What do you compost?

[plantoneonme]

I compost anything I can get my hands on. I not only use any plant matter, but shred up newspaper, cardboard, toilet paper rolls and so on. It also helps cut down waste in landfills. I bed our pet guinea pig on ground cornhusks and also add her bedding to the pile. I hear some people save and add their own urine but I haven't gotten quite that far.

[Cynthia]

This is a great reminder about all the things that can go in compost. I hadn't even thought about toilet paper rolls - I love that.

I know folks who compost all food scraps - including meat. I generally don't worry if a little meat product gets int he compost pile but mostly don't do that because I live in the country and meat products are an invitation to the raccoons, skunks, and who knows what else is in the area.

[leydaleon]

I compost food scraps and toilet paper rolls. My compost pile started with some shredded newspaper but I don't add anymore since I am doing vermicomposting. In my case is not recommended any animal byproduct since it attracts flies. I've been doing my bin since early June and so far a few flies have entered the bin, even though the holes are 1/8" small. But when I fed the worms I scare them out. I also include eggshells (wich I clean before adding them to the pile) but I recommend to pulverize it before.. it take for ever for the worms to eat it! :rolleyes:

[AbbeyLehman]

Ok, question.

How to divide all the "goodies" between the worms and the compost pile???

[Backyard Permaculture]

While I have read in several gardening books that you shouldn't put animal products in the compost pile, for that very reason, it can atract skunks, rats and other verim.

What can I say. I don't listen a lot to any body. My wife can vouch for that.

I've been doing it for years. Although for the first number of years, I did live in the city, for the last 3 years I have lived in a small unincorporated town in SE Arizona, and have continued to compost with animal by products. I have yet to have any problem with skunks in my compost piles.

That is both in conventional composting and Vermicomposting. If you think that the worms won't like or be able to eat meat, try it, Bury some fat trimmings from your next steak, or the hamburger patty that fell on the floor. Wait a week or 2, and carefully uncover it. I'll bet you will find the earthworms congregated around the meat substance, most of them practically attached to it.

Even that is in spite of the fact that I have butchered several goats and chickens here, the hide and offal goes into the compost.

Joel Salatin, author of the books "YOU CAN FARM", "SALAD BAR BEEF", "PASTURED POULTRY PROFITS" and several other books, processes the broilers that he raises on his farm and routinely tosses his chicken parts that aren't saleable into his compost pile. He rather scoffs at the notion that most composters have that you can't compost meat product. It is a tragic waste and loss of fertility to not compost those things.

However, an even better use of many kitchen scraps and waste byproducts of meat is to feed them to appropriate animals that return the benefit to you. For example, raise a pig, and when you have a bucket of chicken bones, lettuce peelings, broccoli stems, etc, throw them to the pig.

You might be as suprised as I was, the first thing he did, was dig out all the chicken bones and eat them with great delight. Then he finished the rest of the scraps. Man!! What a great way to convert chicken bones, a difficult and very slow thing to compost, into new meat and much easier to compost (the manure) material.

You can feed the pig waste chicken products or waste beef. Don't feed him any waste pork products.

Give that to the chickens. A chicken will go nuts over any meat product, but once again, don't give them any poultry product.

If you raise a beef, don't give it any meat products at all. They are designed by nature to eat grass & vegetation only.

Although modern rearing practice has allowed Feedlot beef cattle to be fed "Protien Supplements" which means beef, pork & poultry byproducts (including the manure & feathers), many believe that this is bad news for the health of the beef animal, and the human animal that eats it afterward. They also believe that this is what causes MAD COW DISEASE.

Trash is a creation of Man, particularly, Modern Man (OK, and Woman too). Mother Nature recycles everything.

