Extreme Composting

myheaven · #**2821** 08/28/13, 12:16 PM

Oswego I would add drip lines at the root base and lots of mulch. Make sure you put protectors around the base so voles and rodents don't eat them in the winter. Put a good fence around them so deer dont eat them.

myheaven · #**2822** 08/28/13, 12:17 PM

My squashish plant the I have determined is a pumpkin had no hole but the base of the main vine was soft and mushy.

Oswego · #**2823** 08/28/13, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DEKE01

Oswego, sorry I can't offer any helpful suggestions for your fruit trees, but I do have a question. What size dozer do you rent and where do you get it? I looked into renting one from my local CAT dealer to do my 4 miles of fence line, but they wanted a $1M insurance policy which I could not do.

United Rentals, I paid 76 dollars for their damage waiver which would cover any damage to the machine. I am paying for one day but will have it for the three day weekend. I'll just have to keep an eye on the hour meter because they charge extra if I use too many.

This one is a Case 650 with wide tracks for low ground pressure.

Oswego · #**2824** 08/28/13, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by myheaven

Oswego I would add drip lines at the root base and lots of mulch. Make sure you put protectors around the base so voles and rodents don't eat them in the winter. Put a good fence around them so deer dont eat them.

I'll have to fence them from the goats anyway so I'll do extra for the deer.

I have an area that is close the the ponds where the dirt will always be moist two to three feet down and with the trench filled with compost it might give them enough water without me having to water. Or I could get small solar setup to water(trickle) from ponds.

myheaven · #**2825** 08/28/13, 01:21 PM

I wouldn't use the area that stays so wet. The roots will rot. Use a 55 gallon barrel and get a cheap low pressure drip line set up from Farm tek, northren tool, or harbor freight. Use a trash pum or use buckets to fill the barrels twice a week. If you get plenty of rain don't water.

Oswego · #**2826** 08/28/13, 04:26 PM

Leaving work today I saw the City truck go by that has the machine that grinds up limbs and throws the chips into an enclosed dump truck. It was full of ground up limbs and leaves so I followed it until it pulled into the City fuel station. He remembered me from the last time and told me my name and address. He said he was planning to go to the dump in the morning and would dump at my house instead.

DEKE01 · #**2827** 08/29/13, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oswego

Leaving work today I saw the City truck go by that has the machine that grinds up limbs and throws the chips into an enclosed dump truck. It was full of ground up limbs and leaves so I followed it until it pulled into the City fuel station. He remembered me from the last time and told me my name and address. He said he was planning to go to the dump in the morning and would dump at my house instead.

Where I live, the stupid city/county policy is that all the gov't run chipper trucks have to dump at the dump. Dumping on my farm would save them a 30 - 40 mile round trip, that is a lot of unproductive diesel and labor time and a lousy use of a good resource.

Forerunner · #**2828** 08/29/13, 07:24 AM

Welcome to the world of bureaucracy, where, as a good construction industry friend of mine once quipped, "common sense is out the window".

Oswego · #**2829** 08/29/13, 09:48 AM

Forerunner, I think I might have found a source similar to yours when you found the City/County dump area several years ago.

The guys brought me the load of finely ground chips/leaves this morning before I left for work. While talking to them I found out they take it to the dump but do not put it in the landfill. It has been piling up there in a seperate area for YEARS. He also said that if I go out there they will load it for me AT NO COST for the materal or the loading. I asked if there was any older stuff that had been sitting for several years that I could get and he said it was in a long line with the oldest stuff on the far end.

My next toy will be a dump trailer

Anonymooose · #**2830** 08/29/13, 12:29 PM

Deke, that's the same problem we have here too. The county dump then composts it and tries to SELL the stuff back to the public... The nerve!!

They do sell some, but not 100%.

I AM glad they are composting it, but I don't know that it's being utilized to it's fullest. It likely gets used for growing grass along the highway, post construction.

Personally, I think my garden is a much better place for it.

Nice score, Oswego!!

Forerunner · #**2831** 08/29/13, 02:15 PM

I love it when a plan comes together.

am1too · #**2832** 08/29/13, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forerunner

I love it when a plan comes together.

You been watching the A Team? Darn its been a long time.

