Ammonia Smell

[syntheticbutterfly]

I noticed today that my compost bin has a mild ammonia smell.

I have read various ways to sort this out, but I find the info people give here much more reliable- so fellow gardeners what advice can you give me?[/I]

[gixxerific]

Sounds to me like you need more browns. Leaves, paper etc. Is your compost pile all greens like grass, veggie scraps. It might need a stirring as well that could help to get some air into it could an anaerobic (bad bacteria) reaction.

[syntheticbutterfly]

Its mainly chicken dirt, straw and veg scraps.
Would some finely torn up newspaper do the trick do you think?
I do stir it quite frequently so not sure if thats an issue.

[gixxerific]

straw is the brown and I would assume there is more of that than anything. Not quite sure on this. Could just be the chicken manure is there a lot of that in there. What are the ration of items?

[cynthia_h]

Chicken manure all on its own is quite ammoniac. I just acquired a bucketful for my compost. I'd suggest adding leaves (if you have any bagged up from a couple of months ago), shredded newspaper/cardboard/other paper, and turning.

Also, is the stack watered? Not really wet, but wet enough to "work"--the classic description is "as wet as a wrung-out sponge."

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[Toil]

I think gypsum is supposed to reduce ammonia loss.

You want that nitrogen in your humus, not in the air.

[syntheticbutterfly]

I do wonder if part of my problem here is that I'm overly paranoid about making this compost work out. The smell is that mild I have to more or less put my face in the bin to smell it....
I keep testing to see if it feels moist enough, but am afraid to over water it!
Well, I have added some shredded paper today, so we shall see.
PS- Toil- is that gypsum as in the mineral like desert rose stones- and how would you use it in compost?

[Toil]

I've never used it in compost, but it's my understanding that it's mixed with the manure to do something called flocculating.

You should find plenty if you google. It's manure specific, and I have not composted manures.

[rainbowgardener]

SB - Relax, you compostables WILL compost; it is in their nature to do so. It's just a question of how fast/slow, hot/cool. But you agree with the above posts, that ideally you should not be smelling ammonia, even mildly, even with your nose in it. Mainly unless you just now dumped in a load of partly rotted kitchen scraps (which does not smell good, but does not smell like ammonia either), it should basically just smell earthy.

So keep mixing in the leaves until it calms down. You do want it damp. You don't really want it soggy, but it's not as sensitive to overwatering as a lot of plants are. As long as it doesn't have standing water, it will soak up the excess. If you are putting things like newspaper, paper towels, coffee filters in, they are quite absorbant, so you can put plenty of water on.

[syntheticbutterfly]

Thanks rainbow gardener. I think my challenge is to learn patience!

[rot]

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I think rainbow gardener nailed it along with gixxerific.

I've been warned off of gypsum in the garden so I'd be wary of that. I doubt it would be a major disaster but I'm not going to pursue that path.

If you are in a dry climate like I am you shouldn't have to worry too much about over watering. If you have sensed you've over watered then wait it out a couple of days. I have a tendency to over water too which is a waste here on the edge of a desert. I think if I were in a wetter climate I'd be in anaerobic trouble.

The thing I like about the composting process is that you really have to work at it to end up with a disaster.

to sense

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[Toil]

the gypsum doesn't go in the garden directly, or into the pile directly. I believe it's applied directly to the manure and mixed together, and it stabilizes the N so it does not float away. It is manure specific.

I heard it spoken of in a circle of composters more advanced than I.

[rot]

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Did only a little searching. There seems to be some use of gypsum in the soil.

I found this from someone trying to sell gypsum:
https://www.hmhgypsum.com/why.htm

And this advice from a seed supplier
https://www.humeseeds.com/gypsum.htm

A search on 'gypsum+graden' appears to provide lots more.

I didn't see any caveats.

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[rainbowgardener]

gypsum is frequently recommended for loosening up clay soils. I haven't tried it, so can' comment, but that would be adding it directly to the soil.

[Toil]

The caveat I've heard as an amendment is that it breaks up soil only for a short period, then leaves it worse off than before.

Is salt damage in your links?

I've taken it internally, as part of a chinese herbal prescription. It's actually not terrible tasting. But something was familiar about it. So I looked it up, and IT'S A MAJOR COMPONENT OF THE CREAMY FILLING INSIDE A TWINKIE.

LOL.

[gixxerific]

So it's okay to compost Twinkies than right?

[rot]

So it's okay to compost Twinkies than right? :lol:

I suppose if you need gypsum in your soil. Considering their legendary shelf life, might be better to make wall board.

I read the links and saw references to salts and now I'm thoroughly confused about salts. I think one site indicated gypsum was a salt and another said it was a sulfate which seems more intuitive considering the what little I remember from high school chemistry.

If some salts are at least OK for the soil, can I use the water softener backwash that uses only potassium? Maybe apply a ten percent rule?

to much sense

..

[gixxerific]

correct me if I'm wrong but I believe most soil have a lot of potassium especially clay soils. Though most of it is locked up. Not sure if adding more pot would be good.

Teach us oh wise ones of the garden.

[rot]

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We have terribly hard water around here so when we moved in we got a water softener. Currently our water softener is grandfathered in as municipalities are phasing them out. You would need to get an electric thing or a softener service. Gawd knows how the softener services dispose of all their salt but out of town, out of mind I guess.

We stopped using salt right away and switched to potassium as a possible mitigating factor. The softener will regularly flush itself into the sewer to dispose of the excess salts, potassium, in our case.

I've heard that you can use it in the garden but that was anecdotal. I'm thinking maybe I could divert the softener backwash to a bucket or barrel and maybe use it to water compost if not water roses directly. The city can still complain and probably give me grief under grey water ordinances or something but I could honestly say I'm not mucking up their weak kneed waste water treatment facilities. Besides, we can use all the water recycling we can out here.

So can I use potassium tainted softener backwash?

I't really like to put it to use.

Thanks in advance

too much sense

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