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Thread ID: 43599	2004-03-20 06:30:00	OT - any composting Gurus out there?	John W (523)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
223910	2004-03-20 06:30:00	We bought a Warehouse Compost bin a few months back ( black plastic tapered square bin, vents at base, removible lid type) errected it in sunny spot in garden. The units sits on plain lawn. Every week Ive piled the grass cliping, kitchen waste into the bin which has taken everything thrown at it, but the base level is slowly creeping up. I figure I need to remove composted material from the bottom (through one of the vents?) but whats down there is not looking like the compost Im familiar with. So, should I tip the unit over, drag out what looks black & composted looking and spread over the flower garden, or wait another month or two till the lawn stops growing then spread the entire contents about? Thanks John Mosgiel.	John W (523)
223911	2004-03-20 08:08:00	I have no idea whether those type of composting bins work or not. If one is not careful then the compost tends to rot in an anerobic way and goes smelly and stinky, especially if the material is only clippings and kitchen vegetable waste. Ive always turned my compost and added soil and ammonium sulphate to promote composting and add nitrogen. Woody leafy material is best shredded, I use a small electric Massport shredder that handles up to 40mm dia branches, but I dont go above about 30mm at the most as anything bigger is kindling or firewood. If material is munched up first, like cauliflower stalks, old broad/runner bean growth, virtually everything that is not wet and soggy, then composting proceeds at a very fast pace indeed. I use 3 stackable bins made of treated wood each (that may not be a good idea, but it doesnt rot) about 1 metre square, each level is made from 150mm x 25mm paling with 50mm square corner pices to hold the side together and to provide ventillation slots about 50mm wide all round at each level. I'd be inclined to tip everything out of the Warehouse bin and see what it looks like. If it is a soggy mess, then mix it with soil and fresh material and re-cook it. If it is dark and friable then it is ready to spread. A good compost heap gets so hot that the material is almost burning. I sieve my compost through large wire mesh stuff, and anything that doesnt go through like roots and twigs gets put back into the compost bin again.	Terry Porritt (14)
223912	2004-03-20 08:45:00	Like Terry, I've never used a plastic bin, but my various efforts in different places have taught me that it's the mixture which counts - more than the container. (One of my best composts came from a simple pile at the back of an overgrown section. Another in purpose-built wooden bins like Terry's ended up a smelly mess) I learned the hard way not to overload with lawn clippings all at once. (too much nitrogen?) especially if they are wet. Leave to dry or put layers of newspaper in between. Also, green stuff needs a layer of woody/brown stuff every so often or it can go slimy. I'm no guru -and my current heap is far from ready - but it sure beats paying to dispose of the garden waste, doesn't it? There's some good info in the Compost Guide at http://www.mastercomposter.com	Laura (43)
223913	2004-03-20 08:59:00	Just checked that site again & found out the Compost Guide is actually a link - so you get 2 sites in one. But interestingly (for a UK site) there's some NZ info, if you look further down the page.	Laura (43)
223914	2004-03-20 11:26:00	Lawn clippings can be quite difficult to compost if you have a lot of it. Taking it right back to basics, if you just dumped all lawn clippings on a heap on the dirt, it would get quite hot in the middle as it broke down and would eventually start to smell and ooze liquid. The way to stop that would be to regularly turn it over with a garden fork. By using the fork to aerate it regularly, it would turn to proper non smelling compost in a much shorter time. I have wooden bins and plastic ones and manage to get excellent compost from both. I am lucky enough to have a good sized shredder and plenty of shrub/tree material to add to my lawn clippings. I sometimes reach down into the plastic bin with a garden fork and try to shift the material around a bit. That seems to work wonders. I am always amazed at how many worms there are, even near the top when things are only just starting to heat up. If I had only one bin, I would rock it gently from side to side to loosen it, then lift it completely off the heap and set it aside. (You mentioned tipping it on it's side. You might crack the plastic. The tapered shape should allow you to lift it straight up.) I would then fork the heap back into the bin again. That would aerate it and put the top stuff at the bottom. A lot of people keep two bins for that purpose and fork from one to the other, but I find that a bit back breaking unless you lift the bin off the heap first. If you have hedge clippings etc you can use a rotary lawn mower to munch it up, but be kind to the mower as you do it or you will wreck the shaft. Don't just rip into it, do it in strips and use about a quarter of the width of the mower. Set it on the highest setting at first, then empty the catcher by scattering it around thinly and repeat the procedure but at a lower setting. You will find that excellent for mixing with your excess lawn clippings. Also, your local garden shops may have pamphlets on composting. Happy gardening.	exLL (515)
223915	2004-03-20 22:24:00	Have a look at the ChCh City Council's .pdf doc on composting (www.ccc.govt.nz). Their other docs also have some good advice or you could throw "composting site:nz" into Google for more if you need it. As soon as I can gather enough Saturday newspapers together I will be starting a new family, a worm farm (www.ccc.govt.nz) for the kitchen scraps. It is supposed to be more efficient than a compost bin and less smelly. More sites on worm farming are here (www.nelsoncitycouncil.co.nz) and here (www.zerowaste.co.nz). It is going to take me be ages before I have enough Saturday newspapers saved up. Why can't other days' papers be used? Do you think it is because they want to read the employment or real estate pages? Or maybe the motoring section? :p :D	Susan B (19)
223916	2004-03-20 22:27:00	Ok, thats for the advice. So why does grass tend to make it a sodden mess, to high a water content? Rotating the mass is not that practical, dues to the flimsy nature of the beast. I had a Sutton Compost tumber once, filled with grass clippings, despite rotating it daily, still produces sodden & clumpy compost.	John W (523)
223917	2004-03-20 23:30:00	As exLL says, grass clippings go soggy because there is not enough air. Initially they will often get really hot in the middle, almost smouldering, but then it will turn into a pug due to lack of air. Mixing other material with them that gives some "loft" to the mixture will prevent the anerobic ( lack of oxygen) decomposition. Then there is the question of getting the right moisture balance. If too dry it wont compost down. I have lids to my bins which I remove in light rain, but put back on in heavy rain. When i lived near to an old fashioned farm that had a cow manure heap, I used to get barrow loads and mix that in. It acted as an accelerator and gave rapid composting, pig manure is very good too, as is horse manure. Failing that another good accelerator is pee :) Just go up the garden everynight and pee on your compost heap. It's the nitrogen you see :D Woody material takes up nitrogen as it composts, so a lot has to be added either as ammonium sulphate, pee, or manure from grazing animals. But oxygen is the thing that compost heaps need, that's why often just an uncontained heap as Laura said can give good results. It has a lot of surface area for air to get in. Regular turning over is needed. Most garden compost heaps get added to gradually, thats the way the stuff comes, whereas the books say add it all at once in a 1 metre cube or so. That just isn't practical in an average garden, you seldom accumulate large amounts in one go, so turn and mix all the while. This is why stackable wooden bins that can be added to and built higher as the material accumulates, or just heaps on their own are better than large bins that you cant get into to stir the stuff up.	Terry Porritt (14)
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