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Backyard Composting
Typical Compost Pile vs “Rapid”
• Material added randomly in layers and over time
• Turned when you feel like it
• Mostly just a yard waste disposal site
• Has inherent limitations
Keys to Rapid Composting
• Right mix of greens & browns
• Sufficient volume to reach appropriate temperatures
• Aerated
• Slightly moist like a wrung out sponge
Carbon:Nitrogen Ratio • Mix equal parts of greens &
browns
• Greens: grass cuttings, food scraps, weeds, manures, coffee grounds
• Browns: dried leaves & grass, straw, fine wood chips, egg cartons, newspapers
• SHRED leaves, straw, pine needles, paper first
Sufficient Volume
• Optimum size 3’ by 3’
• Build your pile deliberately – Layer browns, greens
– Cover food scraps
– Moisten
• Choose your pile “structure”
• Need a least 2 piles
• Goal is to get center of pile to 135 -160°F within 48 hours
Thermophilic Bacteria
Aerated & Moist
• Turn the pile!
• Mix undecomposed material into center of pile to keep heat levels up
• Maintains aeration
• Can have finished compost in 4-6 weeks
• Start another pile in between time
“Pile” options
• A pile
• Concrete blocks
• Wooden bins
• Plastic bins
• Plastic tumblers
• Steel drums
• Wire cages
Compost Bins
Compost Ingredients Yes Leaves, straw, pine
needles
Grass clippings, weeds
Food scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds
Shredded paper
Hair
100% Cotton
Rhubarb, oleander OK
No Soil or wood ashes
Meat, fat or dairy products
Dog or cat poop
Diseased plant materials, especially viruses
Tough weeds
My compost pile has issues…. • Smells bad = anaerobic
– Turn to “fluff”, too wet, too many greens
• Doesn’t get hot enough – Too small, too dry, not enough greens
– Add organic N fertilizer, i.e. blood meal
– Compost starters are high N, maybe enzyme
• Gets too hot, cooks microorganisms – Make smaller, fluffier pile
• Critters get in it – Don’t add meat or fat
– Use rodent/critter proof bin
Harvesting Compost
• Should smell pleasant, earthy
• Will turn dark
• Sources indistinguishable
• Let cure for a couple weeks if using rapid composting
• Screen through chicken wire or hardware cloth
Compost Tea • Lots of variability, uncertainty
• Start with healthy, fresh compost
• Soak compost in water
• Maybe not a good source of nutrients, but may suppress plant disease
• Easier to apply to some plants (i.e. containers or as foliar sprays)
• Use fresh, doesn’t keep
Compost Alternatives
• Just put food scraps under mulch
• What to do with food scraps in winter? – Cover to prevent N
leaching
• Vermiculture
• Unknown – Bokashi, etc
Back to my compost pile
• I don’t turn the pile enough or water it, so – Takes much longer to
compost – all growing season
– Some nutrients leach out due to rainfall
– Disease-producing organisms, weed seeds, insect eggs are not killed
• Critter feeding station