Greasemonkey's Compost Pile

MustangStudFarm

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
greasemonkeymann said:
nah man for my entire pile I used only about 2 or maybe 3 lbs, of each depending on the nutrient, for example shrimp meal is fluffy and doesn't weigh much (reminds me of sawdust)
but fish bone meal is dense
just a sprinkling, a thin sprinkling of each nutrient, and then a layer of leaves, then repeat until you have all your nutrients in there, making sure to LIGHTLY spray water on each layer as you go, not enough to move the nutrients, but just enough to make them damp, to accelerate the whole compost process.
you don't HAVE to have fish meal or fish bone meal. It's just what I like.
Give me a list of whats available to you and we'll see if we can improvise.
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Dude, there is nothing available. The "organic" store only wants to sell hydro equipment, and the landscaping store is geared towards elderly people. I will probably have to order EVERYTHING online. The landscaping store will occasionally carry alfalfa and bat guano but that is about it!
 
MustangStudFarm

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
Same reason that I have been talking about "Build-a-soil". It is about the only place that I can get all of this together, and better yet, it is all mixed for me. There is nothing wrong with using it right? It makes shopping a whole lot easier for me!
 
MustangStudFarm

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
I probably need to stop using them as a crutch, but it really sucks not being able to find this stuff locally... I am guessing that both of you are able to source this locally, right? If you shop online, let me know the best place to go. I found Kelp4Less on Ebay, they seem to have most of the stuff.
 
MustangStudFarm

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
greasemonkeymann said:
nah man for my entire pile I used only about 2 or maybe 3 lbs, of each depending on the nutrient, for example shrimp meal is fluffy and doesn't weigh much (reminds me of sawdust)
but fish bone meal is dense
just a sprinkling, a thin sprinkling of each nutrient, and then a layer of leaves, then repeat until you have all your nutrients in there, making sure to LIGHTLY spray water on each layer as you go, not enough to move the nutrients, but just enough to make them damp, to accelerate the whole compost process.
you don't HAVE to have fish meal or fish bone meal. It's just what I like.
Give me a list of whats available to you and we'll see if we can improvise.
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I will go back to Ebay and see what everything cost in 10lb bags. Last night, I was looking at 25-50lbs of everything. I am making this more difficult than needed I am sure!

I just looked again... I will get this stuff on Ebay, it is not that bad!!! Thanks again Grease. Beemo, I did not even think about build-a-soil not mixing it well. Thanks
 
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greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
MustangStudFarm said:
I probably need to stop using them as a crutch, but it really sucks not being able to find this stuff locally... I am guessing that both of you are able to source this locally, right? If you shop online, let me know the best place to go. I found Kelp4Less on Ebay, they seem to have most of the stuff.
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yea, I got a cool hippy-run garden store that I love. They even sell shit by the pound.
You got rabbits right?
just smash out a layer of rabbit shit man, that's stuff is golden
I've personally seen fantastic herb grown with just rabbit manure and kelp meal.
Layer of rabbit shit, then leaves, then kelp meal, then leaves. do that like a couple times, don't be shy with the leaves.
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
MustangStudFarm said:
Dude, there is nothing available. The "organic" store only wants to sell hydro equipment, and the landscaping store is geared towards elderly people. I will probably have to order EVERYTHING online. The landscaping store will occasionally carry alfalfa and bat guano but that is about it!
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are there feed stores around?
You can get alfalfa there
I forget where you live..
 
MustangStudFarm

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
I am gathering manure regularly from chickens and rabbits, this is about a 3 day build up. I put a catch pan under where the chickens sleep at night, and this is 2x changing the rabbit bedding. This bedding is straw, I just started using the alfalfa for bedding a couple of days ago.
DSC00215.JPG DSC00216.JPG

What I am interested in, is the compost accelerator. I saw that fish bone meal and alfalfa fit the bill!
 
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greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
MustangStudFarm said:
I am gathering manure regularly from chickens and rabbits, this is about a 3 day build up. I put a catch pan under where the chickens sleep at night, and this is 2x changing the rabbit bedding. This bedding is straw, I just started using the alfalfa for bedding a couple of days ago.
View attachment 3586547 View attachment 3586548
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try more for the rabbit more so than the chicken shit, but you are composting it either way, it's just the NPK ratio of chicken shit isn't as good as the rabbit.
but adding leaves and all that will make up for it
 
calliandra

calliandra

Well-Known Member
MustangStudFarm said:
What I am interested in, is the compost accelerator. I saw that fish bone meal and alfalfa fit the bill!
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Actually I use rock dust to accelerate the decomposition of my chop-and-drop mulch in the veggie garden -- it's also used in compost heaps for the same reason, and vs. smells...

