Backyard Composting

Typical Compost Pile vs “Rapid”

• Material added randomly in layers and over time

• Turned when you feel like it

• Mostly just a yard waste disposal site

• Has inherent limitations

Keys to Rapid Composting

• Right mix of greens & browns

• Sufficient volume to reach appropriate temperatures

• Aerated

• Slightly moist like a wrung out sponge

Carbon:Nitrogen Ratio • Mix equal parts of greens &

browns

• Greens: grass cuttings, food scraps, weeds, manures, coffee grounds

• Browns: dried leaves & grass, straw, fine wood chips, egg cartons, newspapers

• SHRED leaves, straw, pine needles, paper first

Sufficient Volume

• Optimum size 3’ by 3’

• Build your pile deliberately – Layer browns, greens

– Cover food scraps

– Moisten

• Choose your pile “structure”

• Need a least 2 piles

• Goal is to get center of pile to 135 -160°F within 48 hours

Thermophilic Bacteria

Aerated & Moist

• Turn the pile!

• Mix undecomposed material into center of pile to keep heat levels up

• Maintains aeration

• Can have finished compost in 4-6 weeks

• Start another pile in between time

“Pile” options

• A pile

• Concrete blocks

• Wooden bins

• Plastic bins

• Plastic tumblers

• Steel drums

• Wire cages

Compost Bins

Compost Ingredients Yes Leaves, straw, pine

needles

Grass clippings, weeds

Food scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds

Shredded paper

Hair

100% Cotton

Rhubarb, oleander OK

No Soil or wood ashes

Meat, fat or dairy products

Dog or cat poop

Diseased plant materials, especially viruses

Tough weeds

My compost pile has issues…. • Smells bad = anaerobic

– Turn to “fluff”, too wet, too many greens

• Doesn’t get hot enough – Too small, too dry, not enough greens

– Add organic N fertilizer, i.e. blood meal

– Compost starters are high N, maybe enzyme

• Gets too hot, cooks microorganisms – Make smaller, fluffier pile

• Critters get in it – Don’t add meat or fat

– Use rodent/critter proof bin

Harvesting Compost

• Should smell pleasant, earthy

• Will turn dark

• Sources indistinguishable

• Let cure for a couple weeks if using rapid composting

• Screen through chicken wire or hardware cloth

Compost Tea • Lots of variability, uncertainty

• Start with healthy, fresh compost

• Soak compost in water

• Maybe not a good source of nutrients, but may suppress plant disease

• Easier to apply to some plants (i.e. containers or as foliar sprays)

• Use fresh, doesn’t keep

Compost Alternatives

• Just put food scraps under mulch

• What to do with food scraps in winter? – Cover to prevent N

leaching

• Vermiculture

• Unknown – Bokashi, etc

Back to my compost pile

• I don’t turn the pile enough or water it, so – Takes much longer to

compost – all growing season

– Some nutrients leach out due to rainfall

– Disease-producing organisms, weed seeds, insect eggs are not killed

• Critter feeding station