recipes for compost

i have recently purchased a compost tumbler. I thought i threw stuff in, got black gold out later. After reading my manual, seems there is more to it than that. I thought i would share with you the recipes they gave me. Please let me know what has worked for you and what hasn't. Anybody used anything like this?

Recipe#1
carbon/nitrogen ratio=34:1
fresh grass clipping -12 parts
sawdust - 3parts

#2 c/n ratio = 29.5:1
Straw - parts
kitchen waste - 3 parts
fresh grass clippings - 9 parts

#3 c/n ratio = 35:1
dead leaves - 9 parts
fresh weeds - 3 parts
dehydrated cow manure (store bought, not composted) 3 parts

#4 c/n ratio 32.6:1
fresh grass clippings - 9 parts
kitchen waste - 3 parts
black & white shredded newsprint, soaked - 3 parts
(is this ok for the garden to put shredded newspaper in it eventually? what about the ink?)

#5 c/n ratio = 33:1
fresh horse manure - 7 parts
sawdust - 3 parts
dead leaves - 3 parts

Then they go on to say that when only vegetation is included in the recipe, the fresh to dead ratio is 4:1, and that a 4:1 ratio will generate more heat

here are the examples of nitrogen and carbon
nitrogen----

fresh grass clippings, cut within 24 hours
green yard & garden waste
coffee grounds & tea bags
egg shells rinsed and crushed
uncooked fruit & veg
farm manure
hair trimmings (?)

carbon----
dead leaves shredded
sawdust & wood shavings
straw or hay shredded
wood ash
black & white newsprint, shredded and soaked in water
dead garden waste shredded

Do not use: branshed, twigs, pine needles, redwood, cedar, walnut or treated wood, cooked foods, dairy products, meat or bones, pet waste

I just really found this interesting, I know alot of you are pros, but there may be some newbies out there like me that would soak this up like I did. Maybe I could package this at Christmas in pretty little bags with the recipes tied with ribbons onto it for gifts to my gardening friends!

Great list but I'd be careful with the wood ash. In a regular pile most of the "Do not use" can be used in small amounts except for treated wood & pet waste. I would also leave out "diseased plants". My recipe is (3) wheelbarrows of spoiled / shredded scrap hay and (1) 5-gallon bucket of fresh chicken manure (or) (1) wheelborrow of the the leafy greens. All the miscellaneous stuff gets mixed in.

I have the barrel-on-a-base type and for the love of mike don't put in a lot of grass clippings. I buried that mistake in what will be a real compost bed, and have started over. The literature that came with mine suggests 50:50 brown and green. I'll let you know if it works. Or if I bury it again. I think the real problem is air, if you have the kind I got.

Mine is called compact compost tumbler. It holds 28 gal. and has a handle to crank on the side. there are air holes that are adjustable. it also has a screen so you can filter what comes out. I also got a thermometer to check temp. I havent got that far though. I did order the cutest little stainless pail with lid and handle to keep in the kitchen sink. Now everyone puts their waste in there and I send it out with a kid oncce a day.

Not the same kind, then. But it is my impression, since you don't have the bugs and worms you'd have if you put the stuff on the ground, that you put in more green than you would in the usual compost heap. I'm going to give this another try or two, but in the meantime, I'm building a low brick square to compost on the ground. None too happy with the tumbler, but my first effort going wrong doesn't mean it won't work.

I have been thinking about that ground contact too. I do like that it is up waist level. I would like to have both, i big pile off out of the way and then have my little tumbler to put stuff in from the kitchen etc. This thing won't be able to keep up with me come fall. One thing is did stress, was that the nitrogen to carbon ratio should be 4:1 for fairly quick results and that if you used grass clippings that is was important that they be fresh so the nitrogen in them would heat up the pile. I want to try the sawdust and the dry leaves this fall. It will have to be early fall since it cools down here later and it won't heat the tumbler as well I would suppose. I did buy some activator. Do you know exactly what the ingredients are to be called activator? Also have read some on the site about worm composting. Sounds too dedicated for me right now in my life. Interesting, the kids would like it too. You'll have to read some the the threads on DG about it.

4:1, huh? I'd better go put some nitrogen in there, then. The info that came with mine suggests 50-50. Hmmmm... The grass clippings I put in were only hours old, and the whole thing became anaerobic, but that's now buried. But I put in equal parts shredded newspaper, so that may be it. The more I learn the more confused I become about the whole thing. I've just put in equal parts again, but no grass clippings, just kitchen waste (which I keep in the freezer) and shredded newspaper. I've been reading about activators and I think it's mainly bacteria and fungi; it may do the trick. I'm also going to put a small log in there to help break the stuff up.

