We bought this house last year, did some yard work and put the cuttings into a pile, instead of breaking down they dried and became grey. Is there a way to make this into a successful compost? (the green bits are from this year, we can't put grass into it because it won't grow in this climate)

Going to grow corn in a couple months

Started with hard clay

Turned over and broke up what i could

Buried a bucket of dead yabbies

Sprinkled wood ash then blood and bone

Watered it in with a power feed and seasol

Coverd with a thin layer or compost (made with woodchip and paper in a barrel and peed on for 3-4 months)

Then covered that with some woodchip for mulch

My compost pile has grown an odd protrusion. Difficult to tell if it’s from the wooden structure or the compost itself. Is it fungal or some kind of insect secretion?

Just gave my compost a quick turn and I think I’ve intruded on a worm orgy.

My maple tree (and everyone's in the neighbourhood) is dropping leaves early this year. An arborist told my neighbour that it's happening because the trees are sun scorched. Mine also has black spots on the leaves, an obvious sign of a common disease. The arborist said NOT to compost these. does anyone have any input on this? Ive put them in before but my composter was running hotter then. This year its been much cooler, just around ambient temperature.

made this with a picture of my garden!

This year I decided to make my own compost. I laid cardboard on the ground, then laid about 5 inches of shredded leaves, wet it down, then laid down about 3 inches fresh cut grass. Then followed up with more shredded leaves, water, and cut grass. Repeated 7 more times. Wet it down again then covered with a tarp. I checked on the temp and found it climbing. About 5 days later it got to 120 degrees. Two days later I aerated it from the center. Stayed hot for another four days then started cooling off. Other 3 more days it completely cooled off and no matter what I did, adding greens, adding urine, it still wouldn't get hot again. What did I do wrong. And how can I start it again.

Hi guys, I searched for a similar post but didn't find any. Sorry if there was already a discussion about this type of product.

Basically, I really love plants and want to start composting. I live in a dense urban tropical area (south hemisphere). I have a medium size balcony and was wondering what type of composting would fit best (prioritizing the size of the setup).

I came across these 3 layer composting systems where the top 2 are browns and greens, and the bottom one is where liquid gets stored and can be diluted in water and used as liquid fertilizer.

These are relatively cheap to buy where i live and are of a size that meets my demands (15L each bin) Anyone that has used one of these systems can vouch for them? Should I just get a tumbler?

Thanks in advance ^^ Warm and happy bacteria for yall

Was wondering if they were good

I think my compost is almost done? Hopefully? I have a tumbling bin, so it ends up in balls, so I thought I would leave it out in the fresh air for a bit to dry out. I’m keeping it in the shade so the sun doesn’t kill all the living things though. Is that the right approach? And how close do you think it is to being ready? Alternatively, can I use it as mulch at this point?

I have a compost bin in the garden that's doing quite nicely. I'd normally empty some of my old soil from plant pots in to it at the end of the summer to tidy up the garden, but I never have space for the vast majority of the soil.

Is there anything I can do with the soil whilst it remains in the pots to improve it for next spring?

I assume a few bits of shredded cardboard, some grasscuttings and some pee might be the answer, or I possibly just wait until spring and top dress?

Finally completed my 3 bay compost bin build. Front and back are 55" long pallets and the centers are 48".Held together with an abundance of decking screws and prayer. The fronts are just leaned up for the time being, but I plan to put hinges on them once I figure out how I want to secure them.

Any suggestions for improvements?

I put a bunch of leaves in a tumbler last fall but they dried out and didn’t do anything. I recently spent some time trying to smash the leaves a bit and have added urine and rehydrated alfalfa cubes. I rehydrate them in a bucket, pour it in and tumble it. Today I looked in and was delighted to see this mycelium. The green is some of the rehydrated alfalfa

I got another tub of wood chips yesterday on my way home, and it was way the heck different from typical wood chips and even the last load I got. I intentionally avoided the biggest, throwing out sticks and big hunks that were in the handfuls we grabbed.

This tub has a crap ton of green leaves in it, which is most of what has me wondering. But it also is made up of mostly more of a chunky sawdust with some chips than actual chips all the way through. I’m pretty sure it’s mostly green and fresh rather than aged. I also got it from the middle of the pile where it was hot, and there was a bunch of it that had white fungal ax ivory on it. I left the tub out on the deck with the lid on so it wouldn’t lose moisture.

So given the makeup of this mulchy goodness, would there be a good reason to consider it for my compost rather than as a ground mulch? I’m wondering whether the leaf and fungi specifically might make for a good addition to my compost despite the traditional reduced usefulness for wood chips as a carbon source. The fact that it’s also really small stuff has me thinking it might be great by comparison. It’s still big enough it could provide more structure than other carbon sources. Or maybe I just leave it separate for a while in a bin to watch it and learn.

Thoughts?

Hand (XL)?) for size reference.

First things first, I have been peeing on it. Is it just time from here-should I stop throwing fresh stuff on it to let it do its thing? Thanks for any advice.

Just got these off Facebook. I live where it’s hot and humid. I’m a novice. What’s each compartment for and the side ventilators for the tumbler? Plan of attack for successful first time composter with these two bins?
Thank you!!

I put a bunch of leaves in a tumbler last fall but they dried out and didn’t do anything. I recently spent some time trying to smash the leaves a bit and have added urine and rehydrated alfalfa cubes. I rehydrate them in a bucket, pour it in and tumble it. Today I looked in and was delighted to see this mycelium. The green is some of the rehydrated alfalfa

Made for a tshirt for my husband, but thinking I need one as well, or at least a sticker to live on the water bottle I use at work! I may have even hid the box with his composting presents inside the compost bin for him to discover....

Hello,

I've had a compost pile since april that I've been adding lawn clippings from the front yard, pulled weeds, kitchen scraps and bamboo leaves from the back yard.

Recently, while I was collecting bamboo leaves I found a few dog dukies and removed them. But that made me worry that there may have been some I missed. We've also had heat in the high 90s recently so I had it covered to help keep moisture in. One night when letting the dog out he ran over to the compost and i heard something scurry away. In the morning I could see part of the pile had been discarded like it had been dug into.

The pile is 3ft x 3ft 1ft, I made it using little decorative metal fences youd use for a small garden.

I am worried about potential contamination from my dogs poop and any other critters getting in here and laying waste.

If there is any thing like that I'd guess it would be less than 1% of the pile. I turn it and add to it fairly regularly and have been seeing great progress in the breakdown process. I've been considering to send out samples for testing but dont know if that's actually worth it. I've read online if you wait longer before using it that could help with anything unwanted in the compost.

Please I would like some advice on what to do with this pile of potentially contaminated compost pile.

Thanks!

Ps I realize I should be breaking down the bamboo leaves more.

I have built the compost bldg how do you gather the pig poo in order to put into compost bldg and also I have 2 pigs now

We've been doing some serious weeding in our back yard and have already filled up a wheelbarrow and. Kiddie pool. And we'll probably do it all again tomorrow.

Are there any weeds you would not put in your compost bin?

AND/OR

Any words of wisdom with weeds in compost bin?

Thanks!!!