How to determine quality of different types of compost?

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Fresher wood chips may lock up some nitrogen as it begins to decompose...which could explain the slow growth. Best to let them sit in the pathways or partially compost first.

And if you have poor soil, any compost is good compost...different types will add different things, and it sounds like your soil could use all of them.

 

[gtaus]

Fresher wood chips may lock up some nitrogen as it begins to decompose...which could explain the slow growth. Best to let them sit in the pathways or partially compost first.

And if you have poor soil, any compost is good compost...different types will add different things, and it sounds like your soil could use all of them.

I don't use wood chips in the raised beds except as mulch. From what I understand, the nitrogen lock up only takes place on the immediate surface where the dirt and wood chips have contact. That should not affect the root system of the plants. I don't plan on tilling wood chips into the soil because of the concern you mentioned that it might rob the soil of needed nitrogen to break down the wood chips.

When I was buying big box store compost in bags, I would try to get different kinds of compost for the mix. I have always read variety is good. So I think any compost I use will be better than what I currently have.

 

[Percheron chick]

Maybe I have been watching too many YouTube videos, but I thought wood chp compost was supposed to be pretty good. There are lots of people singing the praises of how wood chips break down into the best soil. And by wood chips, I am referring to the arborist wood chips that include bits of greens like leaves, not just the wood itself.

I suspected that my chicken run compost would be better because of the chicken poo and the variety of greens and browns in the mix. So I can see the chicken run compost being superior to the wood chip compost.

I live on a lake and my soil is far too sandy. I am trying to improve the soil conditions of my garden for better growth. Are the soil tests you are talking about the kind you have to send in to the local agriculture extension office or is there a good soil test kit I can use at home for comparing my composts? I don't want to have to send off samples of compost. If I can do it myself at home, that would be better


I plant lots of things and not much happens. My plants this year did not grow very well, in general, but I did have success with my hügelkultur raised beds. I also had a half barrel that I filled up with almost 100% composted kitchen waste that had been composting for 2 years. I planted a zucchini plant in the barrel and it exploded! So, I am thinking that my native soil is not very good but I have a chance on improving everything if I can amend the soil with good compos

Sounds like your soil is junk or severely limited in one or two macro nutrients. Adding any composted organic materials is going to help. Did you add fertilizer to any of your plants? What are the under performing plants doing? The zucchini told you all you need to know.
Dgoing your own soil testing is beyond tests you can pick up at HD. It would be money well spent to run a test ($25+ at your extension office) to design a fix. Y o u will cut years off the journey.

 

[nao57]

This link goes into the differences of compost. Its not obvious at the start, but as you listen to the interview and also research more about Karl Hammer, you find out that he'd tried all kinds of blends of composted soil and that each had certain traits that could be used for various things. And if I remember right he also sells the composted soil.

Also people will say you want both green and brown in there and not only wood chips.

But there's a different guy that used wood chip material in Arizona to create a sun shield to create a yard food forest. And he wouldn't have been able to do that without lots of wood chips in the soil to cut the temperature of the soil from the sun.

 

[gtaus]

Sounds like your soil is junk or severely limited in one or two macro nutrients. Adding any composted organic materials is going to help. Did you add fertilizer to any of your plants? What are the under performing plants doing? The zucchini told you all you need to know.
Dgoing your own soil testing is beyond tests you can pick up at HD. It would be money well spent to run a test ($25+ at your extension office) to design a fix. Y o u will cut years off the journey.

When I first built my raised beds, I used Mel's mx for Square Foot Gardening. I mixed in compost, peat moss, and vermiculite. The first year I did have good results. But over the years, even though I have been buying compost to amend the raised beds, the quality of the plants has gone down. I have one raised bed that just used plain soil from my garden and that is actually doing better for me. So I am thinking that I would do well to dig out the old Mel's mix and refill with fresh soil and compost from the chickens.

I don't want to send off samples of my raised beds because it is not representative of my garden soil. And, I'm thinking of digging it all out and starting over. The half barrel I filled with compost grew a monster zucchini plant, so I think that is the key to my future.