I have a worm bin going. If you're interested, and especially if your kids are, google "cheap and easy worm bin" for the setup. It's working very well, though I'm getting a few fruit flies (and if I don't deal with them soon it will be a horde of fruit flies). Those little guys are going to town. And the very nice thing is, if it doesn't work for whatever reason, you can dump the whole thing in the compost pile once it's cool enough. Nature somehow seems to keep the balance a whole lot better than I can! Fancy that. But it takes very little time and care. I'll hopefully harvest some soon, and dress one of my raised beds with it.

Edited to say you might google Johnny's Seeds and get their catalog. As well as all kinds of seeds they have all kinds of stuff like activators, and in the catalog they explain how things work, what's in them, etc. A real education.

This message was edited Aug 1, 2006 11:03 AM

my compost recipe:

anything that was made from something that was once alive and is now trash is tossed in the bin. I will occaisonally add water from the rain barrel or water from cooking (ie pasta water).

my common composted items:

shredded junk mail

weeds pulled from the landscape and garden

the liquid from half empty cans of pop and beer left laying around after a party

the moldy stuff that was forgotten in the refrigerator

fruit and veggie scraps from cooking (onion skins, potato peels, celery leaves, broccoli stems, carrot skins... yadda yadda yadda)

mulched leaves in the fall

dead potted plants

left over dirt from potted plants

left over pumpkins in the fall

the straw bales and mums from the fall display

the christmas wreath

the christmas tree (after it has been run through the chipper)

used beer


This message was edited Aug 1, 2006 11:12 AM

Hi joepyeweed,
I've taken your advice and added shredded newspaper and junk mail in small amounts. So far it's worked very well. I've also been adding the usual kitchen wastes and garden trimmings, etc.

The other day I poured the water I used to steam veggies in on the pile since it needed water anyway. I figured this was one way to "save" the nutrients that get lost in cooking. Anyone: Does this make sense to do, or is it a waste of energy?

I also got a thermometer the other day. I'm turning into a real compost geek! :^D Over the last five days it's been about 135 degrees. Woo hoo!

winging

I think by adding the kitchen cooking water to your compost pile you are conserving water - you are using the water twice, once to cook your veggies, and then instead of dumping it down the drain; you are using it to moisten your compost pile (besides the potential benefits of nutrients in the water). I re-use my cooking water in this matter quite frequently. Pasta water, veggie water, dish soaking water, egg boiling water...

Alrighty then. Conserving water is a good thing. :)

Thanks

joe, do you have any experience with the tumbler composters? I had great luck with my "real" pile years ago, and this thing is becoming a nightmare. Ratio and aeration -- I need to master them soon, or find another use for this $100+ plastic barrel. Grrrrr...

Nope - but I can understand why its more important to pay attention to the mix in the barrel than in just a plain ol' pile.

some common composting rule's o' thumb

1. if its stinky add more browns (shredded junk mail) ...

2. if its too dry - add some moisture, (if its too wet, add some browns)

3. if its not decomposing - just wait and it will (patience)

4. if you are in hurry - add more greens (kitchen scraps, used coffee grounds)

5. Too many greens and you will be back to number one.

I think, if I had a barrel, I would probably keep it on the dry / brown side of the mixture. Doing this will take longer to get finished compost, but a dryer / carbon heavy mixture is less likely to have aeration problems - ( the aeration and moisture seems to be common complaints from barrel users; based upon what I have read - seeing how I have no experience with the barrels.)

Well, the only thing I can say for sure about the barrel is that if you put in a lot of grass clippings, you'll get green dog's droppings. It IS like magic, but not the kind they advertise. ;p

fresh grass clippings are primarily just water ... so you really should let them dry before you use them or mix them heavily with browns (leaves or paper)...

The best place for grass clippings though is mulched right back into the lawn.

joe, I leave my own on the lawn, but I talked my neighbor into giving me his instead of throwing them away in plastic bags.

Other people's grass clippings are fine for composting ;- )

Joe you think like me. Anything free especially nitrogen is a special gift. Though I compost on the ground and want a barrel for mixing soils to add to my raised beds.

I do everything as simply and cheaply as possible.

Bagging and lifting grass clippings is way too much work for me.

So is turning a compost pile - I follow the "let it set" philosophy as much as possible.
There are a few times when I have sifted and turned the pile, but not very many....

I am a lazy gardener, composter and landscaper....

Ahh you democrat gardeners. LOL Lazy and don't turn compost. Unspeakable. I cannot wait for my compost to wile a way. I need it now! 3 turns and its ready in 1 to 2 months. (in the summer) 6 months in the winter.

democrat??? I've consider my composting style moderately conservative...

mine's looking like a yellow dog...

