I'm thinking about starting my own compost box out of the way in my backyard, but I'm curious to what kinds of pests they attract. I want to be able to mix it in with my soil and worm castings, but I'm afraid of fire ants etc. taking over the soil. Does anyone have any experience with compost? I would love more ideas/ pics of compost setups and how best to utilize compost for mj, like what do you use for ingredients, duration, season influence, mixing ratio etc. I would prefer to not have to water with nutes, if I can attain a soil that is enriched with enough organic byproducts to keep my plants healthy throughout their grow.

Okay, two concepts which go hand-in-hand: compost and mulch.

Mulch is a layer of unfinished compostable stuff that sits on top of the soil AROUND your plants. It helps nutrify your soil every watering, and also slows down moisture evaporation so you don't have to water as often.

Every new planting season I'd spread about a couple inches of half-finished compost (mulch) around young plants.

At the end of a harvest simply turn over the mulch into the soil and you'll get instant nutrient fortification. Or, allow the mulch layer to get thicker and thicker every year for a very long term, very easy to tend, very fertile growing space.

Compostables: anything green and leafy, fruit and veggie rinds, pretty much all plant stuff EXCEPT beans! No beans, no milk, no egg, no meat... none, no!

About bugs, I did find an increased presence of beetles and slugs around my pile. The beetles were harmless in the garden, indeed they and their larva played a role in composting, but slugs are not welcome. There are a number of slug repellents, my favorite was to show up early in the morning and throw them over my fence into my asshole neighbors yard.

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Bumpage...

My pops has a nice compost pile filled with everything fruit related, Bannana peels, Paper napkins, bread, egg shells, vegetables, and other left overs and raw foods AND a good bit of leaves and plant matter. ( Never meats though )

So far as far as pests and other insects, mostly all live inside the compost. There are MANY worms, rolly pollys, beetles, centipedes etc. inside the pile (Which help the process, and also signify a good compost) , but not much outside at all. I have seen no ants or otherwise annoying pests around,( Though our dogs love the smell and try to get into it constantly!) It smells pretty rank.

He Constantly goes outside with a rake to churn the pile and keep it going. The Heat inside of the pile can excess a few hundredd degrees, from what i am told.
His compost has turned out PRIMO!! After a good season of adding, adding, adding, then letting it sit and churn often, a BEAUTIFUL BLACK SOIL has emerged from our once smelly rotten pile of plants and food!

how do you know when your pile is ready... my pile smelled in the beginning ...now it smells somewhat earthly....before it smelled a lil like sewage ...i checked it with my ferry morse meter and i dont get a hot reading anymore....would it be considered ready????

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Medical marijuana patient

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BadBoomSxy.... Here is a link, that lacks pics, but has good info on common pests that end up in your compost pile.
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http://www.jetcompost.com/burrow/pests1.htm
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Pss... Make yourself a compost barrel and you'll end up with better quality compost, quicker and without most of the pests found in piles.
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Hope this helps....
Keep it Real...Organic.....
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