Compost

[TeeDee]

I now have a small army of Compost daleks - huddled together like a rabid pack of Penguins.

Most of my waste Ingredients is I would say Grass cuttings , Leaves , some small branches , food waste , Horse manure ( purchased -seems a good idea ) and some occasional soil chucked on top to compress it down. So I can stick more in ( not saying that is a good thing )

Oh and the not so occasional small mouse when my cats can be bothered to get off their arses and do some heavily subsided mousing.


So I was wondering about the applied science of composting , a bit of a mental ramble ending up with a question regarding 'best practice' of composting.

If one could have 9 separate composts bins of 1m x 1m x 1m would they fare better or worse than say an combined single compost heap of say 3m x 3m x 1m ? Is there an increased advantage to mass?

Also I've heard of different things added to compost - Coffee grinds and Seaweed spring to mind - both I'm sure I could easily acquire - but are they worth it? what do they bring to the party and what else is it worth adding ??

I have the inners plastic tanks of some IBCs and considered modifying and using those - maybe insert an inner aerated tube ( drainage hose ) down vertically in the centre of the compost mound as a high speed access run for worms and for me to toss foodwaste?

Manure - I mentioned Horse manure because around here its easy to source and cheap and thankfully quite easy to transport. As a child growing up on a small hobby farm of sorts I knew the chicken poop was a 'hot' manure and was very different - so what manures are good to use and in what ratio?


Wood Ash - I occasionally have a burn and end up with wood ash - worth being included?


Worms!!! The next thing!! What worms can or should be used with composting? I've seen some unusual species of worms advertised for sale and they all have aggressive names ( tiger worms , night crawlers ) - can one source worm eggs online? whats the right amount of worms to include in a compost bin and is that different to a wormery?


So what do people here do , for themselves , have seen done and think ' thats a good idea' etc.

 

[Broch]

@British Red is the man to advise I think

Having spent many years trying to follow the "theoretical" best practice of compost making I have now become quite a lot less fussy over it - the difference? not a lot as far as I can see.

So, I have two piles, this year's fresh waste (left open), and last year's composted waste (covered). It goes on the garden after the second year. I do put grass cuttings on it but no more than 50% (ideally). In addition all kitchen non-cooked food waste, coffee grounds, tea bags (not plastic ones), etc go on. The grass cuttings are balanced with wood chip from my logging. After the second year it is dark and friable and smells ... well, of compost!

It would probably benefit from the composted pile being turned over once or twice but, with all the other tasks to do, it doesn't get done.

 

[Pattree]

Compost and wormeries are totally different animals.
Composting is far too hot for worms.

My daughter’s wormery looked like a composting dalek but had a textile filter near the base. Liquid accumulated below the filter and was drawn off via a tap.

Your list of ingredients looks pretty comprehensive. We used to add lime. I can’t remember how much, it was sprinkled as as we built up the layers. Your wood ash would go part way to supplying that.

The advantage of the plastic dalek is that you avoid the faf of turning the heap out side to inside twice a year as we did with wooden boarded bulk compost “bins”.