nakanj
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if I don't have enough compost, what can I buy to supplement it? :oops:

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rainbowgardener
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nakanj wrote:if I don't have enough compost, what can I buy to supplement it? :oops:
I'm not going to exactly address your question, because I don't have personal experience with any of the commercial soil additives out there. You can find some discussions on the topic by typing bagged compost into the Search the Forum keyword box.

But one thing you can do to make your compost go farther is to turn some of it into compost tea. There's a whole HUGE thread in this section about ACT (sometimes known as AACT - activated, aerated compost tea). I haven't been motivated yet to do the whole pump, airstone, time the brew, sterilize all the equipment routine. So I've been making a compost infusion. Put a small shovelful of compost into a bucket of water (rain water or water that has sat open over night to outgas the chlorine) add some molasses and keep stirring it for awhile. Not as good as real ACT for having tons of microbial life, I'm sure, but the molasses and stirring should at least get some activity started, which hopefully will continue in the soil.

It does make a rich, lovely, good smelling, latte colored mixture which goes a lot farther in the garden than the original shovel of compost.

rot
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If you're just top dressing your compost you can use coffee grounds as compost helper.

You can either mix it in or do it in layers. If you do it in layers, leave the compost on top to mitigate the crusting of the coffee grounds.

I've put coffee grounds directly into the ground before when putting in something potted but I don't know if that's recommended. I just know the worms really dig the coffee grounds.

to sense
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The Helpful Gardener
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Get paper from folks; they are saving for recycling anyway...

Garden waste from neighbors...

Produce from supermarkets; shouldn't just go in the dumpster...

Sawdust from sawmills (NO pressure treated!)

Coffee grounds ARE great...

nakanj
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Wow!Thanks for all the tips. :clap: I will try all of them. so glad I joined this site!

tedly
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I keep a scrap bucket (small stainless trash can with a lid) in the kitchen. If it's edible and not an animal product or dairy it goes in there, then gets dumped in the compost pile. I try to use paper bags at the grocery store so they can go in there too. Newspapers. Dryer lint. Junkmail and old papers get run through the shredder then dumped in. Pizza boxes and other cardboard gets ripped up and thrown in. Fall leaves. Old phone books get their covers ripped off and pages ripped apart. Used coffee grounds still in the filter. Tea bags. Egg shells. Weeds. Ashes from the fire pit. Sawdust from projects I'm working on. Paper plates and paper towels if they aren't too nasty. If I'm running low on browns I'll either grab some dead leaves from a wooded area nearby or hit offices in town for their shredded paper (I usually try to hit places where I know someone).

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rainbowgardener
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Agree with all of the above (except my kitchen scrap bucket is plastic that kitty litter came in, with tight fitting lid) and I put (small amounts) of dairy products in also. And water the veggies were steamed in, if I'm not making soup stock out of it. And lots of fall leaves (I collect the bags of them people set out at the curb). Once the yard waste bag the leaves were in is empty, it goes in too. I work in an office where I can bring home all the bags of shredded paper I want. (The shredded paper also works great as fire starter for the fire pit.) I also brought a little trash can with lid to work, so I can bring home the coffee grounds and filters from all the coffee people make there. For any one that has access to it, one thing that really heats the compost pile up is duckweed! We have a big pond at the bottom of the hill, that gets covered in the stuff (or maybe it is actually watermeal). I take a net and scoop a bucketful of it out now and then. Very fine textured and high nitrogen.

Along with weeds, all the trimmings and pulled stuff, alive or dead, from the garden and the house plants.

Dryer lint only works if not too much of what you dry is synthetic. I don't use my dryer very much any more, anyway, mostly hang clothes. And one time I decided to empty the vacuum cleaner bag into the compost pile (thinking about dirt and dust in there). Our carpets are synthetic and I had red carpet fibers floating around the yard for years after that! Indestructible!

rot
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I've used wood ash before. I use it only a little bit at a time because its fine texture can smother a layer if you're heavy handed.

The garden guy on the radio the other day was declaring somebody had killed their compost pile by adding a bunch of of wood ash and has since mentioned wood ash as bad for the compost bin a couple or more times. The garden guy's point is the pH swing that comes from wood ash.

Is anybody else seeing bad things after applying wood ash in the compost pile or in the ground?

I'm kind of wondering.

Thanks in advance
..

tedly
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With the sawdust and ash, I just throw some in every once in awhile. I'm still a novice but I had read how too much of either can be harmful. No adverse effects so far.

