How to Make Compost
Garden and domestic refuse, can be used to make excellent compost. The compost bin used is important, both to tidiness and to holding the heat, making the difference between a compost heap and a rubbish heap.
COMPOSTING REQUIREMENTS;
SHREDDED ORGANIC WASTES. Shredding, chopping or even bruising organic materials hastens decay. One way to shred leaves is to mow the lawn before raking, collecting the shredded leaves in the mower bag. It takes at least 34 cubic feet of shredded material to form a compost pile.
GOOD LOCATION. The compost pile should be located in a warm area and protected from overexposure to wind and extensive, direct sunlight. While heat and air facilitate composting, overexposure dries the materials. The location should not offend neighbors.
NITROGEN. Nitrogen accelerates composting. Good sources include fresh grass clippings, manure, blood meal and nitrogenous fertilizer. Lime should be used sparingly, if at all. It enhances decomposition, but too much causes nitrogen loss and it is not necessary unless the pile contains large amounts of pine and spruce needles or fruit wastes.
AIR. The compost pile and its enclosure should be well ventilated. Some decay will occur without oxygen, but the process is slow and cause odors.
WATER. Materials in the compost pile should be kept as moist as a squeezed sponge. Too little or too much water retards decomposition. Over watering causes odors and loss of nutrients.
Building the Heap
Choose a site in a sheltered place, which can be in a dry shade under a tree where minimum weeds grow, but in this position the heap will need watering in dry weather. Level off the ground and flatten it with a spade. Cover the base of the compost heap with tough and steamy rubbish, such as hedge clippings or tall tough weeds. This prevents finer materials from blocking the air channels. Then pile on the first 8 inch thick layer of weeds, lawn-mowing and garden waste with kitchen waste in the middle.
Scatter enough dried poultry manure or other available manure to cover the surface. Add another 8 inch layer of rubbish, pile on a third layer and then add manure or ‘activator’ again. Repeat this sequence until the container is filled. This is rarely possible in a day as most heaps take weeks to build, adding more layers as they sink and decay until the heap is cold and the worms move in.
Other signs that the compost is ready, are a faint earthy odor (the only smell), dark brown or black color and a crumbly texture, similar to well-rotted farmyard manure. Used manure (though it is richer than potash), can be dug in before sowing root crops without making them coarse. Autumn heaps are ready to dig by Spring and summer heaps are mature ready for Autumn digging, so with enough material a container can be filled and emptied 3 times a year.
There are many propriety activators which do not need lime layers. Though layers of soil are often recommended where weeds have soil on the roots, it is unnecessary. Compost producing crops of weed seedlings can result when not enough soil has been shaken off.
What can go in the Compost Heap
Autumn leaves
Store some dry leaves to mix with grass mowings and other soft green material. Make large quantities into leaf mold - stuff wet leaves into black plastic sacks (loosely tied), or a wire mesh container. Use after a year or two. Mow leaves on a lawn to chop and collect them up.
Grass mowing
Mix well with tougher items to avoid a slimy mess. Leave on the lawn whenever possible - they will soon disappear and feed the grass; this will not cause 'thatch'. This mixture can also be mixed into a leaf mold heap, or used as a soil mulch.
Diseased plants
Persistent diseases, such as white rot and clubroot, are best avoided.
Diseases that don't need living plants to survive - grey mold, mildews, wilts - may survive in a slow, cool heap. But heat is not the only factor that will kill diseases - the intense microbial activity will aid to dispose them.
Perennial weeds
Some perennial weeds will be killed in a hot heap; avoid these persistent weeds such as celandine, bulbous buttercup, ground elder and bindweed. Don't burn or dump these weeds - they are rich in plant foods. Mix with grass mowings in a plastic sack. Tie it up and leave for a few months until the weeds are no longer recognizable, then add to the compost heap.
Weed seeds
Weed seeds may survive a cool heap, but will be destroyed in a hot one. If your compost tends to grow weeds, dig it in, rather than spreading it on the soil surface.
Hedge clippings and pruning
Chop or shred tough pruning and clippings from evergreen hedges before adding to a mixed compost heap. Compost large quantities separately; even un-shredded they will rot eventually. Mix with grass or other activating material; water well. Tread down the heap, then cover. Within a few months to a year, you will have a coarse mulch which can be used on perennial beds.
Animal manures
Straw horse and cattle manure composts well. Keep a sack on hand to bulk up other ingredients. Manure mixed with wood shavings should be left to rot until the shavings are no longer visible. If it is dry, water well and mix with grass mowings, poultry manure or other activating material. When rotted, use as a surface mulch. Wood shavings incorporated into the soil can lock up soil nitrogen, making it unavailable for plants for a year or more.
Small pets, like hamsters, don't produce many droppings, but you can still use their waste as a straw addition to the compost heap. Guinea pigs are marvelous - they love eating weeds and convert them quickly to prime compost material!
Paper products
Newspaper can be added sparely to a compost heap. Cardboard, paper towels and other paper items can be crumpled up and composted. They are particularly useful where kitchen scraps make up a high proportion of the compost ingredients. Avoid glossy paper and colored print.
