Composting

[YumYum]

0.417 lbs per gallon of water is something like 1 cup of granulated sugar per gallon of water. I have put sugar on my compost pile but it wasn't that much. Ambient temp wasn't really warm enough for microbial activity at the time either but it did seem like the pile started to break down faster.

 

[Eeilee]

COH same as in sugar, but available for use. Carbon dioxide and water are 2 examples.

I use 5% But generally active contents are stated here. I have seen 4%. A US gallon is 8.34 lbs. You would be pushing up to .417 lbs at 5%. That is enough to cover 417 square feet at the rate of 1 lb N per 1000 square feet so yes you best cut it down for a smaller area. I mix mine in a 5 gallon bucket for a cold pile of compost. It will heat up pretty quick.

0.417 lbs per gallon of water is something like 1 cup of granulated sugar per gallon of water. I have put sugar on my compost pile but it wasn't that much. Ambient temp wasn't really warm enough for microbial activity at the time either but it did seem like the pile started to break down faster.

What about molasses? I’m thinking of trying that.

 

[DirtMechanic]

0.417 lbs per gallon of water is something like 1 cup of granulated sugar per gallon of water. I have put sugar on my compost pile but it wasn't that much. Ambient temp wasn't really warm enough for microbial activity at the time either but it did seem like the pile started to break down faster.

Mixtures are by mass not volume because materials vary in their density. Use metric and use a scale at least to start. But yeah...seems like I recall someone had 15 minutes of internet fame with a home made fertilizer using a can of beer and a cup of ammonia. I think it was lawn grass. Not sure if he used hot sauce. If so use Franks. Its fermented and probably more correct.

 

[YumYum]

Molasses is 75% sugar. If you want 5% sugar per gallon (w/w) then you need 0.556 lbs of molasses (8.34 x 0.05 / 0.75).

This equates to about 3/4 cups of molasses per gallon of water.

 

[DirtMechanic]

What about molasses? I’m thinking of trying that.

I would compost prior to start and use magnesium sulphate and calcium nitrate early before maturity if you want to spend money on something that makes a tasty tomato. You are probably fertilizing every month anyway. If it is organic slow release like espoma tomato tone you wont need the sugar. If it has micros like iron and such you already have things covered. Molasses is a method to build organic matter from the growth and death of the biodome. Kinda depends on your soil profile really. No one size fits all. Some soils like sand need help. Younger soils do not. Old soil like clay usually has low carbon and needs it. You can burn a known weight of soil in your oven in cleaning mode. Dry it out at 250-300 for a long time first, then get the dry weight, then run it through the self clean cycle and weigh it again. The carbon will burn out and the sample then weighs less. How much less is your organic percentage. Oh btw it will stink most likely. Ever heard of sweet soil? Not so much. Your sample need not be big if you have a scale that reads hundreths of a gram (.01). Soil sample boxes look about the size of chinese take out rice boxes. Or...drum roll...get a soil test. Thank you thank you I will be here all week!

 

[Eeilee]

Our soil is heavy clay. I’ve been adding organic matter to it for several years but this is my first year composting on a large enough scale that I’ll be able to use my own compost on the gardens ( next year assuming it breaks down quickly)

I’ve been adding worm castings, shredded bark and raised bed soils ( mostly lightly tilling it in or letting the worms do the work for me)
I just might try that oven method out of curiosity . The smell can’t be worse than pickling time!

 

[DirtMechanic]

Our soil is heavy clay. I’ve been adding organic matter to it for several years but this is my first year composting on a large enough scale that I’ll be able to use my own compost on the gardens ( next year assuming it breaks down quickly)

I’ve been adding worm castings, shredded bark and raised bed soils ( mostly lightly tilling it in or letting the worms do the work for me)
I just might try that oven method out of curiosity . The smell can’t be worse than pickling time!