Heron's Nest Farm
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Jess wrote:. Who has a pile of feathers to add to a compost on a regular basis?! :? (rhetorical!) I know someone who has chickens could but it just seemed a very strange thing to list.
LOL! Our cat keeps killing birds and the feathers are EVERYWHERE in teh mud room. NOW I know what to do with them!

Rabbidave2012
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builder0101 wrote:How much ashes/charcoal from my burn pit can I add? Obviously it is only tree branches and th like tat I burn no synthetic materials or painted material etc.
I have heard that ashes in large quantities will change the soil to an alkaline on the ph scale so you want to be careful there. maybe by mixing your coffee grounds (slightly acidic) in with them will help to counter balance the changes.

The Helpful Gardener
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True Rebbe, true...

HG

Tonythegardener
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A friend of mine on the community garden site said that I could have some of his compost heap. This heap is about 6 feet tall and 15 feet long. It is a monster of a compost heap. It is obviously a compost heap that was neglected and forlorn because , as soon as I started to dig into it, I found various buried plastic trays, tubs, pots and other miscellaneous gardening paraphernalia. It is reportedly about thirteen years old at the bottom.

The top and sides were covered in a mat of grass and weed rhizomes and they had to be removed before the friable, clean compost could be reached. Now I can tell you that this compost has never been turned, layered, or otherwise mollycoddled, yet it was as good, if not better than, carefully crafted compost.

Theory would have it that this compost, which continually grows through addition of extra material, should be a putrefying mess of foul smelling goo. Compaction and water logging should have produced an anaerobic compost heap. It is not foul smelling, slimy or putrefying.
Why?
It would be very difficult to produce compost that does not contain at least some pockets of anaerobic respiration; it would also be difficult to make compost that does not have any oxygen at all. The one noticeable characteristic of this 6 foot mega compost heap is the number and variety of small animals that inhabit all parts of it. I can testify to this because I have been up close and seriously eye ball to eye ball with them on a large cliff face of compost.

It is unnecessary to list all the creatures that make compost their habitat; however worms could be found throughout the heap. The role of these invertebrates in keeping a supply of oxygen throughout the compost and allowing aerobic decomposition to take place cannot be overstated. They cannot be ignored when considering composting and in heaps that are more mounds of rotting material rather than pristine compost bins.

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You have answered your own question, TTG. Worms have been doing your work for you; aerating, turning, opening the soil up, and you are right; that cannot be overstated. Compost works on aeration. Putrefecation can happen any old way, but compost needs air, and worms are a fine way to get there...

HG

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Vorguen
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I have been pretty worried about composting newspaper and cardboard with any ink on it, I know I keep hearing its mostly soy based and not harmful, but a little bit adds up over time no?

and the absolute most natural way to treat your garden would give you back the greatest results I believe..

Maybe I can use newspaper / paper / cardboard with ink / etc in a separate compost pile thats not for the garden...

applestar wrote:Heh, heh. I'm just cheap. :wink:

I only buy premium birdseed because I don't want the junk seeds and I don't want the junk birds :P But why pay the premium prices when you have even better bird food. I would offer them organic food to alleviate their toxic load if I could, and I can, if I grow them myself.

The compost pile doesn't need the seeds and only squirrels and chipmunks (and probably mice) benefit if I put the seeds in the pile -- anyway, they can eat the other parts of the melon, etc. if they can get their little paws on them. This way, I can offer the seeds to the birds that I'd like to have visit my garden, and that's less seeds I have to buy from the store. I grow sunflowers for the same reason.

This morning, I watched a goldfinch hanging upside-down from a multi-small-flowered sunflower that had gone to seed, pecking away. Heh, I'm lazy too. :> Now, I don't even have to harvest, dry, store, and fill the birdfeeder. :lol:

How are birds visiting your garden beneficial to your garden? Do they eat the insects that are harmful to it?

I thought some birds would eat your fruits and some of your other plants, but I'm not very experienced in any of this :P

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Kisal
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Vorguen wrote:How are birds visiting your garden beneficial to your garden? Do they eat the insects that are harmful to it?
Yes, all birds -- except for raptors -- feed their nestlings with insects, even the species that are seed-eaters.
I thought some birds would eat your fruits and some of your other plants, but I'm not very experienced in any of this :P
Birds can do some damage to a garden. They routinely take a good portion of my blueberries and cherries, and sometimes they'll damage some of the apples. There seem to always be enough left for me, though, so I don't let it bother me. I've never had a problem with birds bothering my tomatoes, or any other crops. I provide the birds and animals with fresh water, and I throw a little birdseed around in my front yard, away from my food plants in the back. That seems to help. :)

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Vorg, you need to trust Mother...

