from lower beds, ect.. I have a good 4 or 5 piles around the property.. nothing fancy but thats how my granny did it, after a few years the bottom is super rich and loaded with worms! Im right under 2 years on my piles so give me a few more years and I'll have something to show for it

Question. How do you keep raccoons, skunks, opossums and other trash bandits out of your compost and piles? We used to throw our kitchen scraps out for the chickens, but then realized that whatever the chooks didn't eat became bait for every varmint in the area.

 

[Iluveggers]

Question. How do you keep raccoons, skunks, opossums and other trash bandits out of your compost and piles? We used to throw our kitchen scraps out for the chickens, but then realized that whatever the chooks didn't eat became bait for every varmint in the area.

Good question!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm going to ask a newbie question, maybe it will also help others new to composting. Can someone please explain in SIMPLE terms, the difference between "browns" and "greens"?

But before you do, let me explain why it's confusing to me. I always thought "greens" were PLANT matter of any kind, regardless of condition. So it could be FRESH, as in newly-mowed grass, or dry and crispy, like old crunchy leaves. IS THAT CORRECT?

Second, I thought "browns" were essentially ANIMAL matter, like manure, whether fresh or old or liquid like manure tea, and from pretty much any ruminant. So, not dog or cat or any meat-eating animal. Again, IS THIS CORRECT?

I think I'm wrong, actually. Somebody's going to talk about "carbon" and "nitrogen" and confuse me all to pieces, but I'm willing to try to learn. Just please ... Be gentle with me!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I'll take a stab at "greens" vs. "browns"...

Think of carbon as "dry" or "woody" material...wood chips, wood shavings, sawdust, straw, hay, paper, cardboard, or leaves.

Green is "wet" materials - grass clippings, food waste, chicken poo, etc.

If you're going to think of it in these terms, just make sure to think of the "nature" of the item...not it's actual state. If it rains, your leaves don't go from "brown" to "green".

Hopefully that causes more clarity than confusion.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'll take a stab at "greens" vs. "browns"...

Think of carbon as "dry" or "woody" material...wood chips, wood shavings, sawdust, straw, hay, paper, cardboard, or leaves.

Green is "wet" materials - grass clippings, food waste, chicken poo, etc.

If you're going to think of it in these terms, just make sure to think of the "nature" of the item...not it's actual state. If it rains, your leaves don't go from "brown" to "green".

Hopefully that causes more clarity than confusion.

Thanks, RI, that really helps!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

But then.. what's nitrogen?

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

But then.. what's nitrogen?

Browns = Carbon

Greens = Nitrogen

Nitrogen is a nutrient that is vital to plant growth, and is found in things like manure, food waste, green grass/weeds, etc.

Nitrogen is volatile, so it needs carbon/browns to stabilize/absorb it. By composting with the correct ratio, you get the nitrogen in a stable form that the plants can use.