Composting not working

Mr. Presentable

One of those 140lt plastic composters. I've been putting grass clippings, hedge clippings and veggie waste from the kitchen. I put a layer of earth in every quarter to third of the fill, and try to keep it moist. It's just a year old, and so far no compost. The lower levels seem bone dry and the upper levels well preserved!! What the smeg am I doing wrong?

dardevle

i suspect that the layer of earth you put in is acting as a barrier and preventing the interaction of the other components-soil should not be placed in a composter, keep it a mix of greens(grass clippings, veggie peelings etc) and browns(leaves, egg cartons, cardboard etc) if too dry more greens/too wet more browns,no cooked/waste foods,meats dog or cat waste. slightly sunny location to introduce some heat to the process helps, also turning with a garden fork on occasion,6 to 9 months should see the first usable results.

MoominPapa

Maybe you've too much green stuff going in. If you leave grass cuttings in the sun till they go brown it will help. I only put one or two load of grass on my heap, I don't use a bin, every year and its fine, the rest I chuck under the bushes. You shouldn't really need to put earth in. I used to have a bin and turning the compost every few months gave me lovely black stuff after a year

crosstownk

dardevle wrote: »

i suspect that the layer of earth you put in is acting as a barrier and preventing the interaction of the other components-soil should not be placed in a composter, keep it a mix of greens(grass clippings, veggie peelings etc) and browns(leaves, egg cartons, cardboard etc) if too dry more greens/too wet more browns,no cooked/waste foods,meats dog or cat waste. slightly sunny location to introduce some heat to the process helps, also turning with a garden fork on occasion,6 to 9 months should see the first usable results.

Spot on.

I started composting 3 years ago and didn't bother with what was mentioned by dardevle. As a consequence, the resulting mess was still quite solid and it's only now, 3 years later than I can use it as compost.

Mr. Presentable

So I think I'll empty it, mix it up and moisten it again and start over. I thought, get a bit of soil in and introduce earthworms

dardevle

by all means try again-its very much a process of refinement also a rewarding one.bear in mind that if you get the conditions right the worms will beat a path to the door of your compost bin:). if you follow the general guidelines as regards greens/browns for moisture then you should'nt have to water it.
good luck!

MCMLXXXIII

A tip while waiting for your green to turn into compost:

Use ground coffee beans...after the coffee has been brewed.
It does wonders, and you can usually get it for free from any coffee house. They have tons of it that they throw out, so they should give it to you if you ask.
It's best for your flower garden, but I suppose it would work anywhere.

dardevle

MCMLXXXIII wrote: »

A tip while waiting for your green to turn into compost:

Use ground coffee beans...after the coffee has been brewed.
It does wonders, and you can usually get it for free from any coffee house. They have tons of it that they throw out, so they should give it to you if you ask.
It's best for your flower garden, but I suppose it would work anywhere.

+1 on the coffee grounds,

also if you have an open fire the fine ashes work great in the composter!

r3nu4l

I just turned my compost on Sunday and noticed I have an ants nest in it! I could see the (very unhappy!) ants moving lots of ant larvae about in an effort to protect them.

Is having an ants nest doing harm to my composting efforts? Should I make sure to turn it on a weekly basis until they get the message and bugger off?

magicbastarder

dardevle wrote: »

also if you have an open fire the fine ashes work great in the composter!

only wood ash, mind. especially if you're using the compost on a vegetable bed.

also, urinate into it.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

magicbastarder wrote: »

only wood ash, mind. especially if you're using the compost on a vegetable bed.

also, urinate into it.

+1 on the Wood Ash only. Do NOT put coal ash in the compost bin.

dardevle

r3nu4l wrote: »

I just turned my compost on Sunday and noticed I have an ants nest in it! I could see the (very unhappy!) ants moving lots of ant larvae about in an effort to protect them.

Is having an ants nest doing harm to my composting efforts? Should I make sure to turn it on a weekly basis until they get the message and bugger off?

ants are usually a sign of a dry compost and are not doing
any harm to to the composting process, if they are a bother then you can up the moisture content and that should get rid of.

Steve

I had the same problem - layers of dry and layers of grass turning into putrid smelly mush.

A few sprinkles of Garotta with each fill sorted it out.

