Whether you’re an avid gardener looking to enrich your soil or a zero-waste afficionado working to decrease your footprint, composting offers benefits for every household. In addition to improving soil fertility and plant growth, the act of making compost helps divert organic waste from the landfill and becomes a way to store carbon in the soil. One of the problems many home-composters encounter is getting the right mix of ingredients to ensure the pile heats up and speeds the creation of this “black gold.”
Get the Ratio Right
Decomposition will happen when the mix of brown (carbon-rich) to green (nitrogen-rich) materials is roughly 2:1. Brown materialinclude leaves, pine needles, small twigs, and cardboard. Some things that are brown, like coffee grounds, are actually considered part of the green category, along with grass clippings, prunings from growing plants, and veggie scraps.
Often, finding enough green material is a challenge to balance out the abundance of leaves. As a nitrogen-rich addition for your compost pile, alfalfa pellets are sold as “rabbit food” and are dried, compressed alfalfa hay, which is a common food for horses or cattle. Purchase alfalfa pellets in feed or hardware stores or at a pet supply. Two or three cups of alfalfa pellets will provide extra green material to start the heating process in a compost bin or pile.
Common Composting Problems and Solutions: Heating Up Your Pile
Use a compost thermometer or your own hand to gauge the temperature. A successfully prepared compost pile will begin to heat up when thermophilic microorganisms move in a few days after the bin or pile was prepared. To ensure success, follow five simple rules: aerate, insulate, mix green and brown materials, maintain moisture, and limit size. In short, this means that you should turn your compost pile and ensure a layer of material insulates it. Additionally, you want to add a variety of materials about the size of an inch to an inch and a half. Finally, keep your pile at about 45 to 60% moisture to ensure heating.
If you have followed the steps to prepare and maintain a compost pile and still find that your pile is not heating up, consider the following causes and take the prescribed steps to remedy your problem.
- The bin or pile is too dry. The correct moisture level in a compost bin or pile is the consistency of a wrung-out sponge. To check for this, follow the photos below:
If the pile or bin is too dry, the simplest solution is to add moisture by watering the material with a garden hose. Turn the pile as watering occurs to make certain no dry areas remain.
- The bin or pile is too wet. When the compost is muddy like the photo below, turn the pile and add more brown material.
- The size of the bin or pile is too small. The minimum size required for heating is one cubic yard (3 feet X 3 feet X 3 feet). When the pile is too small to heat, turn the pile and add additional brown and green material until the volume reaches one cubic yard.
- The bin or pile does not contain enough nitrogen. Turn the pile and add additional green plant material, used coffee grounds or alfalfa pellets. Make certain that the green material is thoroughly combined with the existing pile or bin.
- The bin or pile does not contain enough air. Turn the pile, making sure to fluff up the organic material to incorporate air.
- The bin or pile smells like rotten eggs (sulfur smell). This smell indicates that the pile has become anaerobic, meaning that it lacks oxygen. Turn the pile and add more brown material to reduce the moisture level.
- The bin or pile smells like ammonia. The ammonia smell indicates that the pile has too much nitrogen. Turn the pile and add more brown material to balance the brown material with the green material in an approximate two-to-one ratio.
Once you have addressed the appropriate issue, your pile should begin heating and decomposing. Finished compost has a rich, dark brown color and may smell like freshly dug soil. Congratulations! You have successfully made compost!
For more information or to address other common compost problems, join us at our hands-on, outdoor, backyard composting class. Our class is free, and no registration is required. More information can be found on The Woodlands Township website. High-quality collapsible compost bins will be for sale for only $65 (cash or check accepted). We look forward to seeing you soon!
