Compost questions?

Question

I have a pile of leaf and grass clippings in the backyard. These have slowly broken down without turning and now I'd like to use them as compost. I have many questions:

What can/can't you add to compost? I know no animal products. What else?
How often should you turn it?
Are you supposed to add anything other than clippings, vegetable waste?
How do you use it in gardening? When do you know it's ready? When it looks like soil?
This may sound stupid, but do you find worms and add them to the compost or do they naturally find their way to the compost?
Should worms be in compost?
Do I need a bin? Or will this pile work okay?
And finally, is there a thorough website that will cover my compost questions/concerns? Add links if you've got them, please.

Thanks!

Answer 1

You learned from your first pile that turning is not necessary however it does speed the process. Turning adds oxygen to the compost pile, which is good for the aerobic microorganisms. It allows you to see if more water is needed as a dry pile wont decompose. Then, the more we turn the compost, the more it becomes chopped and mixed Last, frequent turning can speed up the composting process.
Ideally one uses a thermometer with readings from 0 degrees to 200 degrees F and is long enough to read well into the pile.
If you have layered the carbon to nitrogen to the ideal 30:1 the pile will shortly begin to heat up. There will be a steady rise in temperature for a day or two. Normally the pile will continue to rise until it reaches 120 to 149 degrees F, at which point it may suddenly stop. Keep on monitoring the temperature. If it stays up, fine. If it drops, turn again. Once it no longer rises in temp after being turned it is complete. Note this is predicated on being able to balance the carbon or 'browns. to the nitrogen or 'greens'. Also the particle sizes being added matter. If possible all material should be run through a chipper to mix and reduce the size. This makes turning much easier, too.
Green ingredients (grass clippings, weeds, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, seeds, soft green prunings, seaweed, animal manure (sheep, poultry, horse, rabbit & cow))
Brown ingredients (dead leaves, straw, hay, wood shavings or chips, egg cartons, newspaper)
Size is best with 3x3x3 feet for the pile but not for you if you are short. I have four bins 3x3x2 because I can't reach to turn the higher ones.

Composting Meat & Dairy
Meat and dairy products are high in fat. They will cause an unpleasant odor if added to a passive pile or poorly-managed active compost pile. For a hot, well-turned compost pile, meat and dairy wastes are not a problem. However, it is better to run the wastes through a blender or food processor to reduce their size and speed their decomposition.
Fat, oil, & grease known as FOG can be added at 1% of the compost mass.
'An application rate, limited to a concentration of fat at 1% of the soil mass was reported as being the most desirable rate in that no negative effects were observed.'
Fat, oil, and grease have a high C/N ratio (90:1), if applied to compost may affect the availability of N, due to N immobilization during its decomposition. The same is true of any high carbon ingredient like wood chips. Particle size also affects the availability of carbon and nitrogen. Large wood chips, for example, provide a good bulking agent that helps to ensure aeration through the pile, but they provide less available carbon per mass than they would in the form of wood shavings or sawdust. To much carbon prevents the pile from heating.
http://www.compostguide.com/ C:N ratios
What should never be added are;
Feces either from your pet or human - They carry diseases and parasites, as well as cause an unpleasant odor
Diseased garden plants - They can infect the compost pile and influence the finished product.
Invasive weeds - Spores and seeds of invasive weeds (buttercups, morning glory, quack grass) can survive the decomposition process and spread to your desired plants when you use the finished compost.
Wood ashes - It is highly alkaline (high pH) and also rich in potassium salts. Further, the fine particle size of ash also tends to plug the pores of clay soils leading to water penetration and drainage problems. Good for sandy, acidic soils (low pH).
Glossy, colored paper - The inks are toxic to the soil microorganisms.
Pesticide-treated plant material - These are harmful to the compost foodweb organisms, and pesticides may survive into the finished compost..
Eucalyptus leaves and bark - allelopathic effects impact nutrient cycling and prevents some seed germination
Treated lumber - Will not break down.
Poison Ivy - It is a potent source of urushiol even after a year and a half (to sensitive individuals).
Walnut shells - Juglone, a naturally occurring chemical released by all parts of black walnut trees, can have a toxic effect on many vegetables and landscape plants.

