Hi,

I have a compost bin like this

Click to view attachment


Yesterday I emptied it and had a look, I was very impressed with the quality of the compost, it had almost all decompossed and was black in colour. It still smelt real bad and the thing that hadnt decomposed were some woody twigs and potatoes. I refilled the bin with the same compost but turning it will allow air to get in and mix it all up a bit. Inbetween each 3 bags full I also added 5 oz of seaweed extract as this is suposeed to be a compost avtivator. I will now leave it again untill next spring and hopefully have some compost that will be good enough to use in plant pots rather than just as a soil conditioner. Any one got any other compost tips?

Wake

We keep a 10L plant pot with a lid just outside the kitchen door, that way everything gets put on the compost heap eventually, no excuses like I'm not going out, it's pissing down. Our heap is at the end of the garden, not posh like you'rs though, made it out of 4 pallets.

JOM

I have one just like that but it`s full Need to get another but space is an issue,also like JOM i to have a 10 ltr in the kitchen so it gets put in stages which is better so i have heard.

E2a,the only tip i can offer is smashing any thick eg,brassica stems with a hammer to break them down to speed up there degredation.

Mix ur grass clippings with the contents of ur paper shredder stops it going to a green slimy sludge

Yeah I was gonna talk about that aswell. Acording to the royal horticultural societys book

"Try to get a good balance of approximatley one third soft and green, sappy (nitrogen rich) materials to two thirds hard brown (carbon rich) materials. Nitrogen rich materials include grass clippings, annual weeds, veg peelings, tea leaves, animal manure and hedge clippings. Carbon rich material include plant stems, woody twings, straw, scrunched up newspaper and carboard."

I think its easy when composting to just put your veg peelings in every day and not enough of the brown carbon rich stuff. Has anyone on here made compost good enough to use for growing pot plants (any not just cannabis) and if so at what ratio did they mix the greens with the browns?

Hey,

Guessing at ratios is a real hassle. You'll read one day that it's 50/50, another day that it's more like 70/30. You basically want a steady supply of carbon to stick in there every time you add food waste at the very least. Not only will this increase your aerobic activity (get rid of the stink) but it'll burn faster too. Straw is great in a compost, sawdust works well (particularly in humanure). I've gone off shredded newspapers as no matter how well I shred them in the past, they still tend to clump. Straw is working out very well with me personally, and my compost smells awesome.

I have two bins like yours, I had a third made with 4 large wooden pallets (which decomposed much faster, btw) and based on that I'm building another compost heap from pallets as soon as I can find some transport!

So yeah, layer the bottom of your bin with straw, add some carbon everytime you add your greens, and a straw covering on top will assist any lingering smell issues, keep the flies off, keep the heat in. It's all good.

I'm totally into composting, sad but true. If I'm in a house that doesn't compost, it just feels weird. I compost everything I can, I read about it nearly everyday. Uh god, it sounds sad but if there's anything I know about it's compost!

It's very common to underestimate how much carbon you'll need, it's kind of a hassle finding enough of it too, tbh. But it'll pay off definitely in the end.
Hope that helps some.

Cheers.

Hi Korgan ,when you say carbon ,could i use the used charcoal from the bbq mate.
Cheers

stinging nettles have 40 trace elements, crushed egg shells are good. if the compost is dry add more N, if its wet add carbon.

Where do you get the straw from for your compost ?

getting carbon to nitrogen ratios right is difficult at the best of times, unless your very good at composting

2/1 by volume (2 carbon 1 nitrogen) or equal by Weight is the normal rule of thumb but will have many variables dependent on the feed stock and how wet your nitrogen source is ......

but to make your life a little easier a useful little bit of free software can be found here compost c/n ratio calculator

its easy to use and will take the guess work out of composting for those on a learning curve ...............

thanks for the detailed response korgan. Is your comost good enough to use in plant pots for potting on after the seedling stage? Thats what im aiming for! When I emptied that bin I filled about 9 compost bags which at 3 for £10 means I'd save £30 on store bought compost. Composting is fun but getting a really good money saving end product is my goal. Thanks again

Baker

i found myself taking bits and pieces out my compost, so i got to thinking, i'm using all organic feed, i use rock dust that is a 5 year slow release, i also do tea's, so i have started to recompost my compost, its full of goodies, i put alfalfa and comfrey in and dolomite lime, and i always dampen with diluted molasses.

if you want a re-usable source of carbon you can use wood chip or composted tree bark fines, they release there carbon slowly and can be reused for a year or so .............. just mix in and sieve out when done


......................

one of the best sources of N is hair, just go to the barbers and fill a bag.

funny enough grandad ... I have just ordered sheep's wool compost to give it a try for my grow, its with bracken and sheep's wool as the nitrogen source


so should be good ..............................

I bought a new compost bin and it gave me a chance to turn existing heap and it looks like compost!Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

Nice tip grandad, I cut my own hair, i'll start chucking it in the compost bin.

As well as composting it and if you have somewhere in your garden to spread it...birds will use it in the Spring to build nests.

It's a good way to start of building up a beneficial micro climate in your garden....the more nesting places/materials that you can introduce for birds will mean over a period of time far fewer pests.

Everyone benefits

Or get a hairy dog........

You learn something new every day, thanks grandad

JOM

Here is mine.

Click to view attachment

We call it the Dalek.

Compost is best made from a mix of green materials, grass clippings, weeds, kitchen greens, hedge trimmings, and brown materials, dead leaves, teabags, coffee grounds, potato peelings. Do not put ANY animal matter in compost. No meat, fat, hair. Keep it moist and turn it often. Good compost has a pleasant, earthy smell. It is done when it is a moist, brown powder which has no resemblance to the original components.

