Does anyone have a recipe to make an accelerator?
Does anybody have a commercial product they would reccomend?
The "composting season" (i.e. the period when the temperature allows bacterial activity) is short where I live, so I'm going to try something to speed-up the process.
Wet green grass or fresh manure will sure speed the process up a lot. You can speed it up by adding nitrogen compounds too. Ammonium sulfate if you have alkaline soil, or ammonium nitrate if you have acidy soil.
You can increase the temperature during the winter season by covering the compost heap with black plastic and lifting it back twice a week and watering it. The black plastic will raise the temperature through solar heating and keep in the heat of decomposition as well. (obviously this won't work if your compost heap is in the shade)
green grass clippings
fresh manure
covering the compost pile with plastic in cold weather.
Also, have made really large compost piles using a round pile six feet across and six feet high. Take the wire fencing off, and set it up next to the compost pile, Pitch the compost into the new circle mixing well. Tool of choice is a pitch fork.
Pee will DEFINITELY speed things up! At a composting class that I went to, they told us that peeing in the compost would help speed up the compost.
I had a bunch of leave, grass clippings, and garden "waste" in my composter that sat for MONTHS without breaking down. Once I started dumping the "droppings" and pee from my rabbits on it, the stuff in the composter started "cooking" (you could actually FEEL the heat from it on the outside of the composter) I had "finshed" compost within WEEKS.
Add a PVC pipe 2-4" in diameter at an angle into the center of the pile. Open ended on both sides, would be better with some hole drilled down the sides for the part that's inserted into the pile.
Red Wrigglers will their weight per day in compost turning it all into rich worm castings. By far the best method for the highest quality finished product!
After my "pi pi' comment, I thought I would add that getting the mix of 'greens' and 'browns' right is very important to make the compost heap work and keep active.
If you add a large layer of wet grass cuttings all at the same time you could halt the action. So too if you add all the leaves you collect to the heap at the same time.
So try to balance your additions to the pile and for a layer of grass cuttings top off with a layer of dry leaves. If you empty your compost toilet then follow with some grass cuttings and a layer of straw or paper/cardboard.
For a full list of greens and browns look at something like The Humanure Handbook, John Jenkins or on line.
Worms and beetles will keep things moving and grass snakes, but keep the chickens out as they will take out all these good workers.
Yes, I do. It's called a shovel full of activly breaking down compost or a shovel full of dirt.: Seriously. The bacteria that eats your compost is in other compost or in your soil. A pile of compost on the ground will grow the same bacteria but putting a shovel full in your pile can speed you up some.
I too pee on my pile regularly becuse the added nitrogen will help speed up the heat and keep it going, along with providing moisture.
Having said that the true secret to quick compost is the balance of greens vs. browns and the correct moisture/oxygen content. Sadly, in the end, that wonderful compost needs time more than anything we can give it, providing everything else that adds to speed is done correctly.
These days I'm much more concerned about the quality of my compost piles components than I am how fast it breaks down. Sure, I want to see an active pile, but I don't fret over it being done in short period of time.
If you have a closed-in compost heap make sure there there is a place for the worms to escape to as the compost heap heats up otherwise you will cook your worms !
A great way to make a compost heap is to use straw bales as the "barrier" as the worms can crawl into them as the heap heats. They are also easier to remove when you want to use the compost.
Quite often see people advertise worm farm composters out here and when they put their picture on the sale site there, in all its glory is the composter (generally black plastic) sitting out in full sun. No wonder the worms die.
I grow Comfrey at the base of my fruit trees. You can harvest some of the leaves and throw them in your pile to get things going. Great herb to have in the garden.
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