Greasemonkey's Compost Pile

[calliandra]

Yea, they say o2 can only penetrate about 18" on all sides, that's 45 cms to the rest of the world (stupid americans)
with the grass and such along with the manure, i'd bet that if you turned the pile while sprinkling lightly that it'd start smoldering soon enough
if not my favorite compost accelerator is fishmeal.
just remember that if you use fishmeal it undoubtedly will stick to your boots/shoes
same can be said about shrimpmeal (another good one to kick up the temps)
that all being said I still am confident that if you sprinkled and turned that it's be good to go.
hmmm... sprinkled and turned.... sounds like a kinky water-sports fetish..
gross

So I finally did the thing I had been dreading and avoiding for months, and visited out local farmers supply joint.
The place that should be my paradise, where I find alll the lovely things I need and didn't need (Like the tool shop, where I go sometimes just to handle a sexy Makita or lovingly stroke a Metabo haha)
Ah it was disastrous, they have nothing, know nothing and while the guys themselves went way out of their ways to try and help and even apologized for being so chemically monostocked, there is no hope!

The only thing I could get from them would be a bale of alfalfa (700Kg, tad large for my bike? lol - but transport aside, I don't have anywhere I could stockpile the rest aaand I don't even know if it was nitrogen fixing alfalfa or not)

I could order fish meal at 2€/kg, would arrive "in a week or so", but nooo information about source or quality... so I'm not particularly enthusiastic - that is, I'd prefer to just let the pile go on its own, it's sitting with center temps at 28°C now, and last time I turned it I saw earthworms were beginning to explore from below...

The only thing I could get otherwise would be horn and hoof meal (also no source info, but at least it's freely available). I found a C:N ratio of 3 for it (in https://books.google.at/books?id=R5wHSeMQsV0C&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=C:N+ratio+of+horn+and+hoof+meal ), so it would be comparable to fish meal in that. But not sure whether it is really a replacement in terms of the other goodies fish meal contains, if that is at all relevant here...
But if that were the case!
How much fish meal would you add to 15cuft of broken down compost like mine to get it back up and going?

 

[greasemonkeymann]

- that is, I'd prefer to just let the pile go on its own, it's sitting with center temps at 28°C now, and last time I turned it I saw earthworms were beginning to explore from below...

The only thing I could get otherwise would be horn and hoof meal (also no source info, but at least it's freely available). I found a C:N ratio of 3 for it (in https://books.google.at/books?id=R5wHSeMQsV0C&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=C:N+ratio+of+horn+and+hoof+meal ), so it would be comparable to fish meal in that. But not sure whether it is really a replacement in terms of the other goodies fish meal contains, if that is at all relevant here...
But if that were the case!
How much fish meal would you add to 15cuft of broken down compost like mine to get it back up and going?

I'd have no issue letting it stay where it is if I were you, but that's only if the pile isn't smelling of ammonia
I'm a big fan of not having to do large amounts of physical labor superfluously
I don't know of any specific advantage of the thermos portion of the compost happening, past the sterilization of pathogens/seeds and such
but god knows I have CONSTANT patches of seeds popping up through my compost
tomatoes in specific, and grass
no harm there

 

[calliandra]

I'd have no issue letting it stay where it is if I were you, but that's only if the pile isn't smelling of ammonia
I'm a big fan of not having to do large amounts of physical labor superfluously
I don't know of any specific advantage of the thermos portion of the compost happening, past the sterilization of pathogens/seeds and such
but god knows I have CONSTANT patches of seeds popping up through my compost
tomatoes in specific, and grass
no harm there

Bah I'm not fazed by seeds at all! Actually I just concluded they're a really cool thing to have, especially in the wormbin, where I saw them sprouting, and then disappearing.. so I have a built in sprouts feeding service, what is there to complain about?!
My thing for thermophilic composting is mainly to kill pathogens, especially rusts that we have in the garden. But I can get rid of those by displacement too, I saw that from my curtailed compost tea experiment on the roses this year.

When I checked on the pile today, it was actually smelling less, maybe due to the fact that it's pretty cold 24hrs a day now. Also, it never had that acrid ammonia smell, just very sheepy. It's going more moldy (not quite foresty) now.
And considering I just spent an inordinate amount of time trying to tactfully postpone a date to tomorrow -- and it turning out the date WAS for tomorrow to begin with anyways haha -- the simpler the better!
Best, not do anything at all! lmao
Cheers!

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Best, not do anything at all! lmao
Cheers!

often times the best course of action with cannabis oriented projects
let nature work
and all that moldy stuff is good, let those fungi take over

 

[calliandra]

often times the best course of action with cannabis oriented projects
let nature work
and all that moldy stuff is good, let those fungi take over

in fact, with all nature-related projects

Oh and speaking of fungi, I'm getting really nice populations of them in the wormbin too, and it was all just in the choice of the bedding. I do believe that you know you're on the right path when you do a minimum and obtain a maximum in quality output
It's smart!

 

[MustangStudFarm]

maybe due to the fact that it's pretty cold 24hrs a day now.

I was thinking about trying corn meal in my outdoor worm bin this winter when it gets cold. Earlier this summer, I cleaned out my cabinets and used a lot of it in my worm bin. It was a bunch of stuff like pasta, beans, flour, corn meal, and a little brown sugar. I added it to some coco coir and egg shell and about two days later, it was burning my hand. I had also thrown in a tray from my indoor worm bin. I think that I cooked the adult worms, but the eggs survived... Lesson learned!