Slugs and snails generally feed on living plant material but will attack fresh garbage and plant debris and will therefore appear in the compost heap. (Better there where you can find and kill them than in the garden. I dump them in soapy water.)

During the early stages of the composting process, flies provide ideal airborne transportation for bacteria on their way to the pile. Flies spend their larval phase in compost as maggots, which do not survive thermophilic temperatures the bacteria and fungi digestion creates . Adult flies feed upon organic vegetation.

In small-scale backyard compost piles, soil invertebrates aid the decomposition process. Together with bacteria, fungi, and other microbes, these organisms make up a complex food web or energy pyramid with primary, secondary, and tertiary level consumers. The base of the pyramid, or energy source, is made up of organic matter including plant and animal residues.
The compost should have many kinds of worms, including earthworms, nematodes, red worms and potworms. They will invade the pile from the soil or through drain holes if you have an enclosed bin.
Besides worms you will see many other creatures like sow bugs or springtails. All the creatures that move in are there because they like dead stuff. Bugs, big and little, are what make the decomposition happen.
If flies become a problem cover food scrapes with a little soil from the garden.
If you see ants then the pile must be to dry. Everything should be moist but there should be nothing dripping. If you piled it to dry, its own heat dried it or the summer did then you must turn it rewetting the layers as you go.
If you get it to wet it will begin to decompose anaerobically and produce hydrogen sulfide, the rotten egg smell. The best thing is to turn it and get air in.
If the pile has an ammonia odor, you have too much green material (grass clippings, food scraps, green plant material) and not enough brown (dry leaves, woody prunings, pine needles, dried out plants). Add more brown material or soil.

Use compost as a mulch or top dressing. Work it into new beds and amend holes dug for new plants. Mix it with vermiculite and sand to make your own potting mix. Last, make compost tea. http://www.simplici-tea.com/
The reason we need to add organics to soil is to create humus. Good soil is equal parts sand, silt, & clay. These give soil its texture and are about 95% of soil. Organics give it structure and should be 5-7%. How the soil aggregates or forms crumbs affects how air and water move through the soil. The organic portion of the soil determines this. Basically it is almost impossible to add to much compost to existing soil.

Answer 2

Composting is not an exact science. No animal or dairy products, but eggshells are OK. Turning it is a matter of preference. Turning it aerates it and keeps the bugs going. There are a lot of things that you can add to your compost to accelerate decomposition, but the best thing is just to keep a good balance of green and brown things. Worms find their way into the compost on their own, mostly when it cools down. I just turned my pile last weekend and the temps are running to 150 degrees Fahrenheit in spots right now after only four days. I used wire fencing that was lying in a corner of my yard for 25 years to construct my latest bin, but you can use anything you have lying around. I keep them about 24-30 inches tall so they are easy to put things in. Bins just keep things neater, but piles are OK too, it's just personal preference. You will always have some items that don't break down completely, like thing on the edge of the bin/pile so turning the pile also mixes up the material.

Our website has a page on compost at-
http://www.gardening-at-the-crossroads.com/compost.html

Good Luck and Happy Gardening!

Answer 3

bins work best, but we don't have the space in the city so we use a pile. any fruits and vegetables that don't get eaten by rodents and birds makes soil richer. leaves and grass should be alternately layered and turning every 30-60 days is what we do.

Answer 4

yes you can add worms to help it out along the way you can add water to it and you also need to build you a bin for it there are alot of things you can add vegatable clipping as well and you need to stir it at least twice a month and it will look like dirt in a way and you just spread it over your garden should work well

Answer 5

put a base of dry leaves or twigs to support the whole thing then layer it with wet compost like banana/orange peals then layer it like lazania: wet, dry, wet, dry then let it sit for like a month by itself then you have perfect compost

Answer 6

Here is a great article about how to make a compost bin and it list what you can use for compost.

http://www.landscaping-solutions.com/blog/fertilize/how-to-make-compost.htm

Answer 7

Loads of questions, there is a basic guide to composting here, which should answer most of your questions;

http://howtosaveenergy.blogspot.com/2007/05/guide-to-home-composting.html

Energy Saver
http://howtosaveenergy.blogspot.com
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