[Yomolove]

Has anyone experienced potatoes in the compost bin. This summer I have tosses lots of vegetable products into the compost bin after using what I needed: example cantaloupe, bell pepper, pumpkin, butternut squash... and threw the seeds and leftovers in the compost bin... Next thing I know I have seedlings. This happened with the old withered potatoes I tossed in over the summer. I took some of them out... they produced potatoes... some things I had no clue what they were and planted them, my neighbor has them growing from her compost bin right now. anywho they did very well. I think I will have to do this will next years seeds... to speed up the process a bit... the picture on my profile with the pumpkin is what started in the compost.....WHAT DO YOU THINK

[AbbeyLehman]

Wow, BackyardPermaculture! That's definitely an inspiration!! What sort of container do you use for your compost? Does it help keep unwanted critters out? I get lots of city-fied pests in my backyard and they're VERY daring. Do you also use worms?

Does anyone else have any experience feeding everything but chicken to the chickens? I would like to hear more about this--it would definitely cut down on the feed bill (once I have one!!)

[Backyard Permaculture]

My regular compost pile container is a section of welded wire fence. The holes in the fence are 2" x 3". It is about 3 ' high fence wire. I cut a length about 10' long. I used a couple of the horizontal strands to bend for hooks, cutting off the sticking out strands that were not used as hooks.

I then bent it into a circle, hooked the hooks onto the other end, making a circle approx 3 ft in diameter.

Then I throw whatever I have in it.

My vermicomposting is basically a plywood box 2' x 4' x 10" high, and sits underneath my seedling starting rack, and recieves the drainage water from watering my seedlings. I usually have a 5 gal bucket under the worm bin drain hole to capture the water draining out, which is what is known as worm compost tea.

It can be sprayed on the foliage of the plants for foliar feeding.

What I use for bedding for the worms, and frequently the "browns" for conventional composting is wood sawdust and shavings (chips) either straight from the making, or after having been used as litter for the goats, chickens, pigs or whatever. As I am a cabinetmaker, I have access to that material.

http://www.gardengirltv.com/messageboard/picture.php?albumid=8&pictureid=32

http://www.gardengirltv.com/messageboard/picture.php?albumid=8&pictureid=34

OK, these are the composting and vermicomposting settups I have.

You can view them my photo albums for a description of them.

Ron

[AbbeyLehman]

...If you want, I can take pics and post them of what I have.

Ron

Please do!!!

[Backyard Permaculture]

I have 4 of my own style of chicken tractors. In the 1st are 16 White Plymouth Rock hens that have just begun laying, 1 matching Rooster and 2 Buff Cornish Roosters. In pen #2, 30 Rhode Island Red hens laying about 60 to 70% and 3 matching roosters. In pen #3, there were several Aurancana hens and roosters, several Golden Laced Wyandottes hens & roosters, several Blue Cochin hens and roosters, several Buff Brahmas hens & roosters and several Sicilian Buttercup hens that should have started laying anyday & roosters for a total of about 30 chickens in that pen. In pen #4 there are about 20 Rhode Island Red Roosters and 2 matching roosters.

I had so many breeds and number of chickens to be able to sell pastured eggs and operate a backyard hatchery to sell baby chicks and started chicks and pullets.

In thier movable pens (chicken tractors) I move them around the pasture following my milk goat and calf. I moved thier pen yesturday morning, fed them and bid them adiu for the morning about 8 AM.

In the evening, I went to get the goat to milk her, then after finishing with all that, I returned her to her "goat tractor" a few minutes before 7 and about 70% darkness and headed to the chickens to bed them down and collect thier eggs. I was stunned to find a dead chicken from pen #3 laying on the ground outside the pen. I went and looked into that pen, and there was a pile of dead chickens clustered underneath the feeder, with a couple more scattered accross the ground in the pen. I didn't see any that appeared to be alive.

After digging through the pile of dead birds, I did find 2 that had survived the attack, but not without injury. Twenty eight were dead.

I suspected a racoon or skunk, but as I thought about it, I begin to believe it was a dog or dogs that did it.

I called the sherrifs office, and this morn the animal control officer came to bring a dog trap and when she arrived and we carried the trap to the scene of the crime, we found 2 dogs there, wanting to have another good time like they had yesturday.

To make a short story long, The AC officer found the owner of the dogs, a police officer in the nearby town of Benson no less, and he learned he was both morally and financially responsible and liable for the loss of the chicken.