The Sweeper

(As a complete aside, my mom, who's in her mid seventies, approached the pimply youngfella in a garden centre just out of Bray, looking for Garotta. The look on his face was only marvellous when she asked him "Excuse me, where do you keep your erotica?")

bauderline

Truly a Kodak moment..... !

ROFLMAO !

aggresso

crosstownk wrote: »

Spot on.

I started composting 3 years ago and didn't bother with what was mentioned by dardevle. As a consequence, the resulting mess was still quite solid and it's only now, 3 years later than I can use it as compost.

I always have two heaps on the go. One gets all the garden and kitchen waste for a year (cut grass is left aside, and added only in thinnish layers -- what I can't use gets thrown under the hedge) and is turned over in the spring and gets used for pumpkin growing (the better rotted stuff at the bottom is now at the top). Once the pumpkins have been harvested, the compost is turned out onto the garden where I want it. I don't worry if bits are not fully rotted. They'll rot soon enough lying about in the garden soil.

The home-made compost gets used mainly for flowerbeds (though the Rhubarb gets at least a barrowful per year). The vegetables get well-rotted manure (there's a children's farm down the road whose staff lend out a bicycle with a trailer to anyone willing to take some of their ****e away with them)

I'd never use a plastic yoke for composting. I find interlocking wooden slats built up to waist height are the business. I only rarely need to water the heap.

They're great for wildlife too. We've had wasps and mice (the latter actually ate the nest of the former while they were still in residence) using the heap for shelter. We even had a hedgehog hibernating under a thick pile of leaves I put on one autumn.

lanod2407

I have a large lawn area (about an acre) with resulting large volumes of grass cuttings to dispose of. I've been dumping them in one area, that's now turned to slimy mush. Got a fork to turn it regularly and keep air moving through it, but I know it's not enough to get the stuff decomposing in the right manner.

Any recommendations?

When I say large volumes of grass, I'm not exaggerating!

Steve

lanod2407 wrote: »

I have a large lawn area (about an acre) with resulting large volumes of grass cuttings to dispose of. I've been dumping them in one area, that's now turned to slimy mush. Got a fork to turn it regularly and keep air moving through it, but I know it's not enough to get the stuff decomposing in the right manner.

Any recommendations?

When I say large volumes of grass, I'm not exaggerating!

Use Garotta and mix in some dry leaves or shredded newspaper.

lanod2407

stevec wrote: »

Use Garotta and mix in some dry leaves or shredded newspaper.

Thanks - should I continue to 'turn' the heap regularly with a fork?

Steve

I would think adding the garotta and turning it frequently until the slime has dried out a bit would be the best. Add in some soil as well as you do it.
Once the slime is gone, cover it with some old carpet and leave it for the rest of the year.

Probably best to have several heaps on the go at the same time for that amount of grass.

Degsy

The best thing to get a compost heap going is horse manure.If you've a lot of grass cuttings by themselves they wont create the right bacteria to turn to compost so you need to introduce some nitrogen into the mix.Horse dung can be added between layesr of green waste and the whole lot mixed up after a month or so.Ordinary urine too has a good effect on the heap.

lanod2407

Degsy wrote: »

Ordinary urine

.............. as opposed to ???? ......... "extra-ordinary"???!!!

mmmmmmmmm - might be a bit of a walk from the house!!

Thanks!

Degsy

lanod2407 wrote: »

.............. as opposed to ???? ......... "extra-ordinary"???!!!

mmmmmmmmm - might be a bit of a walk from the house!!

Thanks!

As opposed to horse's urine or anything like that.If you dont want to walk you can go in a bottle and pour it over he h eap when you've collecetd a bit.

luckat

Sounds to me like your compost's just too dry. Stick a hose in the middle of it for an hour or so every now and then, and it should start to work.

If you're feeling rich, buy a handful of red brandling worms and set 'em loose in there. You'll get them in a gardening shop.

(A friend of mine who lives in London has two great things from her local council: a tiny allotment in a bombed-out street a couple of streets away, which has been wired off 'temporarily' since the 1960s or so and used for local allotments, and a wormery, which she bought for £10 from the council, complete with worms. How I wish Irish councils would sell us wormeries and have small, really local allotments.)