Oswego · #**2833** 08/31/13, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oswego

I think I have mentioned that I live in town but have 5 acres with fish ponds on the edge of the City limits. I used a dozier a few years ago to scrape up weeds, brush and small trees so I could keep it mowed. I piled up the vegatation into two large piles and they have since turned to beautiful compost. I failed to keep it mowed and now have to rent a dozier again to do it again. First I'll pluck the young trees that have been growing in my piles so I can get to it with front end loader as needed. This time I'll also be cleaning up the property lines so I can do additional fencing and attempt to have some mammal mowers(goats) to help me keep the vegegation in control.
If things go right in the next two years I'll sell my house in town and build small energy efficent home on my five acres. I plan to go ahead this fall and plant fruit trees out there to get them a head start. Thinking about angling the blade to cut out trenches and fill with compost as my fruit tree planting area.
Any other suggestions for the fruit trees project? Or overall project?

Today I was able to get all the young trees out of one of my three year old brush piles and push the black gold back into a large pile. It is at least 8 foot tall and twenty foot diameter. If the other pile ends up with even close to the same amount then I will have won the compost lottery.

am1too · #**2834** 09/18/13, 08:16 PM

Things must be cookin right along. That or we're busy gathering more for the pile.

littlejoe · #**2835** 09/18/13, 10:13 PM

Been following this thread for some time. Just never have read all of it. A search didn't reveal anything I was satisfied with. Can someone give me a guess as to what the proper nitrogen to carbon mix should be? I've got a few loads of old wheat straw and weeds, and a belly dump of manure to compost. Appreciate it and thanks!

Paquebot · #**2836** 09/18/13, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by littlejoe

Been following this thread for some time. Just never have read all of it. A search didn't reveal anything I was satisfied with. Can someone give me a guess as to what the proper nitrogen to carbon mix should be? I've got a few loads of old wheat straw and weeds, and a belly dump of manure to compost. Appreciate it and thanks!

Best nitrogen to carbon ratio would be 1:20 to 1:30. Normally it's given in reverse order of that and referred to as C:N. Thus it would be C:N 20:1 to 30:1 ratio.

Martin

Paquebot · #**2837** 09/19/13, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by am1too

Things must be cookin right along. That or we're busy gathering more for the pile.

Well, I did dump the tumbler summer batch about 10 days ago and had enough material accumulated to stuff it full again. Coincided with cleaning the pigeon lofts so there was ample high-nitrogen material to jack the temperature to 160º in a hurry. This is usually the fastest batch with so much green stuff from the gardens and probably dumped by mid-October.

What's also kept me busy, other than normal garden operations, has been hauling compost. County has offered compost free to any community gardens within the county. This is 3-year old material which has been screened to ½" and looks almost exactly like black silt. I can get 1½ yards in my pickup and the shocks are almost bottomed out but it's only about 8 miles. Over past several weeks, made 15 trips. Told one gardener that one yard is sufficient per plot. After spreading more than twice that on my plots, he questioned why I was obviously applying much more than a yard. Told him that there may be a minimum but no maximum.

www.countyofdane.com/pwht/recycle/compost_sites.aspx

Martin

am1too · #**2838** 09/19/13, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paquebot

Best nitrogen to carbon ratio would be 1:20 to 1:30. Normally it's given in reverse order of that and referred to as C:N. Thus it would be C:N 20:1 to 30:1 ratio.

Martin

Plus water if you want it to cook.

am1too · #**2839** 09/19/13, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paquebot

Well, I did dump the tumbler summer batch about 10 days ago and had enough material accumulated to stuff it full again. Coincided with cleaning the pigeon lofts so there was ample high-nitrogen material to jack the temperature to 160º in a hurry. This is usually the fastest batch with so much green stuff from the gardens and probably dumped by mid-October.

What's also kept me busy, other than normal garden operations, has been hauling compost. County has offered compost free to any community gardens within the county. This is 3-year old material which has been screened to ½" and looks almost exactly like black silt. I can get 1½ yards in my pickup and the shocks are almost bottomed out but it's only about 8 miles. Over past several weeks, made 15 trips. Told one gardener that one yard is sufficient per plot. After spreading more than twice that on my plots, he questioned why I was obviously applying much more than a yard. Told him that there may be a minimum but no maximum.

www.countyofdane.com/pwht/recycle/compost_sites.aspx

Martin

Sure wish mine was screened like that. I get bout 50% large material. Have bout 20 yards on hand. and will start hauling in 2 weeks.

Been piling the same uncomposted material up till then. I'll let it set a year and screen it. Its worth bout $150 a load after screening.

Paquebot · #**2840** 09/19/13, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by am1too

Sure wish mine was screened like that. I get bout 50% large material. Have bout 20 yards on hand. and will start hauling in 2 weeks.

Been piling the same uncomposted material up till then. I'll let it set a year and screen it. Its worth bout $150 a load after screening.

Found a dime in one load. Told the operator about it. He said that he gets all of the nickels and quarters but dimes and pennies get through!

Martin