Large-Scale Coffee and Wood Chip Compost

11 years ago

Hi!
We have been having a friend dump wood chips in our yard for a while and have a good 20-foot pile going. I've talked to local coffee shops and some have agreed to give us coffee grounds as well.

Can someone recommend a good way to effectively mix the two?

From what I've read it may make sense to let the wood chips degrade for a year and then add in the coffee. Wood chips 400:1, coffee 20:1, so for a ratio of 30:1 I'll need about a 40:1 ratio of coffee to wood chips? What would be the best way to do this? Large pile, open air? Many small 5x5x5 piles?

Also, the wood chips have begun decomposing over the years. There are some acrobatic segmented black worms in there, if that makes a difference.

We may have access to some manure also if needed.

Thanks!

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Comments (7)

greenthumbzdude
11 years ago
I personally would not worry about the combinations...you will end up with a heardache if you try to do it that way. Just mix it together and see what you get...thats the beauty of compost. BTW, I would add the manure just for the added beneficial microbes.
glib
11 years ago
It makes no difference. The coffee juices percolate down when it rains and speed the rotting of the chips. Just do some rough layering, dumping coffee on top of each new chips batch. If there is too much brown, it will not be as fast, but you will still get compost in the end.
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I have rocky clay - pit run type soil in most places as the topsoil was all removed prior to us living here, so compost is the only way we can garden. It gets better over time. We started a small plot & made it bigger as we went. Wood chips are useful in their own piles to break down, pathway material or surface mulch, but not tilled in to the soil. You're right it does disappear and it's a lot of work to haul it. Nice that you have a chipper so you can put the chips where you want them. all organic matter breaks down some is active & inactive organic matter continue to add compost to soil & mulch A good resource is the book below for explaining the methods of composting & science behind it. Easy to read and very complete. Here is a link that might be useful: compost gardener book
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My experience is with wood chips alone [wi/o fert.] and our climate [semi-arid,mediteranian] affects the results. About 8 months ago I took delivery of a dump-truck load of chipped eucalyptus. It has all been distributed in my yard in [1] pathways .. pleasant woodsey look and feel underfoot. In some places it has already composted down to bare earth. [2] deep mulch in non-watered side yard .. mostly to give a neat appearance and control weeds. This material is about 1/2 composted down due to an unusually rainy winter. [3] deep mulch around roses to cut down on water use [we're rationed]working well, so far. [4] used as a brown in my compost pile [no-turn, slow][5] mulch around vegetables and fruit trees. I don't notice appearance of nitrogen loss/deprivation. This mulch seems to 'compost' more quickly than in the unwatered yard and much less quickly than in the pathways. I hope this will give you an idea of how well wood chips will compost. I envy you your chicken flock. No room on a small city lot, which must also accomodate 2 dogs.
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spiritrockjohn, Ok John, I had a closer look at what you posted and now understand your situation. I have collected the material from 10-day courses (S.N.Goenka) and know that the material is very wet compared to normal household stuff. You need to have a lot of browns - straw, leaves, sawdust, and other garden refuse to compensate. It will be a job to collect enough for your composting. Your guide of 50:50 kitchen waste to brown is too shy on browns. I am assuming that you are talking volume ratios. A better mix should aim for 60% to 70% browns by volume. The C:N ratio of 30:1 for example is based on dry weights. Your food stuffs is a lot heavier than the rice straw you are adding even without the water. As you may have found, you need to turn the pile frequently to prevent it going anaerobic. The wood chips are not going to compost very much but are a good bulking agent to aid the aerobic process. Screen the wood chips out after each batch and they can be reused. I am providing a link to compost bin construction. These bins can be made from salvaged pallets and so will be quite reasonable in price. By having a floor that is off the ground, rats should not have access to the bins. You will also have to have a lid. This bins do not keep out mice though. Some centres have composted materials; some centres have others collect it for off site composting; other centres give it to local farm families to feed pigs. Those may be some considerations if you cannot get a handle on the composting. With metta. Here is a link that might be useful: Wooden Compost Bins
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Elisa, most vegetables benefit. One of my winter projects is to hugelkultur all my trellises (for beans and squash). Dig under the trellis, bury wood, cover. Anyway, all cucurbita, all solanaceae, all allium, and most pulses are myc. Beta (spinach, chard, beet) and brassica are not, though I am not sure about all brassicas (example some of the tropical brassica like sisymbrium). I am unsure about apiaceae (carrot, fennel, celery, parsnip, parsley) but I think they are, as are ciichorium (radicchio, catalonia, endive). Lettuce I think yes, asparagus unsure, cardoon/artichoke yes, yacon yes. Obviously all berries are myc. from strawberry to any shrub or tree, even desert shrubs like hippophae or jujube. all fruit trees too. Beta and brassica are originally seashore plants. they did not evolve in the presence of fungi and did not learn to collaborate. They typically weaken the fungi in a bed. I have always had 1-2 inches branches buried to keep the fungi up, the difference this year I am burying the 5 or 10 inches pieces, even a few 16 inches rounds.
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allen456
11 years ago
Twenty feet??!!!??? I would be most concerned with the chance of spontaneous combustion! It's been known to happen in large piles of compost.
toxcrusadr
11 years ago
Hopefully the pile is 20 ft LONG and not HIGH, so there shouldn't be enough heat generated for combustion.

