reinbeau
Moderator Extraordinaire
Ya, my son said yesterday "Mom, why don't you get a cow, too?" Ey-ya-ya-ya, just what I need on .6 acre, a cow! And another forum!yotetrapper said:
Composting questions.
- Thread starter lengel
- Start date
patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
Pine shavings, the pooier the better, are fine. If you can offset them with extra high-nitrogen material, and pour on extra water (they need a *lot*), so much the better.lengel said:
Eggshells are fine, although feeding them back to the hens is also a good option.
Banana peels are fine as long as you chop or blenderize them into small pieces. Whole banana peels take approx. forever to break down and can junk up your pile.
Wood ashes aren't so good, except perhaps in tiny amounts, unless you leave them outside to leach in the rain for a good while first. (And if you do that, you have to consider where the leachate is going, because it is not particularly good for plants)
Weeds and yard clippings are excellent provided they do not contain viable seeds or roots. Things which have set seed, or are beginning to set seed, should not go into the pile unless you are DARN SURE it is going to compost fast and hot, and then they should only go in the CENTER of the pile. Things with possibly viable roots -- like quackgrass, thistle, bindweed, etc -- should be baked crispy in the sun for several days or a week or more (be REALLY SURE) before going into the pile. Also, as with banana peels, thicker things should get hacked up as much as is reasonable before going on the pile - they'll compost faster and annoy you less.
HTH,
Pat
ticks
Hunting Crazy
reinbeau said:Ya, my son said yesterday "Mom, why don't you get a cow, too?" Ey-ya-ya-ya, just what I need on .6 acre, a cow! And another forum!yotetrapper said:
enjoy the ride
Sufficient Life
I have used ashes from my pellet stove for three years. The soil here, which is very thin, is really acidic. So I put horse manure down over a section of the paddocks, sprinkle the wood ashes over it, sprinkle seed, cover with old dirty straw or moldy hay, then fence off fo 8-9 months.
This has made a real difference in my quality of grass. I don't have enough that it doesn't get nuked each year. The ranuculus (buttercups) were out of control but the ashes seemed to have sweetened the soil enough that I can get ahead of them. I have had more grass and less weeds each year since I started adding the ash.
Wood ash adds nutrients to the soil and help raises the ph, which in a really acid soil is good. The wood ashes are only dusted like confectioners sugar over the soil which is easy with pellet stove ash. I wonder if there reason that ash is not used more is that people tend to dump it in one spot in lumps and chunks- and then burn other trash at the same spot, then it kills things around it for a long time. So it appears bad. But in small well distributed about, it seems really helpful.
This has made a real difference in my quality of grass. I don't have enough that it doesn't get nuked each year. The ranuculus (buttercups) were out of control but the ashes seemed to have sweetened the soil enough that I can get ahead of them. I have had more grass and less weeds each year since I started adding the ash.
Wood ash adds nutrients to the soil and help raises the ph, which in a really acid soil is good. The wood ashes are only dusted like confectioners sugar over the soil which is easy with pellet stove ash. I wonder if there reason that ash is not used more is that people tend to dump it in one spot in lumps and chunks- and then burn other trash at the same spot, then it kills things around it for a long time. So it appears bad. But in small well distributed about, it seems really helpful.
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
I've always used wood ashes on my compost and garden. There is are several reasons one gets lush new growth after a forest fire and the potash is one of those reasons. Now, don't get all science-y on me folks, I know this isn't the only reason, but it is one of them. I have one of the best gardens in the area and we all have about the same soil here.
patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
The difference in the above 2 posts is that the ashes sit out there and leach for a good long time 
Pat
Pat
reinbeau
Moderator Extraordinaire
Gardens came first here, then bees, then chickens. In forum order, Beemaster, BYC, TEG.
Woodland Woman
Almost Self-Reliant
A couple years ago when I made compost it worked pretty well except for egg shells. We eat a lot of eggs and I always "stacked" the shell halves. Now I make sure I just leave them separate and my compost turns out just fine.