Even if there are a few chemicals in the ink, we are just starting to find out how much remediation Mother Nature does herself with biology.

[url=https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html]Paul Stamets[/url]did some amazing restoration with just one type of mushroom; imagine what several dozen species of soil fungii could accomplish...

Turns out the the low level build-up of antibacterials that had many folks worried a few years back are being taken care of...by soil bacteria. No foolin'. You couldn't make this stuff up.

The old inks were nasty; the new ones are ok. I used office paper by the bagful in a vermicomposter for years with no ill effect to worms, soil biology, or any other lliving things (if you don't count trees)...

Compost is HOW these things get cleaned up. Trust...

rot
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Was it Wordsworth who said he'd gladly trade the cherries in his tree for the song the birds bring?
..

rot
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Tonythegradener, I bet your friend saw the video.

https://www.eclectech.co.uk/compostbin.php

to sense
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Vorguen
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Used coffee grounds seems to appear over and over, and I have looked it up and other than they are acidic (which is good for plants that like that kind of soil like Blueberries)

well, other than that, I am having trouble seeing the magnificence of Used coffee grounds, I don't see how beneficial they would be for me in the amount we'd have them because my wife and I hardly drink coffee and there are no easily accessible starbucks for us. There is one, but we don't go by it very often.


Just trying to find out for what reason they are supposed to be so amazing. lol

:)

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Rogue11
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From what I know used coffee grinds slowly release nitrogen into the ground when used as fertilizer.

You don't have to get the grinds from Starbucks. Every coffee shop produces them and if you just ask I am sure they wouldn't mind giving you some, since for them it's just waste. I know some of the smaller, independent coffee houses around here have them already filled up in small bags, for the taking.

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Vorguen
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So I went to the beach today, and I saw tons and tons of seaweed (algae?).. My first thought was, this is compost gold lol

So I got a few pocket fulls, and took them home


Some questions thoughts:

The seaweed has sand / salt on it, it obviously has to be rinsed right?

Also, there were three types of seaweed, the green/yellow fresh one, red semi fresh and black dried seaweed. I picked up the black thinking it would be the farthest along, don't know if this was the best choice.

Secondly, these don't have a chance of having pollution from the bay right?


Also, they can directly over plants as mulch right?


I guess anything else to know about this would be helpful... Thanks :)

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Vorguen
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Anyone know this? I'm still looking for help with what to do with all my seaweed lol

tomc
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Vorguen wrote:Used coffee grounds seems to appear over and over, and I have looked it up and other than they are acidic (which is good for plants that like that kind of soil like Blueberries)

Just trying to find out for what reason they are supposed to be so amazing. lol
Just about everything that has fully rotted is neutral, rather than acidic. I will grant coffee grounds fresh may start out slightly on the acid side of PH scale. Neither they or even pine needles end up so. Don't depend on any living tissue to acidify soil for acid loving plants like blueberry. They will let you down.

IMO coffee grounds best feature is their availability in mass quantity at coffee shops, and the fact that they are already ground small, facilitating composting.

*If* you are blessed with unlimited access to leaf or grass clippings for mulch, to supress weeds in your garden, then use of cardboard or news paper as a light barrier to slow or prevent weeds may not be as big a deal as it is for us scrambling around stealing leaves when our own run out. :)

tomc
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Vorguen wrote:So I went to the beach today, and I saw tons and tons of seaweed (algae?).. My first thought was, this is compost gold lol
Seaweed / kelp has been used as soil amendment for a very long time. I might add it to a compost pile over direct to feild.

If the potential of the water it was taken from being polluted; have you talked to any local gardeners of that concern?

They will have better advice than anyone from away would.

I expect it gets taken by the pick-up truck load vs pocketful.

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Vorguen
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Actually I don't know any local gardeners really... I'd have to find a way to get in touch.

My question was, can the pollution be bad enough that it affects the algae? Because technically there are sea ports all around it and the beach gets used for partying sometimes so I wouldn't want to know what ends up there.. lol


I'll need to find a way to contact local gardeners

KKacan
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Hello All,

I have just started composting this week and I was wondering how long one has to compost till they can actually use the composted material in the garden?

