User avatar
gixxerific
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 5889
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B

ever put kelp extract in you compost?

I was mixing up some kelp extract today for feeding plants. While reading the bottle again it say's at the bottom that you can put it directly on your compost pile. So I made a somewhat stronger mix and added some fish emulsions for the heck of it then poured that on my slightly dry compost bin (trashcan). Guess it can't hurt right? :?

cynthia_h
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 7500
Joined: Tue May 06, 2008 7:02 pm
Location: El Cerrito, CA

No, it probably won't hurt, but my idea (at least at my house) is that I make compost out of stuff that's FREE. Absolutely, positively no-cost stuff.

Well, I *have* paid for some of it: apple cores, banana peels, onion peels, and suchlike. But the oak leaves? :arrow: I gathered them off the street last November. The maple leaves? :arrow: same story.

Small amount of wood ash? :arrow: from girlfriend's (EPA certified) wood stove.

And biomass from my own raised beds.

The bin cost me $33 way back in the '80s and is still going strong. :)

Am I...cheap? thrifty? frugal? Who knows??? :lol:

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

User avatar
gixxerific
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 5889
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B

cynthia_h wrote:No, it probably won't hurt, but my idea (at least at my house) is that I make compost out of stuff that's FREE. Absolutely, positively no-cost stuff.

Well, I *have* paid for some of it: apple cores, banana peels, onion peels, and suchlike. But the oak leaves? :arrow: I gathered them off the street last November. The maple leaves? :arrow: same story.

Small amount of wood ash? :arrow: from girlfriend's (EPA certified) wood stove.

And biomass from my own raised beds.

The bin cost me $33 way back in the '80s and is still going strong. :)

Am I...cheap? thrifty? frugal? Who knows??? :lol:

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
I feel ya. but this kelp extract is who knows how old. It only takes a little so it's been around for a while. Couldn't hurt to add a couple tablespoons to a gallon of water and spread it on I guess.

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

My only other caveat about the fish emulsion part is that it would make all the local critters crazy... I can just picture all the local cats, and raccoons standing around my compost bin reaching their paws in through the bars trying to get at what smells so enticing. :)

I quit using fish emulsion because anything I planted with it got dug up. As it is I lost a new rhodendron this year, because I planted it with an organic fertilizer/ soil acidifier. I don't know what all the organic ingredients were, but something smelled good to some critter. It got dug up (untouched, they weren't going for the plant). I was on vacation and didn't find it in time.

Hopefully they wouldn't care for the kelp...

top_dollar_bread
Senior Member
Posts: 203
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:34 pm
Location: Inland Empire,CA

I agree with rainbow,
my cat always gets into my soil when using fish emulsion :evil:

but I don't have any problems when using kelp.. If I were you... id add the kelp with a fat :)

User avatar
gixxerific
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 5889
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B

Thanks for the replies. I already put it on. I have this stuff for a while it was just sitting around so why not. Of course my compost bin is a trash can so critters aren't a problem

Anyone have critter problems with bone meal? I steeped some in a watering can last month and there was still some sludge in the can which was just sitting on my lawn. My dog was all over it licking it like a kid at a candy store. So I poured out the little bit that was left on the grass there, so my dog begins licking the grass, she's not real bright. :roll:

User avatar
stella1751
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1494
Joined: Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:40 am
Location: Wyoming

I put bone meal on my compost, just a light layer when I think about it. I read somewhere that this is a good thing to do.

I don't think I would do fish emulsion. I think nitrogen is short-lived in the soil, something like six weeks. Because it degrades so quickly, you'd do better to put quick-releasing nitrogen-rich products right in the soil. It might not last in the compost heap.

I've been thinking about putting kelp meal on my heap. I don't know how quickly it degrades, though. I do use it to amend my soil in the fall (no nitrogen, though), but there's no way of knowing whether its nutrients are still there in the spring. Does anyone have any information on this?

You wrote:
Anyone have critter problems with bone meal? I steeped some in a watering can last month and there was still some sludge in the can which was just sitting on my lawn. My dog was all over it licking it like a kid at a candy store. So I poured out the little bit that was left on the grass there, so my dog begins licking the grass, she's not real bright.
Both my dogs are nuts for bone meal and fish emulsion. One of them used to eat the soil around the base of my plants whenever I fertilized with fish emulsion. I'd go in the house for a few minutes and come back out to a dog looking as innocent as could be, with soil crumbs clinging to his lips. Sure enough, a plant would be lying on its side, looking like it had just been hit by a semi-truck :shock:

Knowing this, I cleaned out my compost teapot on the lawn a week or two ago. When I returned, two hours later, the same dog had eaten out an entire 6" circle of lawn. You want stupid; that's stupid :P

User avatar
gixxerific
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 5889
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B

Stella that last post made LOL a couple times.

I know exactly what you mean. I was blaming rabbits for eating my sweat potatoes once a week only to come back. I am thinking it might have been my dog. She's always eating the weeds and super tall grass around the fence and garden fence, I think she might have a delicacy with my sweet potatoes.

About why I put this on, well for one the bottle told me to, I couldn't resist. I'm not hoping for those nutrients to be available in the finished product. I thought maybe it might feed the pile to speed up decomposition. :D

User avatar
Diane
Green Thumb
Posts: 511
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 4:38 am
Location: Mass

Dono, by adding that your compost might look/be richer like the compost near my worms. How long does it take for your compost to be done?
Do you roll the barrel?
My dog loves to eat grass. He used to eat flowers but my screams stopped him. :lol:

User avatar
gixxerific
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 5889
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B

Diane not sure how long it takes to finish. But it is doing fairly well, it's in a black trash can. It was looking pretty good last week about half full when it was 3\4 full not long before that. But than I filled it back up with a layer of greens than a layer of shredded paper\leaves rinse and repeat. That shrank pretty fast but guess what I filled it up again today same way as above. :roll:

Yes I do roll it around I tie the lid on with rope side to side and flip it as well. I'll flip it and leave it than a few day's later flip it back rolling it around during the flip.

Glad your dogs stopped eating the flowers, just yelling huh. I think my dog's deaf cause I've been yelling at her for about 12 years and she still does what she wants. Oh she'll stop at the time but back to old tricks soon after. Maybe it's not deafness but serious, serious brain damage! :lol:

Applestar if you happen along on this thread: you keep talking about you don't have weeds you have "greens" Get rid of those weeds. I have some plants sorry don't remember the name. They grow orange flowers on tall woody stalks and have thick blade leaves that grow up about 3-4 foot tall. They also multiply like mad I just chopped them all off at the ground and put them in the compost, There was a bunch. A week later the are coming back with a vengeance. Instant regenerating green compostables. Plus they are pretty when flowering in the heat of summer, also compost quality.
:P

User avatar
gixxerific
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 5889
Joined: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:42 pm
Location: Wentzville, MO (Just West oF St. Louis) Zone 5B

Just thought about something those plants I was talking about They grow super fast and very meaty for compost. They would probably grow great right in you compost. You could just give them a hair cut every now and than and never run out of fresh greens. And the stalks I believe would be browns, Hell you can't lose.

Yes I think too much. :shock: :D



Return to “Composting Forum”