composting in N.C.

[pattys214garden]

HEY ALL - JUST MOVED TO n.c. where i`m at has no worms can i make a compost without worms --i`ve got plenty of pine needles and pine cones -- help

[BlueRose]

Read the sticky called extreme composting. Lots of good info.

[unregistered41671]

Here is a link

Extreme Composting

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Pile up the good stuff (manure, grass clippings, wood chips, veg scraps, etc) and they will appear. If you are down east in sand country, drainage could be a little too good and you might need to add some moisture to keep them happy.

[Appalachia]

"If you build it (compost pile), they (worms) will come."

[geo in mi]

You can make good compost without worms. Compost actually depends on micro organisms to eat your materials, die, and then release the nitrogen and other nutrients into the water soluble compounds that the plants can take into their roots.

Good composting on a backyard basis relies on the right mixture of "greens" and "browns" to feed your hungry micro organisms. Using pine needles alone would be too much brown and not enough green. Add in your kitchen vegetable waste, coffee grounds, and some grass clippings to make a better digestable mix. North Carolina has a good factsheet on the way to make compost, maybe you can learn some things here, too: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/hil/pdf/ag-467.pdf

geo

[MOgal]

I had the same thought as Appalachia.