Extreme Composting

Well no daily record but she is holding steady at 130 after 10-14 days. I usually do not check pile temperatures except with my hand once in a while. I just got very curious because of what has been said. I'll still check the temp at least weakly.

I do have some year old stuff still 110. Yes it is a big pile.

I have a confession to make. I have thoughts about burning some carbon.

Forgive me, for I have sinned.

We have a huge huge (did I mention it's huge?) carbon pile, in the form of pine tops from a clear cut, about 2 acres worth. All piled and stacked neatly in a 12 by 100+ foot row. Every tree service guy we've talked to won't touch it. It's either too big, or one guy said, "Who knows what kind of metal is in there. It might mess up my machine."

Wimps.

There are times in life when a girl just needs an industrial sized chipper

Well.....a tub grinder would be the ticket.

What is the maximum limb diameter ?

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“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

Mostly about the same diameter as my forearm, 3-4 inches, mabey? But it's pine tops, so it's not one straight shot.

I don't think the local rental place has a tub grinder... lol But I'm guessin'. Where else might one find such a machine for hire?

We've rented a 6 inch from RSC and did a couple of dumptruck loads worth. BUt this pile is monster. We have access to a grapple on a skidsteer, but with a normal chipper, you can only use the grapple to break up the pile. You still have to hand feed each piece. A tub grinder would be the ticket, I agree.

Mabey a craiglist ad? "Wanted tub grinder for hire..."

If it were mine, and I had the space to let it sit, I'd use that grapple to bust the stuff up as fine as is practical and bury it in other compost material.
You'd have compost in a few short years, with a little picking to do during the spreading.
....or, I'd push the stuff into low areas and bury it in compost, then level it all when broken down and fill in the low spots, kind of with a hugelkultur approach.

__________________
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

I forgot to mention, this pile is a good 10 feet high, though it's settled a bit in the last two years. Moving it anywhere with a skidsteer would be a monumental task.

Wish I could post a picture, but photobucket doesn't work on our computer. Would someone be willing to post it for me?

I like the idea of breaking it up with the grapple. It's dried out some now, so the wood is more brittle. I've thought about letting it dry another 2 or 3 years, and then using it for firewood in our house for the next decade or two. Hugelkulture would work too, except our only low spots on the property is "wetlands". Protected, you know.

I do think I'll take a swing at the craiglist ad. Can't hurt! And I could really use the chips.

Just don't burn it yet !

__________________
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

Geoff Lawton worked on a permaculture project in Jordan on a small plot of land that was salt ridden .he had figs growing in 4 or 5 months on newly established trees.the local college heard about it and thought he had just flushed the salt down into the soil but they were shocked to find out they had only used small amount of water they had collected with swales they built.the water they collected would have watered 50 acres instead of just the 10acers they had.sometimes real life situations cant be explained.salt would be the last thing on my mind to worry about.

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i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately to front only the essential facts of life,.......,and not,when i came to die,discover that i had not lived...Henry David Thoreau

short clip of the project.

__________________
i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately to front only the essential facts of life,.......,and not,when i came to die,discover that i had not lived...Henry David Thoreau

My small compost pile is growing a crop of unknown squash. They cold be spaghetti, blue Hubbard, or pie pumpkins, or a cross. If they end up being the Hubbard, I will probably roast the seeds. I hope we get more spaghetti squash.

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my experience is that volunteer squash will turn out to be some sort of squmpkzini. A foul tasting mixture of the cucurbits. The fruits will often look very interesting and the pigs will eat them, but not good people food. Hopefully you have better luck than me.

"Squmpkzini!"



We have a decent enough track record with "volunteer" cucurbits/squash to let them grow. Got one going now, though, that is providing copious amounts of vining leaves, but the fruit (which looks like acorn squash) just shrivels up and dies.

Still, it keeps out the 'coons b/c of its prickly vine.

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Je ne suis pas Alice

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squmpkzini


I looked that up in my exhaustive book of world flora.