According to your calculations, it's going to take quite a bit of coffee grounds to make a perfectly balanced mix. In fact, at that ratio you've got almost all coffee grounds, which is NOT a good idea. I'd just mix them in approx. equal amounts.

Wood varies, chips from fresh vegetation (live limbs with leaves) will actually heat up on their own for a bit. Sawdust is in the 400-500 range. You might find it composts just fine with a 1:1 ratio.

Make a long pile several ft high, so when you turn, it can be flipped over into the adjacent space.

And the rest of us have compost envy!
bb16
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks everyone! I'll try a roughly equal ratio and turn it.

Also, could coffee grounds and fresh/old (just remembered a big pile of 3-year-old) wood chips somehow make a good mulch for tomato/cucurbit/sunflower rows? We always used plastic but it is rather expensive. I've heard mixed reviews on wood chips and was hoping the coffee could help, especially if the wood chips are old. I've heard of ant issues with woodchips. What are other drawbacks? Will I have to remove at years end? Put cardboard then the mixture? Would I have to remove it or just use same rows year after year with same wood/coffee walkways?

While I'm at it, trying to utilize these coffee grounds, should I add some as fert at the beginning of the growing season such as in April when I transplant outdoors/direct sow (again, tomato/cucurbit/sunflower)?

Thanks!
yukkuri_kame
11 years ago
I have a 1 year old woodchip pile to which I randomly add coffee, kitchen scraps and human urine.

The one observation that might be helpful is that even though I let rain fall on it, and occasionally water it, very little water actually penetrates into the interior of the mound. I can have mushrooms fruiting on the surface of the pile, but there are dried eucalyptus leaves in there virtually unchanged after a year! Of course, Euc has some oils that prevent breakdown, but the leaves compost fairly quickly on the surface of the soil where they get water.

Sooooo, if you want your chips to compost quickly, find a way to make sure the interior gets a good soaking every once in a while, and you are going to have to open up the pile to do that.

As for woodchips as mulch for veggies, slugs tend to like living under woodchips in the daytime. The other thing is just making sure they don't rob your nitrogen, which maybe isn't such a problem if you are using coffee grounds.
lazy_gardens
11 years ago
Also, could coffee grounds and fresh/old (just remembered a big pile of 3-year-old) wood chips somehow make a good mulch for tomato/cucurbit/sunflower rows?

Just the wood chips - you want a mulch to NOT decompose on you.

I mulch my stuff about 4-6 inches deep in shredded branches to retain soil moisture ... shove it out of the way to plant new stuff.

Large-Scale Coffee and Wood Chip Compost

Comments (7)

greenthumbzdude

glib

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Large-Scale Coffee and Wood Chip Compost

Comments (7)

greenthumbzdude

glib

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allen456

toxcrusadr

bb16Original Author

yukkuri_kame

lazy_gardens

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