The dogs are now going to be destroyed and the owner has to pay me $20 for each of the dead chickens.

In the time I have lived here in St David for 3 years and 2 months, I had 11 hens killed by dogs on Christmas day 2006, my neighbor who shares the backyard let a friend of his let his dog loose in our shared yard, which ripped a hole in our rabbit hutch and killed 2 rabbits, had other neighbors dogs attack 1 of my goats that was tethered out leaving several cuts on his face, about 6 or 7 weeks ago Sunday, 2 or 3 dogs attacked my 2 milk goats, leaving numerous teeth cuts all over 1 goat, and litteraly ripping all the skin loose on the right front leg of the other. I thought sure she was a gonner, but a friend and neighbor who used to work for a vet took her home to treat her, and it looks like she was able to pull the skin back over the muscle, and most seems to have reattached. However she will have a severely scarred leg for life.

The moral of this story is PEOPLE, please keep your dogs under control. Keep them at your house unless you are absolutely certain where you are taking them, they are very welcome.

Do not think that because you live in the country, that it's OK to let your dog run free.

Do not think that because you FUFU or PUDDLES is so sweet and lovable to you and your family, that it couldn't possibly harm a flea.

Plenty of such pet dogs have been shot and the owners held liable for the killings of sheep, goat AND CHICKENS and other livestock.

The officers and Animal control officers have told me repeatedly that I am fully within my rights to shoot and kill any dog attacking my animals.

I am quite capable of doing it if the need arrises.

Now I have a whole lot of chicken byproducts to add to my compost pile

Ron

[gardengirl72]

Either post them on the pictures thread (there is a button below that says "attach" and follow that procedure) or put them in the Compost Forum for peopel to check out.

[RedStateGreen]

I compost as much as I can. Bones I compost after making stock with them, for the most part. Never had problems with flies/smell/animals. I should do toilet paper rolls, etc., but I always forget. :o

My bins are much like Ron's, only I use hardware cloth. :D

[rdsaltpower]

We compost leaves, weeds, fruit and veggie wastes, egg shells, newspapers, and paper products. We compost into two wire baskets app 3ft x 4ft, and a small steel mesh basket about 3ft x 3ft.

[gardengirl72]

I don't compost plastic and colored paper or cardboard. I am trying to put together a list of all the stuff not to compost, but I can't think of anything else.

[plantoneonme]

I don't compost plastic and colored paper or cardboard. I am trying to put together a list of all the stuff not to compost, but I can't think of anything else.


styrofoam is all I can think of off hand

[Sinfonian]

If it's compostable, I compost it. Well, I don't do animal products due to the smell and critters, but that's not much in the way of waste.

Here's a list of 163 things you can compost:
http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm

Go for it, it's easy, it cuts down on your waste and it's garden gold! Why wouldn't you compost?

[gardengirl72]

Great list, thank Rich!

[maricybele]

Used coffee grounds makes the compost silky. Everytime I pass by the coffee place and remember I pick their used espresso grounds and I use it everywhere. In my compost as an amendment, in my rosebeds, a little around the plants as free mulch. I mow my old plants over to mulch them then put it in the bin. It breaks down faster that way.

I put in newspaper, toilet and paper towel cardboard.

The coffee grounds also keep the ants away and the cats and squirrels out the places I put it. I don't know why, but it works for me.

I tried red worms, but my compost had so many worms, I decided not to do the worm bin anymore because it was duplicating work, so I dumped my worm bin in the compost after 9 months of a worm bin.

I don't compost weed flowers or diseased plants.

[maricybele]

Yeah, a worm incubator. Found 3 horse chesnuts full of worms when I cracked it open. I will be looking for horse chesnuts this year to compost a whole bunch of them!

[gardengirl72]

I just began a small indoor worm bin!

[Sinfonian]

Maricybele: I second the motion on coffee grounds. For several months this summer my greens were mostly coffee grounds from Starbucks. They always thank me profusely when I take them. Less garbage I guess. But at a C:N ratio of 12:1, coffee grounds are free fertilizer that won't burn plants. I love to use grounds to replenish beds for overwintering and even mixing into my potato dirt to make it usable for anything but potatoes next year!

