Pine composts slowly, which would be a problem if your objective is to create compost as quickly as possible.

However, if you are adding a soil amendment to your beds in an effort to improve water retention and soil aeration, breaking down slowly is a positive attribute.

Pine also tends to be acidic while composting, although finished compost containing pine shifts back towards neutral. Some plants, like azaleas prefer acidic soil so this isn't always a drawback. I mulch fairly heavily with pine needles mixed with grass clippings and soil under my azaleas (sheet composting) and they seem quite happy about it.

You will want to add a lot of greens if you are composting pine. For example,manure would be a good high nitrogen addition. Know anyone who has bunnies?

Thanks Billums. I really appreciate your helpful answer.
Bob

Well, yeah, that was just what I was going to say! Except I don't have azaleas because my soil is not acidic enough. Composted pine needles are great, I wish I could get some of that free stuff. My sister let me rake all the pine needles out of her yard four years ago and I used them to mulch my roses. That mulch took two years to break down and that's ok since it makes beautiful mulch. In fact she liked it so much on my rose garden, she won't let me have them anymore cause she uses them now. (rats!)

Actually the same goes for citrus, it's not bad for the compost but it takes ages to break down. Even if you grind it up in your blender before you toss it in the bin, all those little citrus bits last a long time too. The bugs and worms in the bin don't seem to care for citrus. If I accidentally throw orange peels in the compost bin, DH gets really annoyed since he does the turning and sifting.

Grease and meat products will attract vermin and carniverous animals so you won't want them in the compost. And they smell terrible when they rot, but like everything else, they will break down eventually. From time to time I've had all these things in my bins for one reason or another. I started a bin about 35 years ago and learned mostly from trial and error. When DH came along and he wanted to manage the composting I was happy with that arrangement. Now he does the heavy work and I reap the benefits. When I need compost he shovels it out of a holding barrel into the garden cart and brings it to me. So I usually try real hard not to put anything into it that he doesn't want me to. Cheryl

we don't have any pine or pet stuff to worry about but here if it rots it all goes into the garden(includes whatever grcooking grease/fat that may be contained within), on pretty much a daily basis. no mulch heaps let it all happen with the composting worms right in the garden where all the benefits are needed.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

Hmmmm, I have a bunch of citrus and pine shavings in my compost pile. I wasn't planning on using any of it until next year though so hopefully it will be ok by next spring. :/

I compost citrus, occasional chunks of meat or dead birds, dog poop, pine-based cat litter, kitchen scraps and until the trees were removed, large quantities of pine needles. Neither my garden nor I have died yet.

The only things I refuse to compost are cactus pads, because the needles don't degrade and stay in the finished compost.

Citrus composts best when it's at least cut in half. The rinds are slow to rot and the oranges were surviving for several years.

Pine cones will eventually decompose, as will pine needles. shredding them speeds up the decomposition.

Citrus decomposes very quickly in our compost. Sometimes it rolls around a bit, and falls off the heap. But it rots like everything else.

seamommy, boy I wish I had a DH like you! That's awesome! he, he. Mine just figures it's my project and I'll have to do it. He doesn't get into the gardening scene unless it's veggies.

seamommy, can you grow any pines where you live? We have about 20 pines and now that they are a good size, they self mulch the area they are in. In fact, I have enough now to take some and move to bare areas. However, I only use pine straw as mulch on hilly areas. I found that when I used it in beds, it broke down to much if I worked in the area and would track into the house on my feet. But I would use it as mulch rather than compost it.

I cut the orange and grapefruit peels once or twice more before putting in the compost bucket and they break down just fine. I think it's the skin that protects them, so if you cut them up smaller there are more surfaces for the microbes to get into.

kentstar, forgive me if I presume too much, but I don't think you know how to manage your husband. I'm guessing that you have asked him in the past to help out in the "garden". In his head, you might just as well have handed him a pink rake and gardening gloves with flowers on them. I think it would have gone better if you'd told him that there's something decomposing in the back yard that you need help with. Then you can tell him that there's a person on the internet who can actually get his pile of decomposing stuff to get hot! inside. Act like you're in total awe. Tell him some "really clever guy on the internet" made a compost thermometer out of a meat thermometer! (Men love compost thermometers.)

And don't tell him that he can't compost meat! Tell him that he can! Tell him you've heard of a man who cooked an entire carcass into ash in six months time in the center of his red-hot! decomposing pile. Appeal to his inner caveman.

Appeal to the little boy in him. Tell him that some people pee ! on their pile of rotting carcasses and vegetables.

Appeal to his innate male desire to hook up electricity or gasoline or blades to any simple. household. project. Tell him you've seen people who turn their pile of decomposing matter with machinery. Tell him that some clever guy on the internet made a mechanized compost sifter. Tell him some guy poured concrete pads for the bins he made to contain his decomposing matter. Men love the idea of pouring concrete.

Flatter him. Tell him that your itty bitty biceps get sore when you try to turn the compost, and while you were out there, you were thinking to yourself "how strong he is" and "He could probably turns this without even breaking a sweat, that's how amazing he is."