Thanks

Happy Gardening All,
-Kristina K,

[url]https://www.urbanfarmwife.blogspot.com[/url]
Last edited by KKacan on Thu Jun 16, 2011 7:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

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rainbowgardener
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I don't know what you mean by "compost for till." If that means to use your compost to till into the garden, how is that different from using it in the garden?

But anyway how long until you have finished compost, which I guess is your question, is quite variable. It depends on what you compost (some things take a lot longer to compost than others and the mixture makes a difference too, how much green to brown, etc), how you compost (how often you turn, how often you water, how fine or coarse your material is), weather (compost pile in sun or not, how warm is it out) etc.

But I will say that for me, without turning much, in warm weather, keeping my pile moist, I will have some finished compost at the bottom of the pile in three months, even less in good conditions. In the winter, my pile just sits there, with me adding stuff to the top, from Oct to March (which is our frost dates) doing little. In March when it unfreezes, I turn it over and there's a lot of finished compost at the bottom.

Don't know if this helps with your question or not.

KKacan
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I guess I was just typing a bit to fast. I meant how long until you are able to use your compost. Thank You.

Kristina K.

Ladybug027
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Thank you OP for the brown/green list it is nice to have it on hand, sometimes I need to refer to it. This is my first composting :)

nickolas
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Nice post TZ-OH6. As mentioned on the above list of greens and browns my browns are sawdust, brown paper bags. toilet paper core, paper towel core, bottom (unprinted) half of paper egg carton [shredded],
leaves, corn stalks and cobs, shredded black and white newspaper [not the slick papered advertisements or color print], crushed eggshell, cereal boxes, ashes from wood, paper and charcoal, wood chip, string and cotton thread, feathers, old natural fiber clothes, straw

My greens to name a few are shredded Tagasaste, stinging nettle’s, comfrey, shredded succulent’s, shredded pampas grass, shredded Phalaris grass, fruit tree pruning’s, kitchen scraps, grass clippings, corn husks, tea bags, old flowers, spent bedding plants, fruit scraps, annual weeds, hay, Eucalyptus leaves(which are very high in carbon and very low in nitrogen, I think, I have to look into it sum more)
, and road kill.
Last edited by nickolas on Sat Jul 30, 2011 1:23 am, edited 3 times in total.

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rainbowgardener
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road kill? You mean like dead animals?

Not usually considered to be a good thing to have meat rotting in your compost pile...

all the rest sounds good and like a nice diverse mix

nickolas
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rainbowgardener wrote:road kill? You mean like dead animals?

Not usually considered to be a good thing to have meat rotting in your compost pile...

all the rest sounds good and like a nice diverse mix
Yes, dead animals. But I have stop from adding road kill to my compost piles. I am only going to use them in the methane digester from now on because I can get a lot of methane from them, and the byproduct of the methane digester is very black humus.
I Would have answered sooner but I have been in the garden making 10 cubic metres of compost for my new pumpkin bed in time for spring sowing time.

iamzvonko
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Hey all,

I'm brand new to this forum. First-time gardener as well. Just read through all the entries in this post and found it very informative. The only thing that was surprising to me was the suggestions to put dryer lint in the compost. I would have never thought of that.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to everyone who contributed to this post.

Looking forward to becoming part of this "community" and discussing gardening with you all for a long time.

Z

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rainbowgardener
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Welcome to the Forum! Re the dryer lint, I think it depends on what kind of textiles you dry mostly. If it is mainly synthetics, your dryer lint won't be very compostable. I found that out the time I decided to try composting the stuff from my vacuum cleaner bag (thinking about dust and dirt). But my red carpet is some kind of synthetic. I found red carpet fibers all over my yard for years after that. Very identifiable! :shock:

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PunkRotten
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I have been adding paper towel and toilet paper cores to my pile. ONe thing I noticed is they all have this type of glue on them. Is this glue fine to add to a compost?

Also, cereal boxes, any cereal boxes? I can compost a box of Cheerios even with all the color on it? How about some black and white newspaper with some color? Thx

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stylemichelle21
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I don't think there's anything wrong with adding newspaper. Just make sure you add a little at a time and tear up into strips if possible!