 

[MustangStudFarm]

You were also talking about sprouts in your bin. I noticed that corn on the cob and bag beans like to sprout... Maybe its like a "sprout tea" that everyone talks about? I would like to think that it is helping lol...

 

[Fastslappy]

So the alfalfa pellets would work in leaf pile ?
Yeah/no ?

 

[calliandra]

You were also talking about sprouts in your bin. I noticed that corn on the cob and bag beans like to sprout... Maybe its like a "sprout tea" that everyone talks about? I would like to think that it is helping lol...

haha precisely my thoughts too

So the alfalfa pellets would work in leaf pile ?
Yeah/no ?

man I wish I could say something useful about that but anything I'd say would just be speculation.
@greasemonkeymann to the rescue please

 

[greasemonkeymann]

haha precisely my thoughts too


man I wish I could say something useful about that but anything I'd say would just be speculation.
@greasemonkeymann to the rescue please

oh yes, the only concern with alfalfa pellets is that they usually add molasses as a binder
but even still that's not the end of the world, just may give the microbes some "junk food" before they get started on the compost pile
but alfalfa is badass for piles
my first pile was made almost exclusively of alfalfa, leaves, and dandelions
and it worked flawlessly, my only complaint was that the alfalfa was the feed kind, and the stems took forever to breakdown

 

[greasemonkeymann]

So the alfalfa pellets would work in leaf pile ?
Yeah/no ?

absolutely it will, if they are compressed they will fluff up a lil too, just remember they are more dense as pellets so don't add a thick layer
but a couple inches of leaves layered with like a single layer of alfalfa would be great to use
do that like ten times up to a couple feet high and that pile will be golden by about feb, depending on how often you turn it

 

[Fastslappy]

sack of organic 100 % alfalfa pellet was like $14.oo out the door for 40lb sack & I've been buying that alfalfa meal for way way way more a lb & that is at the local nurseries , on the web it's even higher .
looking for cheap sacks of rice hulls , gotta ask them for it they might have or can order
i'm in Cali & the farmers grow rice 15 miles away as the crow fly
the pumice i got a handle on , now leaves not many trees on my lot (got a huge fig tree thou ) , but neighbors have loads gotta spot when their gardeners clean up & ask for the tarps that they sack leaves in

 

[calliandra]

i'm in Cali & the farmers grow rice 15 miles away as the crow fly

you'd probably get it for free from them directly, it's problematic waste matter for them more often than not Sourcing locally if externally at all is definitely the more resilient way of going about! Plus it's fun, when all of a sudden the world is full of resources haha

 

[Fastslappy]

absolutely it will, if they are compressed they will fluff up a lil too, just remember they are more dense as pellets so don't add a thick layer
but a couple inches of leaves layered with like a single layer of alfalfa would be great to use
do that like ten times up to a couple feet high and that pile will be golden by about feb, depending on how often you turn it

I layered it as you describe in a 40 gallon trash can it's vented
basically I redid that 40 can full of fig leaf , the bottom was sinking & rotting well i threw the old figs in there as well
so i layed it with new leaf on bottom & layered pellets throughout till the old stinkin stuff is now on top
the pellets will balance out the wet & i'll place a looose fitting lid & let her cook
the trees haven't dropped leaf yet around here , that was the summer collection of fig leaf & some maples

 

[Fastslappy]

you'd probably get it for free from them directly, it's problematic waste matter for them more often than not Sourcing locally if externally at all is definitely the more resilient way of going about! Plus it's fun, when all of a sudden the world is full of resources haha

key word for me is cheap , shipping rice hulls is insane

 

[greasemonkeymann]

I layered it as you describe in a 40 gallon trash can it's vented
basically I redid that 40 can full of fig leaf , the bottom was sinking & rotting well i threw the old figs in there as well
so i layed it with new leaf on bottom & layered pellets throughout till the old stinkin stuff is now on top
the pellets will balance out the wet & i'll place a looose fitting lid & let her cook
the trees haven't dropped leaf yet around here , that was the summer collection of fig leaf & some maples

you in CA and no leaves?
my only concern with it being in a trash can is aeration, I know you said it's vented but aeration is paramount
you want all the sides and bottom to be verrrry aerated, or it'll stink, and you'll lose a LOT of nitrogen to gasoff
you may be ok, but you'll have to turn that way more often probably
I could be wrong, I haven't composted like that before

 

[greasemonkeymann]

key word for me is cheap , shipping rice hulls is insane

you just use the rice hulls for aeration?
if so you may want to get some stuff a lil more permanent, in a good compost mix the rice hulls are devoured by the mass amounts of microbes you have
rice hulls last maybe one run
at least when I used em
vermiculite is a good alternative, similar water retentions qualites

 

[Fastslappy]

you in CA and no leaves?
my only concern with it being in a trash can is aeration, I know you said it's vented but aeration is paramount
you want all the sides and bottom to be verrrry aerated, or it'll stink, and you'll lose a LOT of nitrogen to gasoff
you may be ok, but you'll have to turn that way more often probably
I could be wrong, I haven't composted like that before

I should move the can contents to a pile then ? I can do that

 

[Fastslappy]

you just use the rice hulls for aeration?
if so you may want to get some stuff a lil more permanent, in a good compost mix the rice hulls are devoured by the mass amounts of microbes you have
rice hulls last maybe one run
at least when I used em
vermiculite is a good alternative, similar water retentions qualites

no I use pumice , never tried rice hulls just seen it in coots list & wanted to try some

 

[Fastslappy]

starting a 2nd worm farm , anyone use the bag method for worm home
edit; i'm all in on organic since my summer greenhouse grow taste & flavor rulz