Seems like my compost is fizzling out?
Hello all, It seems like my compost is loosing it's oomph. It started out great and is probably 60-70% broke down but it seems to have slowed right down to a crawl. I can still see some hay, etc that has not broke down yet. I was wondering if I am not putting enough water on it? It smells good and all. I just added some dried leaves and spent grains I just got from a local brewery. Any ideals on what's going on and how to get it going again? Thanks all.
- rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Not enough water is a good guess. If a compost pile dries out, it quits working. Not a disaster, it will start up again when it gets moistened. If it is dry enough to water my garden, I water my compost piles also. And they sit out where they can get rained on.
To get a compost pile "cooking" again, add more greens (high nitrogen stuff) and turn to aerate. Good "greens" to heat your pile up include manures, duckweed from a pond (where I used to live we had a big pond; when I skimmed some duck weed off it and added to compost pile, it heated up like crazy), kitchen scraps including used coffee grounds, grass clippings, seaweed, cut flowers and pulled weeds.
To get a compost pile "cooking" again, add more greens (high nitrogen stuff) and turn to aerate. Good "greens" to heat your pile up include manures, duckweed from a pond (where I used to live we had a big pond; when I skimmed some duck weed off it and added to compost pile, it heated up like crazy), kitchen scraps including used coffee grounds, grass clippings, seaweed, cut flowers and pulled weeds.
If your compost was cooking, and you want it to finish, then you should not be adding to it, but start a new pile. It depends if you want it to be thermophillic or just cold composted. If you are cold composting then it does not matter, you can just sift out the unfinished material and add it to your new pile in the first bin and move the rest to the second bin in a 3 bin system.
I have only been able to get a thermophillic pile by building it in a day. I usually put sticks at the bottom of the pile and layer 6 inches of browns (usually chipped bark from tree trimmers) with greens from the garden and I use fertilizer and some finished compost for a starter. I build the pile about 3x3x3 and water between layers. Halfway through I will stick an air tube in the pile and continue filling around it finishing with a layer of browns. The whole pile is watered again and covered with burlap. If I built it right it starts to steam and can be turned after the 4th day, but we usually wait 6-7 days to do the first turn. It gets additional water if it needs it, but usually nothing is added unless it is too wet, then more chips are added to absorb the water and the cover gets taken off for a while.
Even so, I have to admit, I have not figured out the magic formula, sometimes it is just right and heats up nicely and other times it gets hot, but does not quite make it into the thermophillic range. It has never made it into the thermophillic range from a slow built pile.
I have only been able to get a thermophillic pile by building it in a day. I usually put sticks at the bottom of the pile and layer 6 inches of browns (usually chipped bark from tree trimmers) with greens from the garden and I use fertilizer and some finished compost for a starter. I build the pile about 3x3x3 and water between layers. Halfway through I will stick an air tube in the pile and continue filling around it finishing with a layer of browns. The whole pile is watered again and covered with burlap. If I built it right it starts to steam and can be turned after the 4th day, but we usually wait 6-7 days to do the first turn. It gets additional water if it needs it, but usually nothing is added unless it is too wet, then more chips are added to absorb the water and the cover gets taken off for a while.
Even so, I have to admit, I have not figured out the magic formula, sometimes it is just right and heats up nicely and other times it gets hot, but does not quite make it into the thermophillic range. It has never made it into the thermophillic range from a slow built pile.