I filled up a 55 gal. home made tumbler 2/3 - 3/4 full with greens and browns over a period of a week. The greens are home trimmings and grass clippings and straw is the brown. I mixed the green and the brown, at a 2 to 1 ratio by volume, in a wheel-barrow before addind to the tumbler. I have been adding greens every 2 days. I tumbler every time I added material to the tumbler. It has now been 3 days since the last addition and the content is cold. From the very beginning I have been tumbling 2 times a day turning 5-6 times very time. What do I have to do to get it heating? All advice is very appreciated.
Thank you.
Sengyan
www.compostguide.com-
opabinia51
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milifestyle
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I would suggest a need for a little moisture also.
That link has some great information.
Eric.
That link has some great information.
Eric.
Last edited by milifestyle on Tue Feb 22, 2011 3:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hello, I made a compost bin and started piling up layers of: dried grass clippings (very tall grass), vegetable kitchen scraps and soil. It's summer around here, but it's a southern region so we have hot , cool and cold days during the hot season. The pile is not heating up. It isn't smelly. There are no flies, no rodents around. I wonder if the problem is too much soil added.
Do you think I should turn the pile up or add more kitchen scraps and then turn it ?
Thank you for your help in advance. I'll try to post the photo of the bin, may be it helps.
[img]https://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=1176245815&aid=2082149#!/photo.php?fbid=1668785557603&set=a.1625749801736.2082149.1176245815&theater[/img]
Do you think I should turn the pile up or add more kitchen scraps and then turn it ?
Thank you for your help in advance. I'll try to post the photo of the bin, may be it helps.
[img]https://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=1176245815&aid=2082149#!/photo.php?fbid=1668785557603&set=a.1625749801736.2082149.1176245815&theater[/img]
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toxcrusadr
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Hi, I can't actually see your pic from here (long story but it's at my end not yours). You didn't say how big your pile is. It won't retain much heat until it gets up to the 1 cubic yard size or larger, although I've seen smaller plastic bins get hot.
You don't really need soil, at most a handful sprinkled here and there if you must. If the pile is on the ground, microbes will grow up into it, not to mention many of them are already present on the materials you put in. It won't hurt anything but it does not produce heat, only absorbs it, so if you use a lot, it can keep your pile from heating.
Finally, heat is not essential to composting, it's just a sign that your pile is cooking rather fast.
You don't really need soil, at most a handful sprinkled here and there if you must. If the pile is on the ground, microbes will grow up into it, not to mention many of them are already present on the materials you put in. It won't hurt anything but it does not produce heat, only absorbs it, so if you use a lot, it can keep your pile from heating.
Finally, heat is not essential to composting, it's just a sign that your pile is cooking rather fast.
Hi tox, thank you for your answer
my bin is about 1 m3 volume and it is 1/5 full at the moment. (and it's very nice indeed with wire mesh and wood, I made it that way because I hate rodents and around here they transmit a serious disease-hantavirus-)
I bought a fork today and turned it up, and I found there's a lot of soil, so I started adding only kitchen scraps.
my bin is about 1 m3 volume and it is 1/5 full at the moment. (and it's very nice indeed with wire mesh and wood, I made it that way because I hate rodents and around here they transmit a serious disease-hantavirus-)
I bought a fork today and turned it up, and I found there's a lot of soil, so I started adding only kitchen scraps.
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The Helpful Gardener
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DoubleDogFarm
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DoubleDogFarm
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I think a little bood meal does wonders for any compost! Bacteria from a old compost or some old manure will help! paper shredders from a paper shredder seperates the mixture nicely! Some pine needles may also help! A glass of human urine will also help! What does everyone think of a half glass of beer?
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rot
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virchu,
"layers of: dried grass clippings (very tall grass), vegetable kitchen scraps and soil' sounds like all greens to me except for the soil.
Also "1 m3 volume and it is 1/5 full" sounds a tad small to me.
Not a major disaster.
Add some dry woody stuff like leaves, maybe shredded paper, saw dust and so on. The dry woody stuff is good for covering your kitchen scraps when you add to the bin. Keep moist as opposed to wet (shield from sun and wind to keep it from drying out too fast) and when the bin gets about halfway full you should start to notice things and even some heat.
Slowly adding things over time is not the way to get a lot of heat. I wouldn't worry. I'm slow to add and build things up and it just takes longer.
to sense
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virchu,
"layers of: dried grass clippings (very tall grass), vegetable kitchen scraps and soil' sounds like all greens to me except for the soil.
Also "1 m3 volume and it is 1/5 full" sounds a tad small to me.