So maybe if you can source that in addition to your rabbit/chicken poo? It's rather common, even in the town where I live, which seems to present a similar situation availability-wise as yours ;)
 
Midwest Weedist

Midwest Weedist

Well-Known Member
@greasemonkeymann what's your opinion of using urine to keep up temps for thermal composting in the winter? I hear the salt concern a lot, but with the amount of snow that melts and thus leaches through, I see no issues. Keeps my pile steaming in sub 0's.
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
Midwest Weedist said:
@greasemonkeymann what's your opinion of using urine to keep up temps for thermal composting in the winter? I hear the salt concern a lot, but with the amount of snow that melts and thus leaches through, I see no issues. Keeps my pile steaming in sub 0's.
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I've used it a couple times, in my opinion if you use it similar to how you'd feed a plant, only at twice strength
I've read it's close to a 15/1/1 at a dilution of 20/1, for a nutrient, so i'd half that dilution rate, to 10/1
so i'd estimate adding 2 gallons to it, then watering.
I wouldn't use it straight up though. Gotta dilute that.
If you are adding leaves or another carbon rich ingredient you could probably up the ratio, but i'm always going on the "light" side of things, to be safe.
Even if it were too potent you could always add another bag of leaves or whatnot.

I know a couple old hippies that use three things to grow with.
Urine, alpaca manure, and kelp manure.
No minerals (well minus the kelp), nothing else.
recycled soil, with peat/coco as their base.
Oh and that herb they grow?
Is damn fine, some of the best outdoor I've ever had.

Bottom line, is anything super high in nitrogen is going to keep those temps high, and i'd have NO problem using urine, just do so sparingly, as i'd speculate at the bottom/possible anaerobic pockets of the pile, it may create some stinkiness... But if you turn it like 3 days after? it's be all good man.
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
calliandra said:
Actually I use rock dust to accelerate the decomposition of my chop-and-drop mulch in the veggie garden -- it's also used in compost heaps for the same reason, and vs. smells...

So maybe if you can source that in addition to your rabbit/chicken poo? It's rather common, even in the town where I live, which seems to present a similar situation availability-wise as yours ;)
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absolutely! It's why I layer in so many different types
Soft rock, greensand, langbenite, oyster meal, etc.
Minerals are awesome for a compost pile, and after the process that hard-to-uptake phosphorus is broken down into a useable form, here, let me get a technical explanation..

Heres a cut and paste from the University of Minnesota and some study they did, i'd link it, but this part is like waaaay down.
so I just copied


The phosphate in fertilizers and manure is initially quite soluble and available. Most phosphate fertilizers have been manufactured by treating rock phosphate (the phosphate-bearing mineral that is mined) with acid to make it more soluble. Manure contains soluble phosphate, organic phosphate, and inorganic phosphate compounds that are quite available. When the fertilizer or manure phosphate comes in contact with the soil, various reactions begin occurring that make the phosphate less soluble and less available. The rates and products of these reactions are dependent on such soil conditions as pH, moisture content, temperature, and the minerals already present in the soil.

As a particle of fertilizer comes in contact with the soil, moisture from the soil will begin dissolving the particle. Dissolving of the fertilizer increases the soluble phosphate in the soil solution around the particle and allows the dissolved phosphate to move a short distance away from the fertilizer particle. Movement is slow but may be increased by rainfall or irrigation water flowing through the soil. As phosphate ions in solution slowly migrate away from the fertilizer particle, most of the phosphate will react with the minerals within the soil. Phosphate ions generally react by adsorbing to soil particles or by combining with elements in the soil such as calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), and iron (Fe), and forming compounds that are solids. The adsorbed phosphate and the newly formed solids are relatively available to meet crop needs.
Good shit, I think a lot of times new growers don't truly understand that having phosphorus nutrients in your soil isn't the only important thing.
And trying to get all these things present in a typical seven or ten gallon container, with happy ph, and aeration.
 
calliandra

calliandra

Well-Known Member
greasemonkeymann said:
Good shit, I think a lot of times new growers don't truly understand that having phosphorus nutrients in your soil isn't the only important thing.
And trying to get all these things present in a typical seven or ten gallon container, with happy ph, and aeration.
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LOL so true, and it's not only new growers either - but even certified organic farmers! (I had the pleasure of that surprise last summer lol)

Thanks for sharing that!
The soil is an universe waiting to be discovered indeed -- and I am finally realizing that chemistry + soil doesn't necessarily spell disaster (as in industrial agriculture) but has a legitimate place in tending to the soil in holistic ways too!
 