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Alfalfa Hay: 2.45/05/2.1
Apple Fruit: 0.05/0.02/0.1
Apple Leaves: 1.0/0.15/0.4
Apple Pomace: 0.2/0.02/0.15
Apple skins(ash) : 0/3.0/11/74
Banana Residues (ash): 1.75/0.75/0.5
Barley (grain): 0/0/0.5
Barley (straw): 0/0/1.0
Basalt Rock: 0/0/1.5
Bat Guano: 5.0-8.0/4.0-5.0/1.0
Beans, garden(seed and hull): 0.25/0.08/03
Beet Wastes: 0.4/0.4/0.7-4.1
Blood meal: 15.0/0/0
Bone Black: 1.5/0/0
Bonemeal (raw): 3.3-4.1/21.0/0.2
Bonemeal (steamed): 1.6-2.5/21.0/0.2
Brewery Wastes (wet): 1.0/0.5/0.05
Buckwheat straw: 0/0/2.0
Cantaloupe Rinds (ash): 0/9.77/12.0
Castor pomace: 4.0-6.6/1.0-2.0/1.0-2.0
Cattail reeds and water lily stems: 2.0/0.8/3.4
Cattail Seed: 0.98/0.25/0.1
Cattle Manure (fresh): 0.29/0.25/0.1
Cherry Leaves: 0.6/0/0.7
Chicken Manure (fresh): 1.6/1.0-1.5/0.6-1.0
Clover: 2/0/0/0 (also contains calcium)
Cocoa Shell Dust: 1.0/1.5/1.7
Coffee Grounds: 2.0/0.36/0.67
Corn (grain): 1.65/0.65/0.4
Corn (green forage): 0.4/0.13/0.33
Corn cobs: 0/0/2.0
Corn Silage: 0.42/0/0
Cornstalks: 0.75/0/0.8
Cottonseed hulls (ash): 0/8.7/23.9
Cottonseed Meal: 7.0/2.0-3.0/1.8
Cotton Wastes (factory): 1.32/0.45/0.36
Cowpea Hay: 3.0/0/2.3
Cowpeas (green forage): 0.45/0.12/0.45
Cowpeas (seed): 3.1/1.0/1.2
Crabgrass (green): 0.66/0.19/0.71
Crabs (dried, ground): 10.0/0/0
Crabs (fresh): 5.0/3.6/0.2
Cucumber Skins (ash): 0/11.28/27.2
Dried Blood: 10.0-14.0/1.0-5.0/0
Duck Manure (fresh): 1.12/1.44/0.6
Eggs: 2.25/0.4/0.15
Eggshells: 1.19/0.38/0.14
Feathers: 15.3/0/0
Felt Wastes: 14.0/0/1.0
Field Beans (seed): 4.0/1.2/1.3
Feild Beans (shells): 1.7/0.3/1.3
Fish (dried, ground): 8.0/7.0/0
Fish Scraps (fresh): 6.5/3.75/0
Gluten Meal: 6.4/0/0
Granite Dust: 0/0/3.0-5.5
Grapefruit Skins (ash): 0/3.6/30.6
Grape Leaves: 0.45/0.1/0.4
Grape Pomace: 1.0/0.07/0.3
Grass (imature): 1.0/0/1.2
Greensand: 0/1.5/7.0
Hair: 14/0/0/0
Hoof and Horn Meal: 12.5/2.0/0
Horse Manure (fresh): 0.44/0.35/0.3
Incinerator Ash: 0.24/5.15/2.33
Jellyfish (dried): 4.6/0/0
Kentucky Bluegrass (green): 0.66/0.19/0.71
Kentucky Bluegrass (hay): 1.2/0.4/2.0
Leather Dust: 11.0/0/0
Lemon Culls: 0.15/0.06/0.26
Lemon Skins (ash): 06.33/1.0
Lobster Refuse: 4.5/3.5/0
Milk: 0.5/0.3/0.18
Millet Hay: 1.2/0/3.2
Molasses Residue: 0.7/0/5.32
Molasses Waste: 0/0/3.0-4.0
Mud (fresh water): 1.37/0.26/0.22
Mud (harbour): 0.99/0.77/0.05