Anyway, it's clear to me that you've been going about this the wrong way. Lloyd and jonhuges practically beg their clever wives, now, to let them take the orange peels and eggshells out to the pile.

Ya Ap, that might work.

Can't speak for Jon but as for myself, composting is a stress relief valve, one might say therapeutic. Between working, shopping, cleaning, cooking and all the other household chores, I find composting and farming relaxing. Something I can do in my time and at my pace. Some people golf, some collect stamps or coins, some garden, but whatever hobby one has, it's usually something they are interested in. If others ain't interested in it, the odds of getting them to willingly help out without causing resentment are pretty slim.

Lloyd

P.S. Not a fan of concrete but I'm in awe of those who can build with that stuff!

I agree as well. If mine asked me like that, it wouldn't matter, I'd probably do anything. That's really good, and would probably work, would def work on someone like me.

I'm just warning everybody here, you're setting the ground work for the next generation of Country "He Done Left Me for Some Compost Queen" Songs.

"He left me for a woman with worms"

Cheryl, I bet your husband's over at the How to manage your woman forum right now, writing, "You want your wife to cook you a big ole steak, mashed potatoes and a chocolate pie every night? Just offer to turn her compost pile and point her to the kitchen."

This whole thing could backfire. I'm seeing the flaws in the theory now.

I hate concrete. I merely tolerate it for its benefits.

The rest of it is spot on. :-D

You guys are hilarious!

This is the best and funniest post on this whole site =:)

what a hoot!! ... lots of good suggestions, too ... I'm getting too old to turn compost but my DH still loves steak and chocolate ... maybe he'll find a new use for that front-end loader on that toy he loves ...

annpat

You crack me up! I'm reading this at work (a very somber cubicle environment) and I'm giggling my head off. The cubicle gophers are going to start popping their heads up to see what I'm up to.

M

The only thing my DH looks at on the computer are the games. He got a blackberry a couple months ago and it has games too, so now if I'm on the computer he plays games on his phone. Even our 2yo DGS says, "Grampa, stop playing games and play with me!" They fight over the last popsicle, the last marshmallow, the matchbox cars. A couple nights ago DH was putting DGS to bed and DGS was having none of it. Finally, he walks out of the bedroom and says, "Grampa, I'm tired of you now, where's Gramma?"

How to MANage your woman? I'm not sure DH remembers that I am a woman, besides he needs a mommy more than he needs a wife anyway. Cheryl

Old, moldy bread is great to add to the compost pile! 8-D

All kidding aside, Can I put unfinished compost in my veggiebeds? Should I bury it or mix it in?

Thanks!

Oh, now, see, greengardener had to make everybody sick and ruin all the fun. We're too nauseated now to contemplate your question, gg.

annpat,

I found your post quite funny! So, please don't take this the wrong way, but why is North American culture so ingrained with gender roles? This is *not* directed at you, but at society in general. I'm a guy and I see nothing feminine about gardens, pink colored things, or flowery designs. My wife is an expert with drills, electrical stuff and carpentry. Without her, I wouldn't be able to build or repair anything in my life. I'm not ashamed to say it, because I don't measure my masculinity that way. Both my wife and I were lucky in that our parents did not force us into 'typical' hobbies for our genders, which is unfortunately the case for many youngsters.

BTW, I do love thermometers of all kinds.

Oh! certainly no offense taken, drhorticulture.
(I was more concerned over my suggestion that spouses should use trickery and manipulation to get their partners to do their bidding.)

I take your point, and believe-you-me, if femininity were measured in terms of choice of hobbies or clothing choices or role choices, or physical strength, I would barely pass muster. For Christmas last year, no one batted an eye when I received a router as a gift. (I think it speaks more to common sense, than gender stereotyping, that I am flat out terrified of it.) The year before, my brother gave me a table sander. My mother gave me a CarHart jumpsuit to wear ice skating. I cannot begin to tell you how feminine I look in that, mostly thanks to my white skates.

Because I am strong, and have never not pitched in when something needs to be lifted, it is always assumed that I would help the gathered menfolk whenever a grueling job has to be done. What immediately comes to mind is the twice annual job of putting in and taking out our and my cousin-next-door's docks every year---a job I always dreaded. It always annoyed me to see the other women standing on shore watching us. That was ten years ago, though; because in the end, I was the only person who showed up here to put the dock in, so we hired someone to do it.

I actually think that the U.S. (I can't speak for Canada, although I presume it's the same.) has come a long way in a short time regarding the presumption of gender roles, and I think that women, especially, are abandoning gender stereotypes. A friend of mine, who refused to pump her own gas six years ago, has discovered, after divorce, that she can not only pump her own gas, but also snowblow her own yard with a huge snowblower (she bought one like mine), and together with a female friend, she can chew through sheetrock with a reciprocating saw, narrowly missing electrical wires, knocking out supporting studs, build and install a crawlspace door, and later repair all the damage that said friend created by using an inappropriate saw on sheetrock. (In my defense, she didn't have a better idea.)

