Compost

[jon lynn]

Okay guys and gals, I need help. Here at my new homestead, I am assisiting in the making of compost, (yummy), but I know it all has to be raw food, nothing cooked and no meat.

But what stuff can't you put, food wise? I was told cabbage was a big no-no, and banna peelings..........as usual I thank you, because I know I'll get a thousand answers when I log back on:D :D :D

JON

[Rocky Raab]

The "no meat" part is true . But you can add cooked vegetables of all kinds, as well as the uncooked peelings and such.

Coffee grounds, tea bags, shredded paper, leaves, grass clippings...they're all good.

If it once had roots, it's okay (including herbivore manure - which is great).

Now, things to avoid. Weeds, diseased or bug-infested plants, meat or bones, grease, ashes and gym socks.

Keep it moist but not wet, turn it often and add a couple handfuls of general purpose (10-10-10) fertilizer if you add many grass clippings.

That's it. Black gold. And it should NOT smell at all if you're doing it right. A sour smell means it needs more air inside, so fluff it up or turn it.

[DaMadman]

Originally posted by Rocky Raab
The "no meat" part is true . But you can add cooked vegetables of all kinds, as well as the uncooked peelings and such.

Coffee grounds, tea bags, shredded paper, leaves, grass clippings...they're all good.

If it once had roots, it's okay (including herbivore manure - which is great).

Now, things to avoid. Weeds, diseased or bug-infested plants, meat or bones, grease, ashes and gym socks.

Keep it moist but not wet, turn it often and add a couple handfuls of general purpose (10-10-10) fertilizer if you add many grass clippings.

That's it. Black gold. And it should NOT smell at all if you're doing it right. A sour smell means it needs more air inside, so fluff it up or turn it.

As Usual I think Rocky has hit the nail on the head with his advice.

Just curious, but were you told the reason not to add Cabbage or Banana peels? I can' t think of a good reason not to put them in, or a reason not to put cooked veggies in either.

I do know that coffee grounds are really rich in Nitrogen and good for greening up plants.

[jon lynn]

I was told that the acidity of cabbage was a bad thing, but please keep in mind that the Germans eat an appauling ammount of the stuff, so they have a very high yeild of cabbage, and tend not to compost it.

But being Americans, where the cabbage is not so high on the list of munchies, I thought I would check and see if it's just a Deutsche thing.

But I don't remember what I was told about the banna skins though, but I am gonna stick with Rock's advice, he ain't steered me wrong yet (well none of you have:D )

Thanks, Jon

[Valigator]

Well now it depends on what your making the compost pile for....lets not rush to judgement here.......I have rose bushes...ya wanna know what the best thing for roses are......fish scraps...well I should say frog scraps.....now that is the rankest stuff you have ever smelled........but I plant some under my citrus trees too....and people are steeling those left and right.....

[TreeDoc]

Jon, I was involved in a 4 day symposium for my Arborist's Certification Continuing Education down at UCLA a few years back. We had a guy speak on the subject of composting for over a half day. He was from down in your "new" neck of the woods but I forget exactly where. We're talking about a grand scale here with the Bio Mass that we in the tree care industry generate. He composts an area about the size of Disneyland!

One of their biggest contributors to the speedy biodegradation is Coca-Cola Bottling Company. They bring Coke in to his facility by the tanker truck every few days. Apparently it is the "cull" from their processing facility and they need to get rid of it somewhere so on the mountainous piles of biomass it gets sprayed. It gets those piles so cookin' hot that it literally catches fire. They turn these piles with massive excavators so you can imagine how big this operation is. Their other best contributor is Heinz. They deliver truckloads of cull tomatos.

I think this place is outside of Dallas but I'm not positive. Let me go through my files and I'll see if I can find the small booklet on Composting this guy wrote. It was very good and he is "The Guru" on the subject. If it's close to your new Digs maybe you can make a field trip out of it! ;)