It is actually possible to compost pretty much anything, despite what most books will tell you. There are methods to compost pet shit, weeds, meat, bones, fat. The method is practically the same. It's all about temperature. It's called thermophilic composting. Simply, at the right temperature particular microorganisms get to work to compost these materials and destroy pathogens. It's the basis of humanure composting.

If you seriously want to master composting, I recommend a book called The Humanure Handbook. The subject is, obviously, human manure. But once you've read that book there won't be a thing you don't know about composting pretty much anything. After all, if you can safely compost your own shit, there's not much left to conquer.

You can find a link to a free copy of the book (pdf file) on my blawg here (removed)
under essential reading. (I didn't write the book )

Someone asked where I got straw from. We have fields not too far from here, I pick up a few bags every now and again. I'd never pay for something like straw. Don't buy your gardens, guys! Grow them. Too many so-called gardeners get there education off the back of a seed packet.

btw, if you do want to buy your straw, check out your local petstore for rabbit bedding.

Read in a mag today, that some guy had moved his compost bin to a different area in his garden and nothing at all had happened in the "decomposing stage". Mags advice was to add urine to kick start things off. Don't know if it would work or not but.........

Yeah I agree I dont like buying plug plants personally I like growing a plant from seed preferably seeds I've picked off last years plants. I like taking cuttings aswell, and composting basically what im trying to say is that im a tight arse (or that gardening can be very cheap).

Some more good info on composting (such as rats and piss) if anyones interested:

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?show...=15395&st=0

In the Middle ages, when there were no sewers and virtually everyone worked on the land, every dwelling had a dungheap. Human and animal waste was piled on this, then it was covered over and left to rot for a year, after which it was dug into the land.

I think the main objection to composting your own waste (and other non vegetable based materials) is the smell - and possibly the neighbours, and then the council.

I remember a guy on late lamented OG who was obsessed with ferting his grow with his own poo.

A google search for the aforementioned book provides a free copy to download chapter by chapter Ive just downloaded chapter 1 "crap hapens" There was no need to go to Korgans blog anyway! A pity he left he seemed quite an interesting character.

i purchased meself one of these bad boys last year. amazing the temperatures it reaches in such a short amount of time, abot 130 degrees in the middle at last measurement!Click to view attachment


have a fair amount of treese and hedge out back so use trimming from that and all grass from mowing and neighbours mowing/trimming and make a fair number of bags of compost a year. certainly saved the money i spent on it, recommend to anyone!

Can I put the contents of my ashtray thats full of joint stubs and ash. Its paper and card and tobacco and weed remenants and stuff in my compost bin? Shame to waste them!!!

I would love 1 of those tumblers. How long does it take to make compost in it?

Great!

Will adding my joint stubs and ash to the compost bin have any benefits. It has mainly lawn clippings, and bush trimmings plus dead leaves and stuff in there as well as 5 cannabis plants and all the leaves after the bubble bags...

Will the ash help with the process?

I am not a compost expert by any means, got it to dispose of all my cannabis plants, and use it for lawn clippings, peelings, tea bags etc.

I just want it to spread on top of the plant beds when its ready.

I add my hair to it every time I shave my head, so the ash will be a welcome addition I guess.

I was also wondering, is it possible to put Rockwool into the compost bin? If its broken up I mean, not just in blocks.

My compost bin is full of ants. Is this normal? There are millions of them inside, flying ones aswell. Is this normal? Or are they just stealing any THC thats left in the plants...

your compost bin must be very dry for it to have so many ants ........ so make it wetter else it wont compost properly if its not at the rightish moisture content.

rule of thumb is to squeeze a handful ..... if a few drops run out between your fingers its about right and you might want to turn it after the ants have flown.

crushed egg shells for calcium, stinging nettles have 40 trace elements

i usually turn it twice a day, full to the top, take about 2 weeks usually, sometimes a little longer. really is an awesome bit of kit, i highly recommend it buddy

I do most of my ganja growing outside (in buckets/barrels now) and will have a whole load of used rootballs at the end of the season at one of my sites. How can i re compost this without having to turn it all the time? Is ther an easy way what requires little visits? Its also going to be at a place whats loaded with adders and lizards would it be possible to make it snake proof? I saw on tv that snakes love compost heaps and im a bit paranoid about the little fuckers setting up camp in my heap! Any ideas?

just ordered my tumbler I hope it does what it says on the tin, will save me loads on compost and I ordered a screen to sieve it with as u empty it so it should be fine enought to use in my tubs and pots too

Where from and how much please ?

Mojo, we have slow worms in our heap at the allotment they go for the heat, and our one at home is occupied by a rather large rat, I know which I prefer.

JOM

Was more than hubs would have liked to pay was £279 from harrods horti but i`m hoping it will save me more as i have really poor soil in my garden and spend loads on compost and soil improvers . It arrived yesterday and looks a good quality bit of gear will post a pic when its built.

I can't wait to see what 280 quids worth of compost bin looks like............

Thats the same as over a thousand 75L bags.

JOM

I got one full of grass when i moved in this place. Does it need to be kept wet to compost properly?

Its exactly the same as the pic in Baked Ben`s post

Some good info and links about tumblers on this site...hxxp://www.the-organic-gardener.com/compost-tumbler.html.

I'm afraid for me (pricewise) they are way out reach at the moment,I'm still saving me pennies to get a rotovator.

Can I recompost used west+ coz ive got 3 binbags full now and dunno what to do with it

You can compost it again but i just spread old compost in my borders as my soil is really sandy and low in nutes so its a constant effort to keep it watered and fed. Hopefully the tumbler will make some nice stuff to put into the raised beds i`m planning for next year. Its 3/4 full at the moment and its heating up nicely.