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Now Thats a class that would make me want to go back to school. I didnt even know they had classes like that. lol I just watch youtube for some garden info now.
Did they say to allow it to heat first before mixing? That would make sense since the heat speeds the process and too much turning will not allow it to warm up inside
Turning once each day will not kill the heat, it adds air to the heap and the oxygen keeps the heap aerobic and an aerobic heap will smell less. If you do not have grass clippings, you can use most any manure, rabbit feed pellets or even fish emulsion wetted down between the layers. I turn my heap at least 5 times a week and each week I sift out a wheel barrow of compost to use on my yards. The heap generally stays the same size. But I have 32 yards that I maintain and can bring home grass clippings almost every day. A good balance to the clippings are pine needles, eucalyptus leaves and weeds. Each day I turn the heap, it is good and hot inside, enough heat to envelop me in a cloud of steam.
If your compost heap smells sour or rotton, it needs more air. You can reform an anaerobic heap that smells bad into an aerobic heap by turning at least every other day. You want to see what looks like ash in the heap, but is really a fungus that starts to decompose the matter. It is all a balance of nitrogen, carbon, air and water. Too much water will extinguish the heat, too little water and it wont heat up, same with nitrogen, too much and it will smell like a pile of fresh manure, too little and the heat will not maintain itself. Carbon is more flexible and its addition keeps the air pockets open in the heap. I probably sift and use up to 200 pounds of finished compost every week on my lawns and gardens except in the middle of winter when it is too wet or too cold.
You can get some air to your compost without so much turning. Take a piece of PVC pipe, drill/cut some holes in it, and have it stand in the center of your compost pile. (Put the compost around the pipe; don't push the pipe through the compost.)
You can get some air to your compost without so much turning. Take a piece of PVC pipe, drill/cut some holes in it, and have it stand in the center of your compost pile. (Put the compost around the pipe; don't push the pipe through the compost.)
Funny, I have done that before, stuck a verticle pipe in the center and several horizontally, but the pipes later got in the way of turning the heap. I also have a large spike that I have used to poke holes in the pile to allow it to vent. I have thought about making a ventilating pipe system that I would build the heap upon. I have also thought about making a closed loop radiator type system that would transfer the heat of the inside to a greenhouse or to a water tank to capture the heat. 150º to 164º is quite hot, hot enough to prewarm water for a hot water heater or for radiant heat flooring. Even on frosty winter days my heap will be in the low 140's. That is why I liken my compost heap to a volcano, especially when I poke holes in it, it will puff out steam from the holes like a volcano. But the turning has given me very strong arms and a strong back. My biceps are at 16" around and I do not go to a gym or use exercise equipment. I figure I am getting good exercise and making beautiful compost by turning my heap 5 days a week. 5000 pounds is a lot of compost to rotate each morning, but it is cheaper than going to a gym.
Funny, I have done that before, stuck a verticle pipe in the center and several horizontally, but the pipes later got in the way of turning the heap. I also have a large spike that I have used to poke holes in the pile to allow it to vent. I have thought about making a ventilating pipe system that I would build the heap upon. I have also thought about making a closed loop radiator type system that would transfer the heat of the inside to a greenhouse or to a water tank to capture the heat. 150º to 164º is quite hot, hot enough to prewarm water for a hot water heater or for radiant heat flooring. Even on frosty winter days my heap will be in the low 140's. That is why I liken my compost heap to a volcano, especially when I poke holes in it, it will puff out steam from the holes like a volcano. But the turning has given me very strong arms and a strong back. My biceps are at 16" around and I do not go to a gym or use exercise equipment. I figure I am getting good exercise and making beautiful compost by turning my heap 5 days a week. 5000 pounds is a lot of compost to rotate each morning, but it is cheaper than going to a gym.
My compost bins came with wire aerator towers, about 4" square and 36" tall. I don't use them because they make turning so difficult.
I just got done adding grass clippings to my overly-brown bins, and then I turned and turned and turned. Geeze that was tiring! Time to sit on the riding mower, put some music in my ears and mow!
I got up very early this morning, just before 6 am. Had my two large cups of coffee and took the second out with me to turn the heap and add three barrels of grass from yesterdays lawns and 1 barrel of redwood and cypress hedge clippings. I thought I would do a series of shots as I built the heap today.
I got up very early this morning, just before 6 am. Had my two large cups of coffee and took the second out with me to turn the heap and add three barrels of grass from yesterdays lawns and 1 barrel of redwood and cypress hedge clippings. I thought I would do a series of shots as I built the heap today.
I'm new to the making stuff grow world. Bought this old house in '09 and started a compost bin that fall. So I've been adding leaves from my pecan and katawba trees, crepe myrtle, and random plants I rip leaves off of.
I started the bin using some old 4 x 4 hog wire I found laying around. Three side of 4', the fourth side a chain link fence. It didn't take long before I realized the leaves would fall out the the 4 x 4 spacing so I lined the four sides with chicken wire and secured with zip ties. And started to fill 'er up.
I've been turning the thing 3 or 4 times a week, or not. When nearly full I might turn it every day, using a weeding hoe. And yeah, that is my gym membership.
Over the years I've been digging into the heap to get composed material to add to 'whatever' I'm trying to grow. Mostly a rose bush and a jasmine vine. I'll mix some water with the compost material and use the soup to pour onto the growth. Just this spring I discovered I now had about 6 to 8 inches of soil at the bottom so dug it out and bagged it to use to plant or for the soup. I did plant some wild flowers using the dirt as a thin top layer. Then added the soup and watered to soak in. About three days later the seedlings began to sprout. I was a bit stunned.
We recently had a nasty rain/hail storm that ripped leaves off the tree and made a mess. I gathered up all the destruction and dumped into the bin. About ten days later, when turning the thing started smoking and I had what looked like the ash on those tree leaves. First time since I started I finally realized I must have been doing the right thing.
Anyway, I came to this thread looking for input on comfrey (see post #16). I planted a few roots and they've just started to push up leaves. Soon I'll have tea to go with that soup.
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