Exotic compost questions

Hubby has access to old piles of the straw, hay and manure that comes from elephants, zebras, buffalo, ostrich and so forth. These piles are 20 plus feet high and have been sitting for 2 to 5 years and are essentially dirt now. Would that be good to use as dirt in containers? We used some that was 4 years old last year and it seemed a bit heavy but the peppers and toms did well. we are using the same pile as we did last year, now 5 years old, and it seems even heavier. What would be good to increase drainage? Could we use fresh hay manure mixed with this to put in the containers? what about the younger stuff? Thanks, Kathy

Compost makes a great garden amendment, but it's not necessarily the best thing to use in containers--you may be able to get away with it with some plants but it's not ideal. I'm not sure if you mixed in enough perlite if that would make it workable or not, but if you've got garden beds I'd definitely recommend using it there rather than for your containers.

No garden beds, the farmer across the way built a dike and it now floods on my property, 1 to 2 feet deep, once or twice a year and have lost plants every year until used containers. I am also in a wheelchair. I have over 100 containers, from GIANT tree size to 1 gallon. Lots of plants and baby plants but before never even had time to look at the dirt as long as the toms and peppers grew. This year, with my broken leg that wont heal and no job i started really gardening, with generous seed donations, and will donate any excess to the local needy organizations. I am also learning that this dirt might be made better, but no money to buy soil amendments. At some point is compost not just dirt? I have had my hands all in this 5 year old compost and it has no smell and looks like dark black dirt, as compared to the red sandy clay we already have here. Anyway, thought i might be able to add the fresher stuff to this and make it lighter but am worried about burning the plants. I also have a horse, pigs, ducks, chickens, a rabbit, and dogs. Thanks for the insight. Kathy aka Filaluvr

The trouble is that you need a different type of material in containers vs in garden beds--you aren't supposed to use regular garden soil in containers because it tends to be too heavy, doesn't drain well enough, and doesn't leave enough room for air around the roots. You'll have similar trouble with your compost--it wouldn't be nearly as bad as taking clay garden soil and putting it in your containers, but it's still not ideal. If you go over to the Container Gardening forum, there are a couple of great threads at the very top of the forum on water movement in containers that explain things way better than I could, I'd definitely recommend reading those. If you have no money for anything else go ahead and try it, some plants may do OK as long as you're careful on the watering, but you will probably find some that don't do well. I wouldn't mix in any fresh manure, that will burn your plants.

Ecrane, you have taken up HOURS of my time the past day or so. I really appreciate the suggestion to go to the container garden forum. I wonder how my plants did do so well last year, but with the compost being younger that had to help with heaviness. My containers are on the ground and that created a good wick so at least I did better in that area. Again i thank you for taking the time to direct me to a better place for information. I might convert my containers to strawbale holders as well after more research. Crazy all the options that are out there. Kathy

Every year I have on my to-do list to make my own container mix along the lines of what tapla recommends in those threads...but I'm too lazy so every year I just buy bags of container mix from the store. One of these days! LOL

Filaluvr,

One inexpensive (but not completely free) option is to add rice hulls. Rice hulls open up the soil very well and one bale goes a long, long, long way.

Love rice hulls! I make a container mix with coir (instead of peat), rice hulls (instead of perlite), vermiculite and fertilizer - really holds water!

Kathy - I confess the first thing I did was look to see where you lived so I could get some of the composted manure.

-Kim