Sawdust and wood shavings
Very slow to decay. Add in small quantities; balance with quick-to-rot activating materials. See also 'Animal manures' above. Do not use if treated with wood preservatives or pressure treated wood.
What to Leave Out
Metal of any kind including bottle tops, broken china, newspaper and cardboard in bulk, polythene and plastics. Tree pruning, pine needles, sawdust wood shavings, thick branches and clippings, will all decay in time
Kitchen Wastes in Winter
In winter, there are few weeds to cover the kitchen wastes. They can be buried in a heap or dig a trench, a spade wide and a foot deep. Cover it with soil. When the trench is full, leave to sink. Potato peelings should not go into trenches.
Troubleshooting Composting Problems
Damp and warm only in the middle of the pile. Pile could be too small, or cold weather might have slowed composting
If you are only composting in piles, make sure your pile are at least, 3 feet high and 3 feet wide. With a bin, the pile doesn't need to be so large.
Nothing is happening. Pile doesn't seem to be heating up at all.
1. Not enough nitrogen
Make sure you have enough nitrogen rich sources like manure, grass clippings or food scraps.
2. Not enough oxygen
Mix up the pile so it can breathe.
3. Not enough moisture
Mix up the pile while adding water, but not too soggy. A completely dry pile doesn't compost.
4. Cold weather?
Wait for spring, cover the pile, or use a bin.
Matted leaves or grass clippings aren't decomposing. Poor aeration, or lack of moisture.
Avoid thick layers of just one material. Too much of something like leaves, paper or grass clippings don't break down well. Break up the layers and mix up the pile so that there is a good mix of materials. Shred any big material that isn't breaking down well.
Stinks like rancid butter, vinegar or rotten eggs Not enough oxygen, or the pile is too wet, or compacted.
Mix up the pile so that it gets some aeration and can breathe. Add course dry materials like straw, hay or leaves to soak up excess moisture. If smell is too bad, add dry materials on top and wait until it dries out a bit before you mix the pile.
Odor like ammonia. Not enough carbon.
Add brown materials like leaves, straw, hay, shredded newspaper, etc.
Attracts rodents, flies or other animals. Inappropriate materials (like meat, oil, bones), or the food-like material is too close to the surface of the pile.
Bury kitchen scraps near the center of the pile. Don't add inappropriate materials to compost. Switch to a rodent-proof closed bin.
Attracts insects, millipedes, slugs, etc. This is normal composting, and part of the natural process.
Not a problem.
Fire ant problems.
Pile could be too dry, not hot enough or has kitchen scraps too close to the surface. Make sure your pile has a good mix of materials to heat up and keep it moist enough.
COMPOSTING REQUIREMENTS;
SHREDDED ORGANIC WASTES. Shredding, chopping or even bruising organic materials hastens decay. One way to shred leaves is to mow the lawn before raking, collecting the shredded leaves in the mower bag. It takes at least 34 cubic feet of shredded material to form a compost pile.
GOOD LOCATION. The compost pile should be located in a warm area and protected from overexposure to wind and extensive, direct sunlight. While heat and air facilitate composting, overexposure dries the materials. The location should not offend neighbors.
NITROGEN. Nitrogen accelerates composting. Good sources include fresh grass clippings, manure, blood meal and nitrogenous fertilizer. Lime should be used sparingly, if at all. It enhances decomposition, but too much causes nitrogen loss and it is not necessary unless the pile contains large amounts of pine and spruce needles or fruit wastes.
AIR. The compost pile and its enclosure should be well ventilated. Some decay will occur without oxygen, but the process is slow and cause odors.
WATER. Materials in the compost pile should be kept as moist as a squeezed sponge. Too little or too much water retards decomposition. Over watering causes odors and loss of nutrients.
Building the Heap
Choose a site in a sheltered place, which can be in a dry shade under a tree where minimum weeds grow, but in this position the heap will need watering in dry weather. Level off the ground and flatten it with a spade. Cover the base of the compost heap with tough and steamy rubbish, such as hedge clippings or tall tough weeds. This prevents finer materials from blocking the air channels. Then pile on the first 8 inch thick layer of weeds, lawn-mowing and garden waste with kitchen waste in the middle.
Scatter enough dried poultry manure or other available manure to cover the surface. Add another 8 inch layer of rubbish, pile on a third layer and then add manure or ‘activator’ again. Repeat this sequence until the container is filled. This is rarely possible in a day as most heaps take weeks to build, adding more layers as they sink and decay until the heap is cold and the worms move in.
Other signs that the compost is ready, are a faint earthy odor (the only smell), dark brown or black color and a crumbly texture, similar to well-rotted farmyard manure. Used manure (though it is richer than potash), can be dug in before sowing root crops without making them coarse. Autumn heaps are ready to dig by Spring and summer heaps are mature ready for Autumn digging, so with enough material a container can be filled and emptied 3 times a year.
There are many propriety activators which do not need lime layers. Though layers of soil are often recommended where weeds have soil on the roots, it is unnecessary. Compost producing crops of weed seedlings can result when not enough soil has been shaken off.
