I am an organic gardener, originally from Texas, now in SW Missouri (zone 6
)......
Last year I constructed a large 3 bin, pallet style compost bin for the garden and had SOME success....I have some questions as to what I am doing wrong......
I have read a lot of great gardening books and up until today never heard the words protein or sugars when talking compost, so I will be looking at as many of your post as I can on that....it may be the missing thing??? I don't know....
My first pile was mostly fresh grass clippings, weeds, some leaves and really old, soft wood chips. that pile heated up really well, and there were a lot of worms in the wood chips and castings (which I guess is "dirt")....BUT, when it cooled, it never reheated, and I used it anyways....but you could see that there was still plenty of un-rotted wood chips....I figured that the first thing I did wrong was to use the wood chips to begin with, since they can lock up nitrogen for long periods and I have read not to do that....but you know, I had to start somewhere!! and need to move the pile of woodchips!!! I figured, that, had I stirred the pile with some more nitrogen, eventually, it would have burned up the wood chips...but I didn't wait.
I would really like to get this down pat, as they say...because I hope to use A LOT of compost in my vegetables and fruits, and if I have enough to spare, ornamentals....but my compost is NEVER up to par.
OK, so the following piles, I have left out woodchips....i have used only leaves and grass and weeds with the soil still on, as well as sod that I scrape off for new beds...I moisten the brown layers, as I go but once it heats up and cools back off and I move it to the next bin, it "dies" and never reheats, and I assure you, it is not because it is a finished product......(but I do use it anyways, I have to feed the worms in the garden, too, not just the ones in the compost) And that is the other thing that proves I have it all wrong.....the compost pile is cold enough to have worms!!! Don't get me wrong, what I end up with looks ok. Its kind of like what you would clean out of really neglected gutters.....it is dark and moist and decomposing, but you can still tell what the leaves and needles and sometimes a clump of grass are.....it just isn't done!!! It smells like soil (yum) and when wet, it drains out a dark coffee colored liquid (which I am wondering if it is more likely tannin than "compost tea") .... But there are LOTS of my eggshells and leaves and it dries out quite quickly. I have been THOROUGHLY mixing it in the soil, and allowing it to sit several weeks early in the season to allow it to mellow in and be eaten by worms, etc. But it is more mulch than compost......UGH...
I have tried layering to eyeball the ratio of C/N, then stirring it...I have been trying to add as much soil to it as possible. I have combined unfinished piles to make it larger, then added "Dirty fishtank water" to it as a source of moisture and nitrogen, still, not much heat.
I aerate, turn, stir, vent.....Usually, when I do a "build in one day pile", it heats...( I can't find a compost thermometer locally...Lowe's and Home Depot don't carry them) But I have a metal pipe in the center, and when you pull it out it is not only steaming, but it is hot enough to almost burn you...which I know is over 140......But once it cools it is done.
I would rather not buy activators, but if there was something that I might already have access to, I could add to the pile when I turn it, or perhaps I should build two piles in a day and combine them at turning time, with additional nitrogen and nutrients???
Please, shoot me a few links to your "for dummies" section on hot compost (FH) I have the time and willingness to turn the pile from bin to bin, and haul it all over if needed! I collect bagged leaves in my neighborhood to assure plenty of browns in summer, I have TONS of weeds....a .5 acre backyard full of greens in summer, and a pretty large potager style raised bed garden with a 3 cu. yard area for leaf collection and shredding......I can do this...I just need help reheating and getting "finished" compost! I have read all sorts of things....the only main suggestion that sticks out to me is nitrogen, I can't think of anything else that would prevent the reheat.....Let me know what you all think....
Thanks in advance!