Politics aside, soferdig, that's a great idea. Just use the expensive barrel to mix stuff up to put it into the beds. I'm still hoping I'll get some compost out of it, but I'm sure not counting on it.

question about the shredded paper. doyou use newspaper? the junk mail, can it be anytype of paper? what about the little plastic windows that are on the front of the envelope? just really curious about the paper issue.

Can you get a decent compost from a tumbler if you use primairly fresh cut grass and newspaper? I do not have much brown in my yard that can be used and i might be able to steal some leaves from a neighbors yard in october or november but otherwise, I have grass and papers readily available.

Thank you,

Tammie

Tumblers do provide the mechanical advantage of not turning. Don't use the glossy stuff in shredding newspaper. But the rest of it is great Brown.

I'd be careful with recipe #4:

#4 c/n ratio 32.6:1
fresh grass clippings - 9 parts
kitchen waste - 3 parts
black & white shredded newsprint, soaked - 3 parts

Depending on how flat the grass & the kitchen waste this recipe will 'mat' flat and go anaerobic. I'd cut down on the grass & newsprint, and add hollow straw for areation. Most newsprint is using soy based inks which are safe for compost.

I read that you do not use pine needles in a composter... why not? I just raked a big bag full out of my front yard... most of it on my hands and knees using my fingers as a rake... I went to Wal-Mart later in the day and bought a rake... under $4... works much faster. Bet the neighbors would have though I was insane if they had seen me raking the yard at 3am... I wanted to try out my new rake and had just gotten home. It is much cooler to do yard work at that time though.

Tammie

I love gardening at night, you can see what's eating it. Plus I can smell the nicotiana,and it's cooler. I use pine needles, I think they just take longer to break down.

Gardeners want their compost to look like the black shredded stuff that every one shows in their hands. Perfect black small pieces of shredded material. But in reality soil structure is greatly improved by placing long to decompose materials in the compost. IE: pine needles, sticks, stems of perenials, and in my garden pine cones shredded. This of course is not top dressed but rather used to mix in native soil when planting or building beds. This holds moisture, lets the worms have freeways to go up and down in the bed, and long term material for the plant above to use. This is my compost pile and I have a shredder.

nice setup, what are the bins to the left and right?

The bin on the left is my compost ready to use the bin on the right is my moving bin. That is where I put the forking over from the bin on the far right (can't see)and left. Right now it is full of torn sacks from all of the big box stores around. I buy a pallet 10 to 30 bags of torn bags of misc stuff for 10 bucks. This I use where ever. Right now I don't need it. I am building a new 6000 sq ft bed that I am building soil over the next 2 years with mushroom compost and my compost as last addition after it has cooked a while and attracted some worms.

Tammie -- NO! Please check out the thread "I thought I'd done the barrel right" -- grass clippings + newspaper = green dogs droppings. I've started over with kitchen waste and newspaper (I don't have a leaf source either) and so far it's all right. It's going to take a lot longer to get it filled up, but that's better than burying the stuff and starting over. It's entirely possible, of course, that I just had the ratio wrong, but from my experience jozeeben's right. Good luck!

I think the problem with recipe #4 is that the ratio IS wrong and that the newspaper probably didn't need to be soaked. Grass clippings and kitchen waste usually have plenty of moisture ... The carbon ratio (the newspaper) should be considerably larger than the nitrogen ratio (grass clippings and kitchen waste)

If I were to customize recipe #4 it would be more like
fresh grass clippings - 1 part
kitchen waste - 1 part
shredded junk mail, - 6 parts

joe, are you talking regular compost or tumbler?

Either way, tumbler or no tumbler - the carbon to nitrogen ratio should generally be about 3:1 and the moisture level should be damp not moist.

The major difference between an outdoor pile and a tumbler is that the outdoor pile is more forgiving, if either the C-N balance is off or the moisture off.

Gotcha. I had a bin years ago I'd put together from corrugated metal. Punched holes in it with a hammer and just threw in whatever from the kitchen and now and then a bunch of leaves. Never turned it. Six months later, BEAUTIFUL compost for the garden. I'm thinking I'll use this tumbler for mixing things and go find some scrap metal again!

what about using bamboo leaves? and what about throwing in the soil mix from the pots of the plants i buy? they usually have perlite in them. will that help or hurt?

I am not familiar with bamboo- its too cold here - but if it was once alive it can be composted.

I toss soil mix from potted plants into my compost also. (Some people who are very "organic" may not want the perlite in their compost). But it doesn't bother me - I am not certified organic - I may be certifiable though.

Welllllllll, my boyfriend told a friend of ours I was looking for four pallets, and the friend just happened to have four pallets he was trying to get rid of. I think God wants me to compost the right way.