Composting on top of red clay soil

11 years ago

I have been composting for for a few years, but up until recently I really knew nothing about it. Previously I just threw all my kitchen scraps into 5 gallon buckets on the side of my house. Last fall I started a pile on the ground. after I discovered this site a couple of weeks ago I started working hard on that pile getting my ratios right and turning it daily.

The dirt underneath the pile was red dirt,so until today didn't realize that my compost was breaking down into red dirt it's self. It was until I was flipping the pile today that I realized that under what thought was the original dirt there were scraps of things I had thrown in around Christmas time last year. Cranberries corncobs ect. (apparently cranberries don't compost well.) Is this normal for compost to breakdown into red dirt when it has been sitting on red clay? It is better quality than the red clay, but still has the red color only darker.

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Comments (8)

Laurel Zito
11 years ago
Compost is black when it breaks down even you compost red foods. I don't think the compost turned into red clay it is just incorporated itself with your native soil. The first time I composted, I bought a bin and I thought my compost turned into my native soil which is brown because I never turned it or added browns. I just put kitchen stuff in there and it was like nothing happened. I was so mad.
shadestorm
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you. I did notice chunks of black in with the red. I was just surprised how far underneath the lay of red dirt the items were.
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I can seriously commiserate with you on this one. The higher part of our land is also heavy hillside clay. As for what you propose, I have a hard time picturing what it is you intend to do. A hundred plastic pots on a hillside with no flat areas? How will they stay put? How will you water them? I don't know which part of California you are in, but vegetables are very thirsty under the best of conditions. It's possible that you will be watering every single day, maybe even twice a day if you have a hot climate. Do you have the time for that? And would watering mean dragging a hose up and down a hill covered with a hundred pots? That doesn't sound too easy or fun? You don't say if the hill is south or north facing. If the sun is on that hill all day long then the plant roots in those pots are going to be under a lot of heat stress. I have found that very cheap plastic pots tend to deteriorate much more quickly in the sun than more expensive pots. Some don't even last a year in the sun. And finally, if you cut out the bottoms of the pots you would have to dig each pot into the ground or else you are going to lose all the soil out of them every time you water. I think you may be setting yourself up for a lot of work and a lot of frustration. What we do here with our hillsides is to terrace the land. (If you look for images of Banyalbufar in Google you will see what our terraced lands looks like) Would terracing be possible for you? Even on a small scale it can be very effective. On this island we build up our terraces with supporting rock walls but in the States you would probably use wood. Google "build hillside terraces" for ideas. With terraces you will have flat areas where you can build up your soil, for example, with the lasagna method which is reasonable cheap to do.
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"oh, i thought it was impossible to grow on clay soil :D Goodness, no, else there would be no agriculture anywhere in the South. :) Clay can be very fertile. Just avoid walking on it near the plants. When wet, you can weed but don't till or cultivate. As a matter of fact, I would avoid tilling altogether. It won't hurt to do it to turn the garden for the first couple of years, but the more you do it the more you risk developing a hard plow pan that roots cannot penetrate. If you dress the top of the soil often with compost and other organic material, your worms will do the rest and improve the tilth and consistency of your soil.
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Until last year, I used to garden for my mother-in-law when I visited (2-3 times a year) and you could go to a pick-up place in one of the county parks (?) and take all the compost you wanted for free. I think you were supposed to be a resident, but no one was there to check. While I wasn't a resident, she was, so I felt ok about it. Over the years, I did it many times. I never had a truck, just my m-i-l's very fancy car, but I just saved the bags from when I bought other amendments or potting soil for her, and reused those and other assorted containers. Anyhow, I am not suggesting that you go to a different county to scam free compost, but that you look at other sources if you aren't happy with the compost from WF. BTW, compost from yard waste is perfectly fine to use. It heats to a much, much higher temp than home-made compost and is very, very unlikely to contain any weed seeds or pathogens. Aphids won't survive even home composting. Heck, they won't survive a blast of water from the hose. You can compost them yourself quite safely. "Some kind of mulch" is a whole 'nother story. Whatever that is, could, indeed, have brought in oak root fungus or some other disease. This would be especially true if the mulch was un-composted oak bark chips or something like that. But oak root fungus is so widespread in your region, your friend could have gotten in any number of ways. It often is dormant for many years before it starts showing symtoms, so it would be impossible to say it was "brought" in by any one item. If you can't get compost in your county for free, go to the nearest nursery or Home Depot and buy it. I would bet you nearly anything it would be cheaper than WF.
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Laurel Zito
11 years ago
Worms can move your compost around.
toxcrusadr
11 years ago
shadestorm, you've discovered the secret to effortless improvement of poor soil: build a compost pile on it for a few years. ;-]
mackel_in_dfw
11 years ago
It befuddles me when folks think it's necessary to outwit nature, and ignore all she offers so effortlessly, and we even do things to defy her and give her an attidude so that she packs her bags and goes... anybody with red clay soil- make compost, there's your garden bed in a few years...go on a kudzu hunting mission, and appreciate the diamond in the rough you have...which the Japanese pay top dollar to transfer into sacred gardens...becuase it is indeed, superior...with the right percent of carbon...

Mackel
shadestorm
Original Author
11 years ago
I am not sure what you mean about trying to outwit nature.

I pretty much soil ignorant, but trying to learn, that is why I am here. I know as it stands at the moment, you can't get a shovel into the dirt around my house with out soaking it first. Even weeds aren't fond of it, hence the reason I do raised beds.
mackel_in_dfw
11 years ago
You're doing just fine, make compost. That comment was meant for a general audience, and I'm glad to meet you.

Mackel
allen456
11 years ago
Dangit Mackel I curse kudzu every single day and you have the nerve to sing it's praises???!!!!

I have a house that sits near an active freight train line. The only thing that separates me from the tracks is a small 10ft wide stand of running bamboo, an asphalt alley about 20ft wide (complete with a poured concrete curb) and 10 ft of red clay populated with native weeds and the occasional carpet of tall fescue. This morning I'll wander out and snap a picture of the kudzu attacking the bamboo and eyeing my house, it'll bring a tear to your eye!

Composting on top of red clay soil

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Laurel Zito

shadestorm
Original Author

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Composting on top of red clay soil

Comments (8)

Laurel Zito

shadestormOriginal Author

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Laurel Zito

toxcrusadr

mackel_in_dfw

shadestormOriginal Author

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shadestorm
Original Author

shadestorm
Original Author