Three Tips That Have Kick-Started My Compost Pile

Posted by Jeremy in , ,

I will not profess to be an expert on composting. In fact, i am far from it. The "compost" pile I started two months ago with almost exclusively waste hay and rabbit droppings still had green alfalfa hay from day one when I turned it over a week ago.

Fortunately, I had a learning moment when I sold three baby peafowl to the gentleman I bought my last batch of worms from. When he came to pick up the birds, I asked him to inspect my worm bins. And, just like last time, I totally screwed up and killed another pound of perfectly good red worms by putting them in an insufficiently composted mix of waste hay and rabbit manure (my hope was that they'd help get the hay broken down). Apparently, unless you are feeding table scraps, the worms are so efficient, they create a lot of heat in breaking down un-composted waste. Enough heat to kill themselves.



So after he broke the bad news to me about this second batch of worms, I showed him the compost pile. He gave me a few pointers. They are:
  1. Make the pile taller - At 4' or more, the pile has enough critical mass to heat itself to 130° F. According to my new compost mentor, that is the ideal temperature for the microbial action needed to break down the organic matter in the pile. On top of that, he says it helps keep the flies down.
  2. Turn the pile often - This helps oxygenate the pile and spread the wealth of garbage eating microbes throughout the pile. I had been turning mine maybe once a week.
  3. Keep the pile wet - This was my first problem, I never added any water to the pile, it was bone dry. As soon as I started watering, the pile started steaming when I'd turn it over.
What can I say, no one ever taught me the nuances of proper composting. I know I could have easily done my research and figured this out without having to kill my worms. But, I chose the hard way. The upside, is I will probably never forget this little lesson.

6 comments:

Claire Brown said... @ July 7, 2009 11:18 AM

I agree with the size of the pile,the bigger the better, but turning that regularly, - give me a break, don't turn people off composting because they think it's back breaking - my compost works great because I mix greens (fast rotting like grass, veg peelings and annual weeds) with browns prunings, shredded paper and pet bedding. - if you get the right mix about 50/50 you don't need to water cos it has the right amount of moisture in it. Much easier and it won't kill the worms either

Jeremy said... @ July 7, 2009 2:20 PM

Hey, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I think you are completely right about not needing to water with the greens included, and if your pile is working without turning, that is great. I think the difference is that my pile is almost entirely dry material - waste hay and rabbit droppings. And, I put it on so fast that adding greens to it would be almost insignificant. I wish I didn't need to turn it, but since I have started doing so every day or two, it has really started to break down. I should probably cut the lawns a bit more often so that I have that to add, maybe that'd help reduce my physical contributions???

Kith said... @ July 13, 2009 8:13 PM

You are shooting for a Carbon to Nitrogen ratio of 25-30:1 in a properly constructed pile. That means twenty five times more brown than green.
You definitely want to keep your pile moist (like a wrung out sponge). This facilitates travel of microorganisms and cooling of the pile.
You will not have worms in a "hot" compost pile. Once your pile has become thermophilic (temps over 135F)a whole new set of organisms begins to break down the tough to digest materials.
Size is important. More mass means more organisms and quicker decomposition.
That being said, you don't have to "hot" compost. You can just create a pile and let it sit for a year, if you have the space and time. However, weed seed and pathogens are destroyed in a "hot' pile, whereas they remain viable in a cold pile.

Jeremy said... @ July 14, 2009 7:39 AM

I am aiming more for speed than killing weed seeds. The only seeds that could make it into my pile are from the alfalfa hay I feed my rabbits. Everything in the pile comes from the rabbit barn.

That being said, I also like the heat for killing maggots, mold, and anything else that might be growing under those cages.

Thanks for your comment, Kith. I really appreciate it.

Tim said... @ July 14, 2009 8:13 PM

So I use an EarthMaker composting bin, and I have to tell you it has it's own set of frustrations. The biggest one being that the compost is "down in there". Adding new material and then mixing it up makes it difficult to ever have a nice looking usable product. I am beginning to think that even though a pile, to me, is fairly unsightly, it might be easier to contend with.

Jeremy said... @ July 14, 2009 11:41 PM

To me, seeing that "unsightly pile" says I am doing something good for the Earth, good for my pocket book, and good for my garden. It is a pleasant reminder despite its appearance.

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