Did you know that the latin name for it is pessi-Cesum-grouchski ?

Squash and other viners sure do make good sunshade for a compost pile.....

I wonder if them blossoms would make good fritters or soup ?

__________________
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

I will try to make time today to fry up a couple of blooms to see if they taste good.

If not, the chickens will probably eat them.

__________________
Je ne suis pas Alice

http://homesteadingfamilies.proboards.com/

It was the year 1925. After a lifetime of gardening successes, Luther Burbank roamed the Amazon jungles searching for the one last great mystery veggie of his time, the one veggie discovery that had eluded mankind for eons, the one veggie, so mighty, so prolific, so awesome in every way that all the ills of man would be swept away by the fruits of the....

{drumroll}

the pessi-cesum-grouchski or as locals who believed in this seemingly mythical gourd-like fruit called it. the squmpkzini.

Burbank would die soon, having failed to reach his goal all because he hadn't read this thread on Homesteading Today The mighty squmber (pix)

The grumpy bear didn't waste any time setting you straight.

__________________
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

Some gardening books say to have not more than 30% organic matter. So I am wondering how to calculate this for say straight clay or very tan sand. I would say neither qualifies as top soil. I would till in whatever I add.

I have 2 different soils on my property. One is bout 18 inches of sand over clay and the other is bare clay.

Impossible to calculate exactly. The density of the organic matter would be the biggest variable. Three inches of dry shredded leaves would initially be the same as 3 inches of finished compost. That would be if the 30% was to be incorporated and would apply no matter what type of soil is involved. If the 30% were to be the end result, that would be when the carbon portion of the material has broken down to humus. I suppose that one could detemine the amount of potential humus in the original material and then figure out how much would have to be added to arrive at a permanent 30%. As far as I know, such data does not exist. The only way to arrive at it is to continue adding compost, allowing it to fully break down, and then test for percentage of organic matter.

On a side note, you will not be able to come close to knowing the organic matter percentage by just looking at it. A friend has been hauling loads of aged horse manure on her plots for 7 or 8 years. Soil doesn't look very much different than any other prairie silt but tests came back 40% organic matter.

Martin

I've stated this prior in this thread, but no telling where.

This isn't exact science, but I have read several university/peer reviewed sources that say to use this rule of thumb. The top 6.7 inches of an acre, no matter the soil type, you call 2,000,000 lbs. If your soil test came back and said you have 5% OM, you have roughly 100,000 lbs of OM/ac. And most places I've read recommended about 6 - 7% OM as the goal for the largest range of fruits and veggies, more can be better, but the cost and labor of maintaining 15%, 30%, or even more is generally not economically viable. So to raise your OM% from 5% to 6%, add another 20,000 lbs of OM.

But the problem is that your soil just might have been at 5% because that is equilibrium with your naturally occurring local conditions. You might add another1% OM but that is good only for a year. The next year it will have decayed and maybe be only .05% or less. In hot, humid Florida, the half life of soil amendments is very short; OM decays rapidly and sorta disappears within 2 years. You can probably get a good estimate of how long your added OM will last by how long a cold compost pile takes to turn into dirt.

The concept of half life is important because you might get a hot pile or trench that decomposes rapidly and reduces by half in a few months, but once it the pile goes cold, it might take another year to reduce by half again.

The book I liked the best, whose title escapes my memory now, said to avoid a lot of needless scientific measuring, calculating, worrying, and decay rate testing. Just compute your additional OM needs, add that much this year, and half that much every year there after until you decide to get your garden soil tested again and then adjust your OM imports accordingly.

Various sources suggest different percentages of organic matter to be added annually. Generally it is 10 to 15 percent. Problem is that it is also "generic" as to what the organic matter should consist of. 15% in the form of grass clippings will do little or nothing to change the soil structure. 15% in the form of a compost based on fine-shredded leaves will change it for centuries. It's the later that I recommend since the effects are immediate and permanent insofar as the gardener is concerned.

Martin