Composting Beginner

[Soybean]

I would like to start composting so I can reduce the amount of trash we throw out. What is the correct ratio of green material to brown material?

Also, I keep rodents. I use wood pellets as bedding. I change it out once a week. Can I use the used bedding in the compost pile?

 

[Beekissed]

I would like to start composting so I can reduce the amount of trash we throw out. What is the correct ratio of green material to brown material?

Also, I keep rodents. I use wood pellets as bedding. I change it out once a week. Can I use the used bedding in the compost pile?

I think its 30:1 on carbon:nitrogen.....ask Pat, she will know for sure!

I would use the bedding from the rats, although some folks feel that rat droppings might carry some type of bacteria you wouldn't want in your garden. But then....so does chicken and cow dung. All feces have a certain level of bacteria, but when composted correctly should be heated to destruction of the bacteria or even metabolized by other bacteria or fungi.

 

[freemotion]

Don't be afraid to scrounge composting material from neighbors, too. The bigger the pile, the better it "cooks" and the results are pure wonderful.

 

[sylvie]

I added newspaper strips to mine for carbon and it made great compost. I had worm bins that I used the strips in and thought if it was good enough for that it was fine for the pile. Cardboard strips, too. It took more turning but the results were similar to the worm bin because the wild worms and bugs found their way into the pile. I didn't give a thought to the ratio.

 

[gettinaclue]

I'm with Sylvie.

I've never put a thought to the ratios. We cleared part of out property last year and there was plenty wild oats to put in the bottom to start us off. We just threw kitchen scraps on top and covered them with more oats.

If you see little fruit flys add more browns. Newspaper, papertowel rolls or TP rolls, just cardboard in general.

 

[patandchickens]

I would like to start composting so I can reduce the amount of trash we throw out. What is the correct ratio of green material to brown material?

You want something like 30 grams of carbon for every gram of nitrogen -- but this DOES NOT mean thirty parts 'browns' to one part 'greens'! Not at all (because nothing you add is pure C or pure N, and because an atom of C weighs less than an atom of N anyhow).

As a general approximation to keep you in the realm of reasonable composting, you ideally want something like roughly 5 parts of brown (more carbonaceous) stuff to 1 part of green (high N content) stuff. So for instance one bushel of lawn clippings mixed with 5 bushels of dead leaves.

But you know what, it doesn't really matter that much at all, unless you are trying to set a new land speed record for composting or care about the minutiae of the nutrient content of the finished compost. (Frankly, finely shredding all your material and keeping it the right moisture level will make far more of a difference than obsessing over exact nutrient ratios).

Everything composts *eventually* (although a massively out of whack pile will behave in undesirable ways -- if it is enormously overloaded with N and very little C, like pure chicken poo, it will stench something fierce and become a maggot farm; or on the other end of the spectrum a pile of plain unadulterated wood shavings may not be useable til your grandchildren need compost and even then it won't have a great nutrient content).

Other than avoiding extremes, I do not worry at all about ratios myself. (I have enough space and time to be lazy )

Can I use the used bedding in the compost pile?

I don't see why not, although with any kind of animal manure it is recommended to let it compost for at least 60 days (preferably in the cneter of a hot pile, I am not sure how vital that is however) before messin' with it, at least for food crops.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Mackay]

This past fall I drove the neighborhood and picked up a whole truck load of bagged leaves. I only took leaves that were in black bags. I can tell they are started to rot some already....this spring I will take them up to our mountain place for composting. No trees there so no leaves...all sagebrush...so I gotta haul it in. You can also just turn some uncomposted leaves right into your soil. It will make it more acid, which is what my soil needs...

I got a book called The Four Season Harvest by Elliot Coleman from www.amazon.com got it used. I highly recommend it for lots of great ideas on compost, root cellars, cold frames, and this I found most interesting...what to plant on a bed that will fertilize it when you turn it over and back into the soil.

 

[Soybean]

I have an unlimited supply of coffee grounds since I work in a bookstore/cafe. Is this considered a "green" or a "brown" in compost? I've heard you can simply mix it straight into your soil and it won't hurt the plants, but I wanted to make sure.

 

[Wifezilla]

I have hard water so I can put grounds right on the soil with no problem what so ever. Your mileage may vary depending on your water and soil conditions.

 

[gettinaclue]

I wouldn't swear to it, but I'm thinking that coffee grounds would be a brown.