[Arid_gardener] Re: Composting Methods

[Dick]

I took care of three permanent bins as you describe built from discarded palates for a couple of years at the Cooperative Extension until I got my hands on the plastic recycled trash bins that made it a pleasure instead in a colossal pain moving and turning the stuff. Go out there and have a look. I also use a shredder on all the material. With a much greater surface area, there is a much much greater surface area for the micro-organisms to feed on and digestion is much faster and the population greater although I can't count them, of course.

To start with, the plastic bins are much more attractive in the landscape and easier to move around. It takes about a minute for a 40 pound weakling to lift a bin off the pile, set it to one side and, wetted with 21-0-0, put the stuff aerated right back in the same bin with a pitchfork or a scoop shovel.  Set an empty along side and start over and you now have two working for you.

These bins are available for $10 each from the landfill where I got six, three for the Coop and three at my home. They come with the hinged but detached lid. I have never used lids, actually threw them away. Frequent moving seems to discourage the rats and mouse colonies from taking up residence.

Are you familiar with the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension?  If not, come out some Saturday morning, Derek, and get acquainted. It is a public horticultural facility in our Valley supported with our taxes and we have every right to get involved. 

The address is 4341 East Broadway midway between the stop lights on 41st and 47th Streets.

Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer
Maricopa County Cooperative Extension.

Bcc: Arid Gardener; VOSG


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: bit_eimer 
  To: 'Dick' ; arid_gardener at CALS.arizona.edu 
  Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 10:16 PM
  Subject: RE: Composting Methods


  Dick,



  Interesting to see a different approach to composting.  We have 3 bins side-by-side bins, each 4'x4'x4', each with a front gate and hinged top (to keep the roof rats out), each with an adjustable system of micro-sprinkler heads.  Over the course of a year I accumulate double-shredded material in Bin 1, including 1/3 acres' worth of trimmings, kitchen scraps, bones, etc.  Around October, I fork this over into Bin 2.  In June-July I turn off Bin 2's sprinkler system so that it will dry out a bit.  In September, I screen (1/2") this into Bin 3 and then almost immediately run this through my shredder again. That means I don't actually use Bin 3 for composting action at all.



  I usually end up with about five or six 55-gallon drums worth of finished compost with a consistency and look similar to that of moist coffee grounds, but I have no idea as to its nutritional value.  We use most it to cover winter-grass seeding (2000 sqft) in October.



  So the differences I see are that I only turn the pile once, keep it moist automatically with sprinkler system, and have not used fertilizer (with which I think I will now experiment).  



  Is the fertilizer primarily as a composting-action-enhancer? Or to add nutrients to the final product?



  Any idea how I can determine the nutritional value of my compost?



  .Derek



  -----Original Message-----
  From: Dick [mailto:rkgross3 at cox.net] 
  Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 5:10 PM
  To: bit_eimer; arid_gardener at CALS.arizona.edu
  Subject: Re: Wonderful Pomegranate Pests



  Thanks, Derek, for the information. I have just been lucky with roof rats but, strangely, have not been plagued by the critters even though I have five full grown trees with a lot of fruit litter that I have been negligent in cleaning up. I once had a mouse colony in a bin but it disappeared promptly after a couple of rotations.



  For compost, I use three of the recycled City trash bins that I try to turn every other week when I don't forget. To turn, I just insert a finger in both sides through the 1 inch holes, lift it off the pile, set it aside and fork the stuff back in, blended and rewetted withwater and about a half cup of 21-0-0 disolved in a 3 gallon sprinkler can. It gets so hot it almost blisters. When the stuff will no longer stay in the tines of a garden fork, I sift it through a half inch screen and bag it where it will continue to decompose if kept damp. What won't go through the screen goes back into the working bin where it acts as a starter, apparently.



  I have learned that the finer the organic waste can be reduced in particle size, the faster it will decompose because there is a much greater surface area for micro-organisms to breed and feed. I have an efficient shredder that is the best garden investment I have ever made.



  Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer. 

  U of A Maricopa County Cooperative Extension.



  ----- Original Message ----- 

  From: "bit_eimer" <bit_eimer at cox.net>

  To: "'Dick'" <rkgross3 at cox.net>; <arid_gardener at CALS.arizona.edu>

  Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 9:15 AM

  Subject: Wonderful Pomegranate Pests




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