OK gotta ask -- Compost items

[pickupguy07]

OK.. I have saw where folks talk about adding urine to their compost pile. I been searching for the C:N ratio on it. I found a number, but I am not sure if it is accurate
What I could was .8 - 1 (thats point eight to one)
Thats pretty much a 1-1 ratio.. a break even deal.
If this is correct... what good does it do...?
And does anuone know if this number is correct..??

also I saw where it's good to add the water off of your canned (store bought) veggies to the compost pile...
I'm a newbie, but other than just adding 'liquid' I can't see where this has any benefit either. May even be a detriment so we are always told to poor the water off of our store bought veggies because the water contains so much sodium. Wouldn't salt be bad for a pile..??

Just wanting to know what to make an effort to keep.. and add thats a benefit.

[rot]

..
Peeing on the pile adds a lot of nitrogen. Some folks prefer if it's diluted because of the salts in your pee. the composting process has a limited mitigating effect on salts. I pee in the pile.

Canned veggies - the composting process does have a mitigating effect on salts but I don't know to what extent. Maybe dilute the canned veggie juice otherwise I wouldn't worry too much about it if your ready to bother with the logistics of it all.

to sense
..

[pickupguy07]

Yeah. I was curious.. might as well pour the veggie liquid in my compost if there is no ill effects... better than going into my spetic tank..
Good idea about mixing it with water....

I knew I had read somewhere (probably here) that pee was a good source of nitrogen.. but then when I saw that .8 -1 C:N ratio,,
so that got me confused..

Sorry if I ask so many question.. but this is all new to me, and I know you folks have first hand experience so experience is usually a great teacher...
.... that and the fact all of you folks seem so helpful, and glad to answer questions.

With the increase of gas.. driving up the cost of EVERYTHING... not surprising to see more and more folks doing their own gardening and composting
Heck if gas keeps going up.. we may ALL be riding horses and then we'll all have plenty of horse manure.. roflol

[DoubleDogFarm]

Human urine has a NPK of about 10-1-3. So it's rather high in Nitrogen.

Eric

[rot]

..
I can't imagine that if you pee in your pile and add canned veggie juice that you will have a major disaster on your hands. I'm a little reckless so now that you've mentioned the veggie juice, I'll have to do both.

Thanks for the veggie juice idea.

to sense
..

[pickupguy07]

..

Thanks for the veggie juice idea.

..

Just something I read.. I kind of put stock in all your folks here past experience..
As far as the veggie juice... I guess if all else fails, and you need to add water to the compost, it'll make a good substitute..??
Hopefully when the garden gets to rolling... I won't be buying very many 'canned' veggies.
With you folks help, they'll all be fresh grown. uummm yummy

[applestar]

Not canned, but I've been putting the water from parboiling greens in the compost pile, especially wild edibles that need multiple preparation.

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah, I put left over veggie cooking liquids (if I don't use them for soup stock) in my kitchen scraps bucket. Since I also put some used paper towels in there, it all works out well. Paper towels soak it up, so they are nicely dampened before they even go in the pile..

[farmerlon]

OK.. I have saw where folks talk about adding urine to their compost pile. I been searching for the C:N ratio on it. I found a number, but I am not sure if it is accurate
What I could was .8 - 1 (thats point eight to one)
Thats pretty much a 1-1 ratio.. a break even deal.
If this is correct... what good does it do...? .

Strictly from the standpoint of C:N ratio, .8:1 would be (relatively) very high in Nitrogen when compared to other compost "greens" that typically have a C:N ratio within the range of 10:1 to 30:1.

[pickupguy07]

ok...
I guess I missed something or don't understand the calculations..
I had thought that C:N ration was carbons:nitrogen.
SO I thought a 30:1 ratio meant it took 30 carbons to 1 nitrogen
I'm confused I guess..??

[toxcrusadr]

That means it already HAS 30 parts carbon to one part nitrogen. Pee actually has MORE nitrogen than carbon, so the ratio is less than one. In any case you can certainly compost it, but watch out for having too much nitrogen. If your pile gets an ammonia or other bad odor, you need more browns to offset. This is true with any high nitrogen source - fresh manure, grass clippings, etc.

I wouldn't worry about the small amount of salt in canned juices. It definitely keeps the pile watered, reduces the load on your septic (or the sewage plant for city folk), and it makes you feel good to recycle it. And no real need to dilute before adding it. Think about it, if you left that out on the counter it would spoil, so bacteria can certainly grow in it. That means there's not enough salt to interfere with growth, therefore quite compostable. Same with the occasional pee contribution. If you were planning to compost with nothing but pee for the nitrogen source, that would be different, but addition to a pile of other stuff is no problem.

[pickupguy07]

oh duuh...
I see how it all works now..
so you need to keep around 30 parts C to one part N for things to compost correctly.
thanks