I absolutely concede your point regarding the stereotyping that I engaged in. It was based, however, on a trend that I would say undeniably occurs here---and often amuses me. 98% of the time on this forum, when an engine or a motor or ball bearings or an explosive device has been hooked up to a compost pile, it's a man who devised the ingenuity. 100% of the time that an animal weighing over 100 lbs. has been composted here, it was done by a man. Of course, that's only because traditional gender roles exposed them to tools and equipment and methods and machinery (and hobbies) that women have not been privy to.

I'm glad that you mentioned my use of stereotyping, though, because I remember when it would have gone unnoticed.

Yup the deer I composted was about 100 lbs. and I am a man.
Ha HA I do not like the stereotyping. My dearly departed could change oil or the hood on the car as quick as any man. I sure did not mistake her for a man nor did anyone else.

Curt~

I'm calling Annpat next time I need some remodeling done. As for trickery and manipulation, that's as old as Adam & Eve.

Does anybody know if cedar wood shavings are hard to compost? I'm making a mixture of cow manure and shavings with a close-to-ideal C:N ratio but I just started and wanted to make sure I won't end up having to cure the piles for ages.
Thanks.

While doing a forum search on "sheetrock", this thread was one of very few that came up. It is hilarious and I enjoyed re-reading it.

But seriously, anybody know if it's possible to compost sheetrock or use as a soil amendment somehow? Thanks.

terrene, sheetrock is mainly gypsum (calcium sulfate) and can be used in compost. Gypsum is good for at least some clay soils and is sold in bags like lime. It will not change the pH like lime does.

My city composting operation (at the landfill) takes in clean drywall scrap, shreds it and mixes it with shredded yard waste to make compost.

The only problem is how to grind it fine enough so you don't have all kinds of ugly white bits in your soil.

Drywall has paper backing but that's compostible. It also has some borax as a binder IIRC. Boron can supposedly inhibit plant growth if too much is present, but I haven't heard of a reasonable amount of sheetrock powder causing problems. I'm sure my city operation is not the only one doing this around the US.

You might want to make a new thread on drywall composting if you want folks to see it.

Thanks tox, you've at least confirmed what I suspected, the fact that there isn't anything terrible in sheetrock. I have some scraps leftover from a little remodeling here and there, and will probably throw them out on a pile in the back and see what happens.

Sheet rock is gypsum so you might think it is good but isn't it treated?

Anyway why not citrus? Because it takes long to break down?

Just sayin...

Here is a link that might be useful: What sheetrock?

Sheetrock, drywall, is not just gypsum. Along with binders to hold the gypsum particles together there are fiberglass threads to aid in providing some strength. None of the manufacturers of these products would tell you this stuff is okay to compost or put in your garden and everything I have seen from them says "Do Not." Everything I have seen from the manufacturers says scraps of their products should be disposed of in a properly licensed landfill for building materials.

Make sure you aren't composting the contaminated dry wall that came from china.

I have composted animals, but they were fairly small, just mice, chipmunks, moles, voles and possums. (The mole was extremely large for a mole - bigger than the possum.) I had a jack russel that was a great mole catcher. The labrador learned how to catch moles from the Jack Russel and then expanded the practice to other critters. The dogs learn that they get a treat for critters dropped in the compost pile.

As for pine, I compost my christmas tree every year. I cut off the branches and run them through the chipper/shredder. Some parts of the trunk are too big for our shredder, so it gets sawed into pieces, just big enough for our backyard fire pit.

I also compost dog poo.

Hmm, well, there is that Chinese drywall problem. I was always curious what actually caused that. It does not seem particularly harmful - at least on the sulfur side.

According to that Wiki article, Chinese drywall gives off sulfur containing gases as a result of a particular bacteria attacking the unusually high levels of pyrite in the formula. Pyrite is nothing but iron sulfide, quite harmless. In an aerobic composting environment, I suspect that particular bacteria would decrease as others compete. Also, any gases that are produced will waft away outdoors. In fact, those bacteria probably already exist in most soils and compost.

I did notice that the Chinese drywall also had more fly ash in it than American drywall. I do have some concerns about metals in fly ash, especially any fly ash from China.

I would think this problem has been cleared up so any new drywall isn't going to have these problems anyway. But I would probably not put Chinese drywall, new or old, in my compost.

As for fiberglass, it's first I've heard of that. There can't be much in there since you don't see it, and it's not a toxic risk. It's tiny glass fibers, which are made from silica and other harmless minerals, and would disappear into the soil.

Of course it's up to everyone to make their own choices. I just try to clarify the facts.

My concern with sheetrock is that one has no idea of the provenance or application unless it was you who installed it. It may have paints or adhesives, embedded metal fasteners, or who knows what anomalies if it comes from Chinese manufacturers. People have different reasons for composting and different criteria for use, I tend to err on the side of caution if it's intended for growing food crops.