What can go in the Compost Heap
Autumn leaves
Store some dry leaves to mix with grass mowings and other soft green material. Make large quantities into leaf mold - stuff wet leaves into black plastic sacks (loosely tied), or a wire mesh container. Use after a year or two. Mow leaves on a lawn to chop and collect them up.
Grass mowing
Mix well with tougher items to avoid a slimy mess. Leave on the lawn whenever possible - they will soon disappear and feed the grass; this will not cause 'thatch'. This mixture can also be mixed into a leaf mold heap, or used as a soil mulch.
Diseased plants
Persistent diseases, such as white rot and clubroot, are best avoided.
Diseases that don't need living plants to survive - grey mold, mildews, wilts - may survive in a slow, cool heap. But heat is not the only factor that will kill diseases - the intense microbial activity will aid to dispose them.
Perennial weeds
Some perennial weeds will be killed in a hot heap; avoid these persistent weeds such as celandine, bulbous buttercup, ground elder and bindweed. Don't burn or dump these weeds - they are rich in plant foods. Mix with grass mowings in a plastic sack. Tie it up and leave for a few months until the weeds are no longer recognizable, then add to the compost heap.
Weed seeds
Weed seeds may survive a cool heap, but will be destroyed in a hot one. If your compost tends to grow weeds, dig it in, rather than spreading it on the soil surface.
Hedge clippings and pruning
Chop or shred tough pruning and clippings from evergreen hedges before adding to a mixed compost heap. Compost large quantities separately; even un-shredded they will rot eventually. Mix with grass or other activating material; water well. Tread down the heap, then cover. Within a few months to a year, you will have a coarse mulch which can be used on perennial beds.
Animal manures
Straw horse and cattle manure composts well. Keep a sack on hand to bulk up other ingredients. Manure mixed with wood shavings should be left to rot until the shavings are no longer visible. If it is dry, water well and mix with grass mowings, poultry manure or other activating material. When rotted, use as a surface mulch. Wood shavings incorporated into the soil can lock up soil nitrogen, making it unavailable for plants for a year or more.
Small pets, like hamsters, don't produce many droppings, but you can still use their waste as a straw addition to the compost heap. Guinea pigs are marvelous - they love eating weeds and convert them quickly to prime compost material!
Paper products
Newspaper can be added sparely to a compost heap. Cardboard, paper towels and other paper items can be crumpled up and composted. They are particularly useful where kitchen scraps make up a high proportion of the compost ingredients. Avoid glossy paper and colored print.
Sawdust and wood shavings
Very slow to decay. Add in small quantities; balance with quick-to-rot activating materials. See also 'Animal manures' above. Do not use if treated with wood preservatives or pressure treated wood.
What to Leave Out
Metal of any kind including bottle tops, broken china, newspaper and cardboard in bulk, polythene and plastics. Tree pruning, pine needles, sawdust wood shavings, thick branches and clippings, will all decay in time
Kitchen Wastes in Winter
In winter, there are few weeds to cover the kitchen wastes. They can be buried in a heap or dig a trench, a spade wide and a foot deep. Cover it with soil. When the trench is full, leave to sink. Potato peelings should not go into trenches.
Troubleshooting Composting Problems
Damp and warm only in the middle of the pile. Pile could be too small, or cold weather might have slowed composting
If you are only composting in piles, make sure your pile are at least, 3 feet high and 3 feet wide. With a bin, the pile doesn't need to be so large.
Nothing is happening. Pile doesn't seem to be heating up at all.
1. Not enough nitrogen
Make sure you have enough nitrogen rich sources like manure, grass clippings or food scraps.
2. Not enough oxygen
Mix up the pile so it can breathe.
3. Not enough moisture
Mix up the pile while adding water, but not too soggy. A completely dry pile doesn't compost.
4. Cold weather?
Wait for spring, cover the pile, or use a bin.
Matted leaves or grass clippings aren't decomposing. Poor aeration, or lack of moisture.
Avoid thick layers of just one material. Too much of something like leaves, paper or grass clippings don't break down well. Break up the layers and mix up the pile so that there is a good mix of materials. Shred any big material that isn't breaking down well.
Stinks like rancid butter, vinegar or rotten eggs Not enough oxygen, or the pile is too wet, or compacted.
Mix up the pile so that it gets some aeration and can breathe. Add course dry materials like straw, hay or leaves to soak up excess moisture. If smell is too bad, add dry materials on top and wait until it dries out a bit before you mix the pile.
Odor like ammonia. Not enough carbon.
Add brown materials like leaves, straw, hay, shredded newspaper, etc.
Attracts rodents, flies or other animals. Inappropriate materials (like meat, oil, bones), or the food-like material is too close to the surface of the pile.
Bury kitchen scraps near the center of the pile. Don't add inappropriate materials to compost. Switch to a rodent-proof closed bin.
Attracts insects, millipedes, slugs, etc. This is normal composting, and part of the natural process.
Not a problem.
Fire ant problems.
Pile could be too dry, not hot enough or has kitchen scraps too close to the surface. Make sure your pile has a good mix of materials to heat up and keep it moist enough.