Not a major disaster.
Add some dry woody stuff like leaves, maybe shredded paper, saw dust and so on. The dry woody stuff is good for covering your kitchen scraps when you add to the bin. Keep moist as opposed to wet (shield from sun and wind to keep it from drying out too fast) and when the bin gets about halfway full you should start to notice things and even some heat.
Slowly adding things over time is not the way to get a lot of heat. I wouldn't worry. I'm slow to add and build things up and it just takes longer.
to sense
..
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DoubleDogFarm
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toxcrusadr
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[I missed reading Pg. 2 so some of my comments below have already been made...]
Well now hold on there with the additives. Blood meal is great but it's high in N. Same with manure. If you're adding only kitchen scraps, that's already on the green side. So you need to keep up with some browns along with the greens, and if you're going to add either of those other things, doubly so.
If your (very nice, may I say) bin is only 1/5 full and part of that is soil, that's why it's not heating. Patience and more additions will get you to compost. You must have faith
PS I post from my office, where social networking sites are completely blocked by the net nannies.
PPS used beer much preferred for the compost...
Well now hold on there with the additives. Blood meal is great but it's high in N. Same with manure. If you're adding only kitchen scraps, that's already on the green side. So you need to keep up with some browns along with the greens, and if you're going to add either of those other things, doubly so.
If your (very nice, may I say) bin is only 1/5 full and part of that is soil, that's why it's not heating. Patience and more additions will get you to compost. You must have faith
PS I post from my office, where social networking sites are completely blocked by the net nannies.
PPS used beer much preferred for the compost...
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applestar
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Speaking of used beer ...
I refuse to throw away perfectly good leftover juices and other beverages (coffee, tea, lemonade,... Nobody except DH drinks soda and he won't leave any leftovers) greens and rice rinsing water, UNSALTED pasta cooking water and also UNSALTED greens blanching water, etc. Down the drain any more. Especially in the summertime, though not so much in winter.
I pour them all in a bucket or one of those cooking pots and walk it out to the compost pile. It needs to be moistened during the summer drought anyway.
I refuse to throw away perfectly good leftover juices and other beverages (coffee, tea, lemonade,... Nobody except DH drinks soda and he won't leave any leftovers) greens and rice rinsing water, UNSALTED pasta cooking water and also UNSALTED greens blanching water, etc. Down the drain any more. Especially in the summertime, though not so much in winter.
I pour them all in a bucket or one of those cooking pots and walk it out to the compost pile. It needs to be moistened during the summer drought anyway.
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toxcrusadr
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Most everybody with hot summers should have a kitchen bucket, IMHO. My mother, who lives in Albuquerque, has elevated it to a fine art. The water department came to her house to offer education because she had not cut her water use over the last several years of them pushing everyone. She showed them all her water saving and recycling techniques and the lady left with new ideas she wanted to use on other customers!
ok, thank you all,I took note of all your remarks
some of my kitchen leftovers are not sooo green such as (please apologize my clumsy English and my poor vocabulary, you see, I'm a Spanish speaker):
corn stalks, outer skin of peas and beans, fruit and vegetable rests of the juicer,
well, I'm not adding any more soil and I'll find some carbon-rich things
I thoght on buying a straw bale but around here there are only made of alfalfa and that is still N ingredient
I only read online newspapers...
I'll keep thinking,
some of my kitchen leftovers are not sooo green such as (please apologize my clumsy English and my poor vocabulary, you see, I'm a Spanish speaker):
corn stalks, outer skin of peas and beans, fruit and vegetable rests of the juicer,
well, I'm not adding any more soil and I'll find some carbon-rich things
I thoght on buying a straw bale but around here there are only made of alfalfa and that is still N ingredient
I only read online newspapers...
I'll keep thinking,
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rainbowgardener
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Check the greens/ browns sticky at the top of this Forum for more browns ideas. Bring your groceries home in paper bags and tear them in pieces for the compost pile. Fall leaves AND the yard waste bags they are collected in. Shredded office paper (at my office I can have all the bags of that I want!). Cardboard boxes (groceries stores have tons of them for the taking). Coffee filters with the coffee grounds...
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toxcrusadr
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That's a little salty for me (3.5% I believe is the salt content of sea water). I do agree you need a little salt for flavor though. I didn't salt my pasta water for years, and when I started, my wife said the pasta tasted really good, and asked me what I did to it. But I only use a teaspoon or two in the pot. This is a small enough amount that it can go on the ground or in the compost later. Actually, I've started killing weeds in the patio cracks with the boiling pasta water.