home made compost soil - Page 2

Lacy · #11 05-02-2008, 04:25 AM

I think that is an excellent idea snow. Compost is amazing stuff BUT like myself many people just don't do it right. It sometimes takes years for stuff to decompose if you don't do it right. I have had the same piece of water melon rind in my compost now for about 3 years so obviously it is not working up to par.

This is a very good idea. An 8 week turn around is vry quick indeed.
Good idea indeed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnowWhite

want quicker turn around on your compost....get one of these bad boys....

SmartSoil - the Clever Way to Compost

I've been doing lots of reading about composting recently and I'm about to get one of these myself. The key is regular rotation which really speeds the process up, just turn the barrel, easy....and the clever thing about this one is that it has 2 insulated compartments so one side can be maturing and the other side will be 'active'...and cos it's insulated, it keeps composting in winter as well. It really is very clever and well designed, but it's not that cheap!

They claim to get useable compost in only 8 weeks. I'll let you know how I get on though, I may start a thread

Whether I will use this humus to grow my weed or not, I don't know yet. I will probably experiment with it I guess. I agree that used pure it would be far to hot, but used/mixed in the correct quantities I reckon my plants would love it!

s.c.mtn.hillbilly · #12 05-11-2008, 04:00 AM

BIO DYNAMICS people!!!! get your soil back in tune. there are infinitely complex interactions between minerals, soil fungus and bacteria,worms,insects,water, gasses,solar energy, even chi in myriad frequecies and states. the web of these interactions determines the quality of the soil. bio dynamics is a method and a path of study into the depths of these relationships with the ultimate goal being an extremely healthy balance....and the very best weed only comes from the very best soil. it's an absolutely necessary tool for your bag of tricks! one more note: lincoln once said "if you give me 6 hrs. to chop down a tree, I'd spend 4 sharpening the axe!"...do what you must for this year, but you should get going on next year's super soil as well.

organick · #13 05-11-2008, 07:13 AM

Hello Organic Growers.
This is the story of my compost pile (micro-herd resort). I use the name micro-herd resort because I want to give my micro-herd the atmosphere to thrive.

Main Ingredients:
Coffee Grounds, spent (gathered from local coffee shop)
Dry brown leaves (gathered from my apartment complex)
nitrogen/inoculation tea ("day aged water", pee, boxed organic fert and whatever mixed "light" {see threads})
Two tablespoons dolomite Lime (of course) or a sprinkle here and there to keep things sweet.
I put the leaves in the large storage tub (dumpster dived, recycled) and mixed in the limed coffee grounds (mixed two tablespoons of lime per 2.5 gallons of coffee grounds or there about, not sure. Just want to get some lime in there, coffee breaks down really acidic. Not like I’m going to go buy a PH meter or anything).
Leaves where then smashed (not too tight) into 5 gal. buckets and about one and a half gallons of tea poured over them. I let this soak about 20 min then poured into another 5 gal. (if the leaves look a little dry or no tea pours out when transferring leaves I add a little water) Back and forth a few times to get them good and soaked (I work in the garden, around the house, gather more leaves, read, yada, yada, while leaves are soaking) . I found I could do this easier with the storage tub. As long as the dry leaves are well exposed to water (half soaked).I live in a dry area, breakdown is a lot faster if leaves are wet and mixed well with coffee.
The "pile" as it sits now. Going on vacation for two weeks so hopefully when I get back the center should be getting some heat generated.
Won’t have the finished product for a while but I believe my ground is already happier having it around. If things stay cool, below 90 degrees around here, I might start a worm bin using some of the compost , otherwise I’ll wait till fall.
Any and all comments welcome.
Peace out.
P.S. Yea, I posted this on another forum but i thought it might come in handy, then I thought "definitely guy-mulch-pile"
Not supposed to mulch like with like. Most pot-heads don't grow anything else (I said pot-heads not gardening pot-heads) so for the run of the mill pot head it can be a bad idea.
P.P.S. no nothing scientific about mulching like with like right now but that is coming up.