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organic Organics 101
- Thread starter CAPCOM
- Start date
That is true but if you put too much green material much of the nitrogen will gas off into the atmosphere instead of breaking down and staying in the compost.Phil said:
They say the ideal ratio of brown ingredients to green is about 25:1 to 30:1. Sometimes that can be hard for some of us to shoot for though depending on what material we have to work with.
CAPCOM said:
CAPCOM said:
Save lots of leaves in fall and heap up a bunch of them by themselves to make leaf mold. It doesn't decompose very fast, so you should have plenty to work with throughout the summer.
Good advice HB01.
Leaves are one of the greatest possible things you can have in your compost pile.
Here's a good video on leaf composting.
If you are interested in composting I highly recommend this book. Many consider this the bible on composting.
http://www.amazon.com/Rodale-Book-Composting-Methods-Gardener/dp/0878579915/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433091249&sr=8-1&keywords=rodale+book+of+composting
Leaves are one of the greatest possible things you can have in your compost pile.
Here's a good video on leaf composting.
http://www.amazon.com/Rodale-Book-Composting-Methods-Gardener/dp/0878579915/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433091249&sr=8-1&keywords=rodale+book+of+composting
Very well. But now this becomes a composting reality for 2017 as leaves are slow to break down and I won't have both green and brown til next summer. With that in mind composting has to be a very well thought out and diliberate project. Not one that can be implimented over night for the present year.Hybrid Mode 01 said:
Awesome Phil! I have one too but have yet to use it as I have an electric shredder/chipper that I use.Phil said:
I am curious as to how well the vacuum attachment works on my Black and Decker blower I just bought a while back.
Do you have a leaf shredder of any type?CAPCOM said:
If not you can put the bag on your mower and run over the leaves chopping them up smaller.
The smaller things are in a compost pile, the faster the bacteria can break it down.
Just a random note in reply to something on the first page.
Compost tea will extend the life of a potting soil rich in organic matter and meals, but is not a nutritional additive. Long term growth can be had by running a no till container, but this requires large soil volume and more than just the addition of compost. Meals are used to give dense nutrition, and much work must be done to incorporate worms and other decomposers. It's a balancing act and many use soil analysis to keep everything in line and proportion, or use a topdressing mixture proven effective over the long term.
Compost tea will extend the life of a potting soil rich in organic matter and meals, but is not a nutritional additive. Long term growth can be had by running a no till container, but this requires large soil volume and more than just the addition of compost. Meals are used to give dense nutrition, and much work must be done to incorporate worms and other decomposers. It's a balancing act and many use soil analysis to keep everything in line and proportion, or use a topdressing mixture proven effective over the long term.
Rear bagging mower, that I can do.Proud Marine Dad said:
Still it will be fall before I have leaves to work with. And I am thinking that will be around the time I will be de-seeding, drying pods for powder, maybe making my first sauces and prepping for deer season.
which brings up this again. IJoynersHotPeppers said:bring up this again.
V
pepper_rancher said:Start saving all of your organic waste: Lawn clippings, leaves, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, etc.
Compost your bulk materials (grass and leaves)
Worm compost your fruit and veggie scraps (except citrus)
BSFL compost your citrus, meat, bones, spaghetti, bread, (whatever)
LET THE COMPOSTING THREAD BEGIN!!!!!!
Bonus topic BSFL bins!
Yeah I like the video and am with that dude, when I do kitchen scraps they go in one bin and grass, mulch and leaves go in another. I just checked that bin and have about 40 gallons of black gold! Guess I'll have a long wait until next plant out but at least it is there.
Ok, I understand what BSFL means now, but BONES?pepper_rancher said:
CAPCOM said:
Your mileage may vary, but I use horse manure extensively(sometimes exclusively when growing in pots) for all of my garden plots with great results, in addition to mulched leaves. For me, I just can't justify paying for manure when there's so many sources in my area of free horse manure. I've found that you can use bedding-free horse manure damn near straight from the horse's ass.
I think a lot of the negativity around horse manure is because of the undigested seeds that can lead to weed problems. If I had access to other free manures I'd try them out but I'm cheap so I plan around the weeds.
thats very true !Proud Marine Dad said:
i got a friend who has race horses ( races up in chicago ) i get all the manure i want every year ! works great huge tomatoes , lots of worms and soft soil !Hardwarehank said:
100,000 dollar question. will composting change the or offset the undesirable characteristics of your available grow area? My current garden has a high clay content that becomes more prevalent after rainy and sunny day combinations. The surface layer becomes brick like after baking in the sun over a short period of time.