Many clay soils are high pH. Mine is low, 5.0 pH down 6 inches. Too much rain basically washes away liming agents. My soil benefits from ashes and charcoal. I could not randomly say about yours. I can say the soils have been highly mapped out and you could probably find it easy enough. The descriptions will probably fit what you already know and may fill in a few unknowns to boot.

Here are some Oregon professionals you can call.

Department of Land Conservation and Development : Agricultural Soils Assessment : Farm and Forest : State of Oregon

Soil testing and the importance of soils assessments in land use planning decisions

www.oregon.gov

 

[DirtMechanic]

So today I decided to dig a little deeper into helping roots deal with my clay.

It is amazingly thick. One could make a pot or funny faces.

I got out a tool I never use in the garden just to see how my tomatoes like a looser fill for their roots.

I was using an 8 inch auger bit and backfilled with the mix of compost and soil that I earlier had tilled together. I added some fertilizer as I went. The San Marzanoes were getting wimpy and needed planting first. The difference in color between the clay that came up and the top 6-8 inches I have been tilling is pretty striking.

There goes 18 in and more to come. I set up motion detector sprinklers until I can get the fence back up for deer control.

 

[Meadowlark]

What happened to the molasses effect (and 5 ft penetration with one hand)?

 

[DirtMechanic]

Oh I stopped that crap. That was the first year I had a veggie garden to deal with and the results of the overfertilization was horrid. The way clay works I could see it being soft after 3 months of over watering too. Here with the June July humidity heat all one needs to do is overfeed into May and the fungi come and take the garden in deep summer. Less can be more. My clay may get soft wet but it is mainly the most choking gumbo you can imagine hard or wet. It has been pretty rainy so far this year. I wonder if I could drive a rod by hand right now? If so I will video it for you.

 

[Eeilee]

Something very satisfying looking at those perfectly spaced planting holes.
Yeah I’m a nerd lol

 

[Susan BBPM]

Another question too…shall I have someone with the proper equipment pee on the pile? I’ve heard this is good for speeding up the process.

My husband was overjoyed to learn that he had justification for peeing on the compost heap when he couldn't be bothered going indoors to the toilet. However, he took this a step too far when peeing directly on my sunchokes thinking the nitrogen would make them grow faster. They went brown and died!!! LOL

 

[Mr_Yan]

Late to the party, as usual, but RE: big outdoor piles and kitchen scraps...

I used to have one 3'x3'x3' pile and adding kitchen scraps would always have different parts of the pile in different states of complete and it never really got to be useable. If you had a classic 3 pile system where you fill one bin before moving to the next it may work...

But I just moved to using worm bins and vermicomposting my kitchen stuff and all the outdoor yard waste gets directly composted in place as Meadowlark described in the Hugelculture thread. And the internet-garden-compost-police be damned, garlic and citrus go into the worm bins with no problem.

 

[Eeilee]

My husband was overjoyed to learn that he had justification for peeing on the compost heap when he couldn't be bothered going indoors to the toilet. However, he took this a step too far when peeing directly on my sunchokes thinking the nitrogen would make them grow faster. They went brown and died!!! LOL

Hahaha!! Men! My son was pretty gleeful at this prospect as well! ( I say “ men” but I’m secretly jealous they’re equipped for hiking, camping, picnicking and even gardening without hassle!)

 

[lifegardener]

We built a large compost bin this weekend using pallets and chicken wire.
In the past I had been just using old storage bins with holes drilled on the sides for air flow.
One side of the bin is just for old leaves to make leaf mould and the other side for garden waste and kitchen waste.
The plan is to layer carbon materials with nitrogen materials and turn it once a week.

That being said, I’ve read that some of you on here compost your kitchen waste separately.
Is there a reason for that?
Should I not toss kitchen waste in with garden waste?
We don’t compost meat or dairy or anything like that, just things like veggie peelings and banana peels.

You're good with your kitchen waste - adding it to your existing pile. Shredding what you can , prior to adding it in, helps speed up the process.