Mud (salt): 0.4.0/0
Mussels: 1.0/0.12/0.13
Nutshells: 2.5/0/0
Oak Leaves: 0.8/0.35/0.2
Oats (grain): 2.0/0.8/0.6
Oats (green fodder): 0.49/0/0
Oat straw: 0/0/1.5
Olive Pomace: 1.15/0.78/1.3
Orange Culls: 0.2/0.13/0.21
Orange Skins: 0/3.0/27.0
Oyster Shells: 0.36/0/0
Peach Leaves: 0.9/0.15/0.6
Pea forage: 1.5-2.5/0/1.4
Peanuts (seed/kernals): 3.6/0.7/0.45
Peanut Shells: 3.6/0.15/0.5
Pea Pods (ash): 0/3.0/9.0
Pea (vines): 0.25/0/0.7
Pear Leaves: 0.7/0/0.4
Pigeon manure (fresh): 4.19/2.24/1.0
Pigweed (rough): 0.6/0.1/0
Pine Needles: 0.5/0.12/0.03
Potato Skins (ash): 0/5.18/27.5
Potaote Tubers: 0.35/0.15/2.5
Potatoe Vines (dried): 0.6/0.16/1.6
Prune Refuse: 0.18/0.07/0.31
Pumpkins (fresh): 0.16/0.07/0.26
Rabbitbrush (ash): 0/0/13.04
Rabbit Manure: 2.4/1.4/0.6
Ragweed: 0.76/0.26/0
Rapeseed meal: 0/1.0=2.0/1.0=3.0
Raspberry leaves: 1.45/0/0.6
Red clover hay: 2.1/0.6/2.1
Redrop Hay: 1.2/0.35/1.0
Rock and Mussel Deposits
From Ocean: 0.22/0.09/1.78
Roses (flowers): 0.3/0.1/0.4
Rye Straw: 0/0/1.0
Salt March Hay: 1.1/0.25/0.75
Sardine Scrap: 8.0/7.1/0
Seaweed (dried): 1.1-1.5/0.75/4.9
Seaweed (fresh): 0.2-0.4/0/0
Sheep and Goat Manure (fresh): 0.55/0.6/0.3
Shoddy and Felt: 8.0/0/0
Shrimp Heads (dried): 7.8/4.2/0
Shrimp Wastes: 2.9/10.0/0
Siftings From Oyster Shell Mounds: 0.36/10.38/0.09
Silk Mill Wastes: 8.0/1.14/1.0
Silkworm Cocoons:10.0/1.82/1.08
Sludge: 2.0/1.9/0.3
Sludge (activated): 5.0/2.5-4.0/0.6
Smokehouse/Firepit Ash:0/0/4.96
Sorghum Straw:0/0/1.0
Soybean Hay: 1.5-3.0/0/1.2-2.3
Starfish: 1.8/0.2/0.25
Sugar Wastes (raw): 2.0/8.0/0
Sweet Potatoes: 0.25/0.1/0.5
Swine Manure (fresh): 0.6/0.45/0.5
Tanbark Ash: 0/0.34/3.8
Tanbark Ash (spent): 0/1.75/2.0
Tankage: 3.0-11.0/2.0-5.0/0
Tea Grounds: 4.15/0.62/0.4
Timothy Hay: 1.2/0.55/1.4
Tobacco Leaves: 4.0/0.5/6.0
Tobacco Stems: 2.5-3.7/0.6-0.9/4.5-7.0
Tomato Fruit: 0.2/0.07/0.35
Tomatoe Leaves: 0.35/0.1/0.4
Tomatoe Stalks: 0.35/0.1/0.5
Tung Oil Pumace: 6.1/0/0
Vetch Hay: 2.8/0/2.3
Waste Silt: 9.5/0/0
Wheat Bran: 2.4/2.9/1.6
Wheat (grain): 2.0/0.85/0.5
Wheat Straw: 0.5/0.15/0.8
White Clover (Green): 0.5/0.2/0.3
Winter Rye Hay: 0/0/1.0
Wood Ash: 0/1.0-2.0/6.0-10.0
Wool Wastes: 3.5-6.0/2.0-4.0/1.0-3.5

User avatar
Vorguen
Senior Member
Posts: 191
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2011 6:55 pm
Location: South Texas

Sometimes it makes me nervous to compost newspaper / cardboard / cereal boxes / newspaper rolls and stuff like that too.. So I know how you feel, hopefully someone here with more experience can help :)

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

why does it make you nervous? If you are thinking about the ink, don't worry, all printing inks in this country have been soy based for years now.

If you are worried about it blocking air circulation and just sitting there, that's not a problem as long as the cardboard stuff is torn up a bit -- I usually aim for about notebook paper size pieces -- and your compost pile stays damp. Dry cardboard lasts forever.



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