Compost quality

[Lindalana]

those are mine, and I need to add some more nitrogen again... what do I do?

[zipcode]

20x20 what? Feet? That seems like a huge amount of chicken fertilizer. I'm starting to wonder if those roots aren't burned (which will make them not absorb much). Chicken is pretty aggressive if it's not old.

[Lindalana]

yep, 20x20 feet. Tie up of nitrogen far exceeds of loss with rain. These people seems to apply moo something and it looks better


this looks like nothing was added. Mind you, last year and previous years it was pretty decent soil and none of these problems was seen. Any addition of extra nitrogen like manure sent you into 6 ft tall tomatoes with few fruits.

[wormgirl]

Did you find out where the compost came from? At the very least, whoever is in charge should know what has happened. You should tell them.

[Lindalana]

Yes, supposedly local municipal compost, all 35 trucks of it. This year gardening sure has its share of frustration for me. OTOH I've looked up herbicide bioassay testing, few people around me have grown peas and they seems to be reasonable, bit curled but good height. So it might be just compost done with huge piles of wood chips, anaerobic and carbon to nitrogen ratio like 70 to 0 LOL
Hopefully village will be poor enough not to afford such "gifts" for while.

[Slg Garden]

Lindalana, I was talking to a woman this morning at the community garden where I have a plot. The city added about 18" of "soil" to her plot and to about half of the one next to hers (it had washed down the slope so hers was way below the path). She's experiencing the same thing you're seeing: stunted plants and no weeds. It basically looks like they added partially composted wood chips and it's tying up all the nitrogen. The plot next to hers where it's half old and half new practically has a dividing line where the plants are flourishing vs. floundering. The only thing that's doing ok in the "new soil" area is green beans. Needless to say, the woman I talked with is very ticked off!

So, no brilliant solution for you, but rather to say, other cities have caused the same problem.

[Lindalana]

Thank you much for info! It does help to know. Now I wonder if dear village is poor enough not to bring any more surprises and if they are, will the problem resolve by next year or I should resolve to growing some kind of SWC container system for tomatoes next year...

[sukisasi]

I hope this is the right thread to ask this question. I grow assorted veggies to include tomato plants in containers every summer. Is it possible or advisable to compost the contents from the containers at the end of the season or must/should I discard?

[AmyClaire]

Originally Posted by sukisasi

Is it possible or advisable to compost the contents from the containers at the end of the season or must/should I discard?

If you are lucky enough to not see any disease on your plants then you can hot compost, cold compost, or worm compost without fear of breeding more disease.

If you see disease, and you trust your hot compost to get hot enough to thoroughly kill the disease, then hot compost it.

Otherwise, put all possibly-diseased plant parts into the trash can instead of the green waste recycling.

[Lindalana]

Update from previous year- Slg Garden was likely suggesting correct reason- improperly cured compost. I could not grow anything last year well. This year is back to normal weeds and normal healthy growth. Thankfully village was poor enough not to add anything over the winter to soil. I added just a bit of leaf mold to beds and plants are thriving.

[JMW53147]

It looks a lot like "fill dirt" or dredgings from a lake or river. Most of the time it has terrible fertility and no structure.