Patti: Do tell... Did you use red worms? How many? What did you use for the bin? Where is it, under the sink? I'm very curious how it is working out. I'm chicken to try and my wife is squeemish, so I'm on hold, but I'd love to hear and see more about yours!

[battythe bantam]

I also raise worms. the way I do it is have another bin ready with their new bedding,food scraps,leaves ,compost,a little soil with sand it,and lots of wet shredded cardbroad. then I get a large piece of heavyduty plastic and lay it the table. then dump the entire bin onto the plastic and start removing the worms and putting them in their new bin. if you get a little of their bedding, thats ok, they will have something to munch on while the scraps in the new bin decompose

[gardengirl72]

I misplaced this post in my mind somewhere....thanks batty for bringing it back up to the top. In my bin I have, the "the house blend" of worms. Which is a mix of red worms and earthworms of many different species. My bin is with the rest of my indoor gardening stuff, on my sun porch. So far it is working great, but I have only been giving them the dead leaves from my pruned up garden.

Now in terms of being a wuss about worms, that is another thing all together:D. Worms are the best livestock I have. They never complain, they just eat and breed, and their poo is one of the pillars of my soil systems. A healthy worm really isn't all that nasty, it just jumps around and does it's thing. Start off with worms slowly, just put them in your compost and raised beds next spring and expand later.

[PJJ]

Happy Holidays everyone!!!:)

I was wondering if any of you compost the colored boxes? Like the ones cereal, soda pop, stuff like that come in? Is it safe to use it in the compost? We don't buy many of those kinds of things. I do get a lot of the boxes from other family members because I take it to the recycle center when I take mine. Around here if you don't live in the city limits you don't have a trash pick up and have to take your own. I'd much rather use it in the compost if I can. I'm just worried about the ink or whatever they color the boxes with.

Also, what about all the boxes from Christmas toys and the wrapping paper??

Thanks!!

Penny

[Sinfonian]

I don't compost anything glossy like cereal or pop boxes, and the same would go for wrapping paper (though I recycle it all). I don't want the chemicals in the ink in my soil.

[new500]

Today if it is warm me and my son are going to make a compost bin. I can hardly wait. Is it true if I turn it eveyday it will work compost faster?

[gardengirl72]

The more you turn it the better, but if you don't need it right away you don't need to turn it that often. My raised beds are basically compost bins with a large number of worms, but I have a vermiculture bin for my kitchen scraps which is working fine. I also have a wire bin for my leaves and grass clippings. I fill that up a few times in the fall and let it compact and compress and compost til spring. Then I have another compost bin which is just an all purpose bin that I fill whenever I need to with yard waste like clippings from all of my pruning and I do a lot of pruning of all of my trees, roses, perennials, you name it. I put about 5 lbs of worms in there about 2-3 years ago. They have multiplied 10 fold by now. This bin I never turn and I'll use the compost when I've filled it to such an extent that I need more room. So far all yard waste has fit perfectly, so don't know when I'll actually use any of it. It's just great to have a place to put all of my waste somewhere instead of out by the curb for it to be picked up.

[new500]

I am so new to this. So what kind of worms and were do I get them? And what happens to the worms in the winter? Do I also put worms in the beds. I cleaned out my beds should I be throwing my left over table veg in the beds? Sorry for all the questions. I am a :puppy in training. LOL

[gardengirl72]

You can use red wigglers for worms. There are many places to get them online. It depends where you live. I got mine from The Cape locally. Yes you can use your beds as compost bins in the winter, but you should turn it in. In the winter the worms travel to the bottom center of the raised bed. No apologies for the questions. That's what the forum is for.

[PJJ]

I don't compost anything glossy like cereal or pop boxes, and the same would go for wrapping paper (though I recycle it all). I don't want the chemicals in the ink in my soil

Sinfonian,

After re-reading this thread, I found where Patti had she didn't use it either.

I thought the same thing but thought it was worth asking just in case I could use it. I'll continue to take it to the recycle place.

Thanks,

Penny