Composting 101

Freshly filled compost pile. It has some shavings in it which is pretty much unavoidable unless I want to wander around a pasture picking up individual turds. I hope the shavings don't mess up the C:N ratio. It takes six heaping full wheelbarrow loads to fill a compost pile this size.

OK it's been just over three weeks since this manure began composting. I've stirred it up a couple of times, and watered it a few times to keep it slightly damp. How do I know when it's safe to use? O, are you around? I think I read that you said it takes 1-3 months. It's been around 100 degrees every day here lately so I was hoping it would be on the shorter end of that range. The mix is looking more homogenous, but there are still obvious turds here and there. A couple weeks ago there were bugs crawling all through it, but today I didn't see any at all. It gives off a lot of heat when I turn it so I know it's not ready yet. Aren't worms supposed to come?

Keep turnin' it every few days or so - the more you turn it the faster it composts. When it stops giving off heat when you turn it, it's pretty well ready to go but extra seasoning (up to a year) gives you a better end product.

Organic

im confused on the chart you posted with the
chart of C:N ratios
material________C:N ratio

now im looking at some of those materials that i have around my house like the oak leaves grass clippings pine needles saw dust news paper and i m confused on how much to add

for instence on oak leaves you have 26:1
is this 26 oak to 1 part N or 26 C to 1 part Oak leaves

im confused on witch one is the N and C in the chart
thanks for the help

The ratio is listed in the same order as the equation --> C:N

So a 26:1 C:N ratio means 26 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen.

this means there is 26 times more carbon in the material than nitrogen. Carbon adds structure to the finished compost and helps slow down and "spread out" the fast decomposition caused by the nitrogen.

As noted in the earlier posts, the target C:N ratio is 30:1, so oak leaves by themselves will compost perfectly without adding anything else except enough water to keep the moisture level correct. But if you added any other ingredients it would require balancing the overall C:N ratio to somewhere in between 25:1 and 40:1. It does require some figuring.

O

Tough questions on both. Worms I wouldn't worry about having in the soil; if you're going to use chemical ferts you might kill them off, but unless you have moral issues with that it won't hurt the soil or your crop

Bugs you will have to be resigned to having in your mix. The hope is that you have primarily beneficials in there, which will keep the biocycle optimal in the soil without bothering your plants. However, many folks using compost do have problems with fungus gnats and it is something to watch out for. They are fairly easily controlled - one of the newer methods I've heard involves using a layer of straight sand on the surface of the soil, and personally I've had success with diligent applications of soap spray - but it is something to consider.

If you want to spend some time on it, one way worm box people get the worms to migrate out of the castings and into fresh bedding material so they can harvest the castings is to get a piece of hardware cloth with fairly fine mesh and lay it on top of the castings (or compost in your case). Then put some dampened shredded newspaper that has some feed source in it - coffee grounds are probably the best thing - on top of the screen, and wait. The majority of the worms will work their way up through the screen in about a month, assuming you keep the area above the screen dark - they don't like light.

The thread about sand as a fungus gnat repellent is #39781, and it should be in the library soon.