For what it's worth, I like the concept of Square Foot Gardening, but buying the ingredients to make Mel's mix and fill even one raised bed is very expensive. I have not been using any fertilizer and I think that is probably a mistake. I had the notion to keep everything as organic as possible without having to purchase expensive organic fertilizer. But I believe that my raised bed soil mix has degraded over the years. Nothing like failure to rethink your options.

 

[gtaus]

Also people will say you want both green and brown in there and not only wood chips.

I watch lots of Justin Rhodes YouTube videos. I had seen the Karl Hammer video before, but watched it again to see if I could pick up on anything new.

Interestingly, his egg production is about 50% feeding his birds off of compost and food waste. My egg production this summer has fallen to about 60%. But my chickens are essentially feeding mostly off the chicken run compost and their commercial feed consumption has gone down to almost nothing. This past winter, I was averaging as much as 8 eggs per day for 10 hens. Lately, I have been averaging about 4-5 eggs per day for 10 hens, but I had 2 broody hens this past month.

My chicken run compost is filled with leaves, grass clippings, and wood chips. So I hope that will make a nice compost over time. Today I threw in another 6 cubic feet of wood chips on top of the grass clippings and the chickens had already scratched all the chips into the grass only a few hours later. It was like I did not even put any wood chips in there.

 

[nao57]

I watch lots of Justin Rhodes YouTube videos. I had seen the Karl Hammer video before, but watched it again to see if I could pick up on anything new.

Interestingly, his egg production is about 50% feeding his birds off of compost and food waste. My egg production this summer has fallen to about 60%. But my chickens are essentially feeding mostly off the chicken run compost and their commercial feed consumption has gone down to almost nothing. This past winter, I was averaging as much as 8 eggs per day for 10 hens. Lately, I have been averaging about 4-5 eggs per day for 10 hens, but I had 2 broody hens this past month.

My chicken run compost is filled with leaves, grass clippings, and wood chips. So I hope that will make a nice compost over time. Today I threw in another 6 cubic feet of wood chips on top of the grass clippings and the chickens had already scratched all the chips into the grass only a few hours later. It was like I did not even put any wood chips in there.

I like the idea of getting something from nothing and being economical. This is an interesting project you are doing!

I hope you keep it up.

I wonder also if the same thing works with ducks?

You are essentially meaning how many eggs to get from a sustained diet of everything foraged right?

I find the topic of 'how to do egg production from as much forage as possible' extremely interesting.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I don't use wood chips in the raised beds except as mulch. From what I understand, the nitrogen lock up only takes place on the immediate surface where the dirt and wood chips have contact. That should not affect the root system of the plants. I don't plan on tilling wood chips into the soil because of the concern you mentioned that it might rob the soil of needed nitrogen to break down the wood chips.

When I was buying big box store compost in bags, I would try to get different kinds of compost for the mix. I have always read variety is good. So I think any compost I use will be better than what I currently have.

If you’re just mulching with the chips and not direct seeding, I think you’re right that you’re probably fine.

The compost may not be the issue...it may be the generally poor native soil (takes a few years to build it up - sounds like you’re doing it right).

If your growing season has been anything like ours in New England - cold and wet then hit and dry - that likely hasn’t helped any!

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

@gtaus - sounds like you’ve got a compost setup in your run. I do too...be good to compare notes!

I haven’t kept the BEST records of egg production...which with changes in season and flock makeup could be tricky.

Part of the low number at Vermont Compost is that I don’t think they’re aggressive about culling older birds, which will reduce laying rates.

My flock is the same...about half first years layers, some 2nd, but then a number of 3-4+ year layers. If I was going for max efficiency, I’d have culled the larger birds.

I can afford to be not so crazy about efficiency since the food waste / compost cut food costs so much. Add in getting great compost and saving so much food waste from the landfill, and it’s a very fulfilling process.

 

[Percheron chick]

I would not dig the soil out and start over unless your plants are showing signs of disease. It still has good texture it just doesn't have the nutrients to feed the plants. You can't take take take and not replace and have productive beds. Every tomato you pick removes x amount of nitrogen. You need to replace the N for continued growth. You still have time this year. Make some compost tea out of fresh chicken poop. Add it to one bed (not root vegetables) and measure your results.