MustangStudFarm

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
greasemonkeymann said:
absolutely! It's why I layer in so many different types
Soft rock, greensand, langbenite, oyster meal, etc.
Minerals are awesome for a compost pile, and after the process that hard-to-uptake phosphorus is broken down into a useable form, here, let me get a technical explanation..

Heres a cut and paste from the University of Minnesota and some study they did, i'd link it, but this part is like waaaay down.
so I just copied


The phosphate in fertilizers and manure is initially quite soluble and available. Most phosphate fertilizers have been manufactured by treating rock phosphate (the phosphate-bearing mineral that is mined) with acid to make it more soluble. Manure contains soluble phosphate, organic phosphate, and inorganic phosphate compounds that are quite available. When the fertilizer or manure phosphate comes in contact with the soil, various reactions begin occurring that make the phosphate less soluble and less available. The rates and products of these reactions are dependent on such soil conditions as pH, moisture content, temperature, and the minerals already present in the soil.

As a particle of fertilizer comes in contact with the soil, moisture from the soil will begin dissolving the particle. Dissolving of the fertilizer increases the soluble phosphate in the soil solution around the particle and allows the dissolved phosphate to move a short distance away from the fertilizer particle. Movement is slow but may be increased by rainfall or irrigation water flowing through the soil. As phosphate ions in solution slowly migrate away from the fertilizer particle, most of the phosphate will react with the minerals within the soil. Phosphate ions generally react by adsorbing to soil particles or by combining with elements in the soil such as calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), and iron (Fe), and forming compounds that are solids. The adsorbed phosphate and the newly formed solids are relatively available to meet crop needs.
Good shit, I think a lot of times new growers don't truly understand that having phosphorus nutrients in your soil isn't the only important thing.
And trying to get all these things present in a typical seven or ten gallon container, with happy ph, and aeration.
Click to expand...
I found this at my local store and it has most of the things that I was having trouble finding!!! Would there be anything wrong with buying a 40lb bag of this stuff? I could add to it, and it would make finding amendment a lot easier. Hell, the store was just selling me the individual boxes of the same stuff. Really limited on what they have in stock most of the time!

http://downtoearthfertilizer.com/products/blended_fertilizer/bio-live-5-4-2/
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
MustangStudFarm said:
I found this at my local store and it has most of the things that I was having trouble finding!!! Would there be anything wrong with buying a 40lb bag of this stuff? I could add to it, and it would make finding amendment a lot easier. Hell, the store was just selling me the individual boxes of the same stuff. Really limited on what they have in stock most of the time!

http://downtoearthfertilizer.com/products/blended_fertilizer/bio-live-5-4-2/
Click to expand...
it'd work, it's not ideal, but there is a LOT of leeway in organics, my issues with that are this.
One. mychorrizhae is simply eaten my other microbes if not introduced to roots physically.
Two, feather meal has arsenic.
and three, I personally don't like mixed ingrediants because they tend to settle, and then it's hard to get a good mix of it all.
BUT... if you cant find all that shit man... just go for it.
Get the box it'll work just fine
 
MustangStudFarm

MustangStudFarm

Well-Known Member
greasemonkeymann said:
it'd work, it's not ideal, but there is a LOT of leeway in organics, my issues with that are this.
One. mychorrizhae is simply eaten my other microbes if not introduced to roots physically.
Two, feather meal has arsenic.
and three, I personally don't like mixed ingrediants because they tend to settle, and then it's hard to get a good mix of it all.
BUT... if you cant find all that shit man... just go for it.
Get the box it'll work just fine
Click to expand...
I missed that it has feather meal! It would be cool to source everything naturally. There is a local chicken processor that is about to open next month, and I asked him what he does with his feathers. He said that he uses a tumbler to strip the feathers, and the chicken usually comes from homeowners. He has a 50 minimum to fill an order and he does not have any plans for the feathers!!! It could be a potential small time business making feather meal, amendments are hard to source around here!

Also, I have a couple of friends that go fishing often. One is supposed to bring about 8 fish over, I might start a separate compost pile for the fish!!! It seemed to be the most expensive amendment anyways, fish. Is there any real problem composting fish other than the smell?
 
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