I think my compost is too wet

Morgan:
Will the addition of leaves, grass clippings, peat moss, alfalfa, or coffee grounds, improve the compost, or will they eliminate some of the fertilizer value, or both?
Lord no. They just help make the compost "richer" and cook faster. I like a "hot" pile, since it breaks down faster. I rarely use commercial fertilizer anymore. Usually it's for something "special" like new roses. I use an osmocoto, slow release that has a high middle number, just to convince the roses to send down deeper roots. We have a very shallow well, so that's one way I can get the most milage out of watering them once established.

scutler, good point about the dyes in fabrics! It is something I would never have thought about!

Zanymuse,

I had some time to think about it. At some point in my composting history I learned that dryer link which is mainly organic fibers is compostable. I was thrilled to have found a use for this ubiquitous stuff until I started to notice the colors. I don't know that the dyes are harmful, but it gives me pause. (It seems we humans have an art for rendering almost everything toxic.)

LOL ain't that the truth!

Therese, when I went back and looked at the wet balls of stuff in your compost barrel again, I thought if I had that I would grab all those balls out and set them down on a tarp or something and break them open and let them dry a bit, then return them with a leaf of straw or dried leaves with maybe the last lawn clippings or alfalfa cubes and turn to mix thoroughly, then leave for 3 days and see if it warms up, if so let it warm for another day then roll it twice and leave it to see if it warms again, if so I'd let it sit and work and then cool and it would be done. Just a thought...
Carol

Agree with Carol. And I think I would add additional "green" materials and maybe some coarsely shredded dampened (as in a wrung out sponge) newspaper to what was left in the composter and give it a spin.

OK -- understood.

I would have to say what is in there, is a lot of grass clippings. I was thinking it needs more newspaper or leaves.

but, i'm also assuming it's pretty much done "cooking" for the year as it's COLD here.

so, do i just let it "sit" til spring? though there are some leaves back there that I can rake up [if i can find the darned rake that DH has hud up in the attic]

Carol -- when i take those "balls" and sorta smash'em, before trying to work them into the soil ... once smashed, all i pretty much see is grass clippings.

but i can do what you suggested next spring, smash and lay them out to "dry" for a bit.

I'm already dreading how busy i'm going to be next spring.

with planting out my WS plants, doing the new flower beds with the neighbor [if she actually goes along with her plan] plus by 4-15-08, we start heading back to Wisc to do spring clean up and dealing with all my plants up there.
OH, not to mention re-doing many of my beds here [getting rid of large wood chips that the slugs live in, etc]

cheryl ... seems we both have huge "must eventually do" lists. LOL.

If you see grass clippings or anything else that you can identify as anything other than 'dirt' that is yet another indication that the compost is not 'finished'. Just to clarify, when I recommended possibly buying a small amount of compost it was only so that you could see for yourself what the stuff should look like when finished. When I mentioned possibly adding a small amount of compost to each new batch of material (at the beginning of the process), I was not advocating the purchase of lots of compost. You simply put a little of this compost (when finished) in the next batch and so on.

Here is what I would do. 1st, since that tumbler doesn't hold very much material, you can't have all that much in there. I don't find that the stuff cooks very well in that thing; so I agree with the idea of getting it out of there. Even though it is winter and you are right that it won't be doing a lot of cooking now, if you have a small area where you could afford to spread it out - and by spread I don't mean necessarily thin, even 6"-8" or so deep is ok - I would pour it out there now and cover it with leaves, pine straw or mulch of some kind. If you have newspaper hanging around I'd put some wet newspaper underneath. Since you are short on time, I wouldn't do anything other than pour it out and cover it up (to keep critters out and make it more presentable). Doing it now means you won't have to do it in spring when you are so busy.

Then just leave it alone and forget it. (That fits your schedule well) Sometime in spring, pull back a bit of the mulch and see what it looks like, if it doesn't look like very rich black dirt, cover it back up and wait some more. Eventually, it will be done. Meanwhile, you can just use your kitchen waste and such to start another batch in your tumbler.

I kid you not. I have material sitting in my tumbler that has been there for 2 years while I was too sick to mess with it. Recently, I opened it expecting that by now it would surely be ready and I could go ahead and use it. To my surprise, I found that it STILL has identifiable material in it. Over the same period I have been tossing all manner of tree prunings, including small limbs (whole) in the wire composter. That thing has 'eaten' tons of material - material that should have taken longer to compost - and converted it to compost even though I have never made any attempt to turn any of it. I'm not sure why, perhaps its the absence of earthworms or of good air flow, but that tumbler just doesn't work at all fast for me.

Cheryl,

thanks for your added input. and i did understand your comment on purchasing compost.

my neighbor once commented about getting dumptruck full of manure ... i sorta laughed and said the rest of the neighborhood would not appreciate the smell. [we have some snoots] and luckily the Pres of the HOA is at the other end of our division ... he's one to get his panties in a bunch.

but we;ll see if Senia [my neighbor] ever gets any.

Maybe your neighbor could get a dumptruck load of "aged" manure. You don't have the smell and you're half way to compost. Just explain to your source what you're up against. Most farmers have plenty of both. Hubby call those HOA's "communist communities"......among other things I can't mention on here.......LOL

Looking for a soil moisture probe, which reads in percentage, for my worm bins, for under $100.

morgan