greyish white powder in compost

[a0c8c]

I turned one of my compost piles today, which was smart since half of it was bone dry and not composting, and I noticed about 4 inches down the compost had a light dusting of a greyish white substance. Is this powdery mildew? I don't have a picture since my wife has the camera, and by now it's all mixed back in. It would've been impossible to seperate it out, and I wasn't throwing out the whole pile. Should this hurt my compost? It's getting close to being black and is breakign down nicely, but I do know I need more greens.

[top_dollar_bread]

if your sure its mildew try putting some cinnamon on it or a little milk..
but what you see may just be beneficial fungal strands, some can be seen with the naked eye..
[url]https://www.energybulletin.net/node/23428[/url]
in this link, you can scroll down to composting a see an image of what a beneficial fungal strand can look like..
I personally see all kinds of weird things in my compost, I just turn it if I don't like it but most of the time I let it be..

[smokensqueal]

a0c8c, I see that too on occasion in my compost bin. Typically it's near the end of summer when I start running out of browns to mix in. It may be some sort of mold or mildew but I believe it's cause more by just a lack of air in the compost. A good mixing takes care of it. I wouldn't get to worried about it just mix it up and let it work.

[a0c8c]

My issue is not enough greens

[The Helpful Gardener]

Then fungal dominance is assured, but NO assurance that it is mildew, in fact if your browns run towards paper then this is most surely NOT mildew. Food scraps from the kitchen are mostly greens, so add those in more (took some convincing of the DW to get here but even she has seen the difference). Grass clippings are another great source, as are weeds (drowned in a bucket for a few days first to be sure of kill, the water is good too). A good molasses tea can help start the bacterial side of your pile, say two tbsp per gal., but adding greens is the key part, that and turning (which shuts down hyphal growth of fungii and adds oxygen).

HG

[a0c8c]

I just turned it, but I'll try the molasses tea when I can find some. I don't have many weeds, and those that do grow will just flourish if dunked in water. In fact, they hardly ever die. I pulled some up two days ago, and left them to dry on a chair and they still look just as healthy as before. good old desert weeds, never die.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Soaking in a bucket for three or four days kills everything, trust me. It also starts a biological reaction in the water that can be very beneficial to a compost or soil, so you get two for the rpice of one. If you aren't sure yet, let it soak some more. Beats Round-Up...

HG