Composting - Page 2

Darrell · April 27, 2016

Is the number of earth worms in a compost pile an indicator of the quality of your compost? I have a large area I have been layering fresh cut grass, shredded leaves collected in the fall, and kitchen scraps. The soil is beautiful but has very little worm activity.

sukisasi · April 30, 2016

Another question:
Where should my compost bin be placed...full sun or shade?

Adriana · May 1, 2016

I have to contend with bears in my area so conventional composting is out. I use a modified Bokashi system as follows:
1. Collect scraps in a ventilated bucket in the kitchen. Every 2" or so sprinkle in a handful of Bokashi microbial activator.
2. When the kitchen bucket is full transfer contents to a larger (approximately 2 gallon bucket) in the garage with a tight seal (an anaerobic environment is key to Bokashi composting). When that bucket is full, seal it up for 2 weeks
3. At this point the "pickled" compost is layered with soil either in garden beds or trenches or in plastic totes or in flower pots. After 2 weeks you can plant directly into the top layer.

In addition to the fact that the bears do not like it (although they occasionally dump a tote and then walk away), there is no turning and you can compost meat spraps, bones and dairy, all of which are no-nos in conventional composting.

I garden almost exclusively in raised beds and buy topsoil in 1 back-friendly 1-cubic foot bags to use for layering my Bokashi and building up the boxes. In late falland winter the finished bokashi goes directly into any idle beds. In the growing season I fill large plastic totes to avoid disturbing my plants.

Mike723 · May 1, 2016

I go to great lengths to keep all night shade plant material (tomatoes, eggplant, weeds etc) out of my soil and compost .. Including it as a mulch or compost ingredient almost ensures the survival of certain pathogens that rely on the plant material to overwinter; Septoria leaf spot being one..
The average diy pile does NOT get hot enough to destroy its spores. Here's a link with some info on Septoria.. http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/docu..._06-30-08r.pdf

April 27, 2016	#16
Darrell Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Whitefish, Montana Posts: 13	Is the number of earth worms in a compost pile an indicator of the quality of your compost? I have a large area I have been layering fresh cut grass, shredded leaves collected in the fall, and kitchen scraps. The soil is beautiful but has very little worm activity. Last edited by Darrell; April 27, 2016 at 11:31 PM.

May 1, 2016	#18
Adriana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: North Georgia Posts: 99	I have to contend with bears in my area so conventional composting is out. I use a modified Bokashi system as follows: 1. Collect scraps in a ventilated bucket in the kitchen. Every 2" or so sprinkle in a handful of Bokashi microbial activator. 2. When the kitchen bucket is full transfer contents to a larger (approximately 2 gallon bucket) in the garage with a tight seal (an anaerobic environment is key to Bokashi composting). When that bucket is full, seal it up for 2 weeks 3. At this point the "pickled" compost is layered with soil either in garden beds or trenches or in plastic totes or in flower pots. After 2 weeks you can plant directly into the top layer. In addition to the fact that the bears do not like it (although they occasionally dump a tote and then walk away), there is no turning and you can compost meat spraps, bones and dairy, all of which are no-nos in conventional composting. I garden almost exclusively in raised beds and buy topsoil in 1 back-friendly 1-cubic foot bags to use for layering my Bokashi and building up the boxes. In late falland winter the finished bokashi goes directly into any idle beds. In the growing season I fill large plastic totes to avoid disturbing my plants. __________________ Adriana Gutierrez

April 30, 2016	#17
sukisasi Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: SC Posts: 26	Another question: Where should my compost bin be placed...full sun or shade?

May 1, 2016	#19
Mike723 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: CT Posts: 290	I go to great lengths to keep all night shade plant material (tomatoes, eggplant, weeds etc) out of my soil and compost .. Including it as a mulch or compost ingredient almost ensures the survival of certain pathogens that rely on the plant material to overwinter; Septoria leaf spot being one.. The average diy pile does NOT get hot enough to destroy its spores. Here's a link with some info on Septoria.. http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/docu..._06-30-08r.pdf