NPK of compost
catlover_gardener
14 years ago
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leira
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Using N-P-K powder to create best compost mixture.
Comments (1)First, it is not very clear from your post what you intend to do with these "powders". Add to compost? "create a soil mix"? Use as a fertilizer? Approximate NPK of these materials is as follows: banana peels (actually banana ashes but very similar): 1.75-.75-.5 coffee grounds: 2.0-.36-.67 fish bone: 1.8-.2-.25 Yes, they can all be applied to the soil as an organic nutrient source. The precise ratios would be up to you and what your current soil nutrient levels are. Personally, rather than going to the effort of preparing, drying and grinding such powders, I'd include the fresh material in the compost along with any other garden and kitchen vegetative waste you can accumulate. Depending on the ingredients, compost can have NPK of 1.4-3.5/.3-1.0/.4-2.0. But its big bonus is the various other micronutrients and trace elements it will contain as well as the textural value and biological activity it will add to the soil....See MoreSoil Depleted, Composting Oak Leaves
Comments (27)Thank you, Len - First off, it's clear that you care about your garden and desire to harvest quality fruit. So now the question is, whether you are willing to become sufficiently knowledgeable about YOUR garden soil to accomplish that end (i.e., become a more serious gardener). Everybody posting here will have different opinions and offer different advice and suggestions, so YOU will have to make determinations which you believe are based on sufficient evidence. If you are serious about producing a healthy, abundant garden, our advice/suggestions may be of some help in your education. If not, our advice/suggestions will only serve to further our own education (or not). Your choice. And please don't be 'turned-off' by the ocassional (disrespecful) 'bickering' - just accept it as 'going with the territory'...which I'm learning to do as well. Some of these 'old dawgs' are not willing to learn 'new tricks'. Some of that evidence you will need to obtain yourself, from MA soil professionals - starting with soil testing to establish the nutritional values, pH and organic content of your soil (Routine + Micro + % Organics). About $35 with postage. Find SEVERAL local Master Gardener folks that can visually inspect/feel/smell that soil and offer advice based on reality of this situation, and use the information posted here MAINLY to ask questions of us AND your LOCAL gardening 'experts'. Recommend that you include about half of the 'mustard-colored' layer 10" down (how deep does it go?), in your soil sample, since it is in the root zone of almost every vegetable plant. Scrape off the snow, scrape away the leaves, and take samples according to sampling instructions. Take a LARGE sample so you will have enough left over to put in ziplock bags to provide small samples to others you request help from. Get a sample to the soil lab in the mail soon. Second, some strains of fungus and bacteria ALWAYS exist in healthy soil, and are essential for good vegetable harvests - but garden soil may also contain some strains of fungus/bacteria are very detrimental to vegetable plants. Worms are NOT an indication of a bad (to plants) fungal issue, since worms eat fungus that's working on decomposing matter. YOU must determine IF 'bad' fungus exists, and if so, what course of action to take, to target ONLY the bad ones, so as not to kill the good ones. I'm still NOT saying that a bad fungus is the MAIN cause of your soil problem(s). Am developing an opinion, but still do not have sufficient information on which to base expression of it. Answer each of the questions... IF bad fungus/bacteria are indicated as partial cause of this dilemma, you should assume that they proliferated due to something you did (or didn't) do. Don't just blame it on "nature". Take responsibility to take corrective action and learn from it. Have included an 'overview' USDA link written by Dr. Elaine R. Ingham, who produces excellent microbiological works - and am currently studying two of her publications. Also recommend her web site at www.soilfoodweb.com for more information. But do not overlook free assistance directly from soil professionals/teachers/grad.students at U.Mass. who may take an interest in your dilemma. From the information you recently posted, it is my opinion that your soil probably has SEVERAL interconnected, but not necessarily related problems (how much poultry manure, how much, how applied and how often?). But 'yellow leaves' don't necessarily mean a lack of nitrogen (chlorosis) - could also be caused by inability for plants to uptake zinc/iron due to high phosphorous or other reason. Find out. Go through each of the questions posed on this post, and answer them fully in your notebook - to provide specific information to local sources that you request assistance from. To the extent you are able to answer their questions, THAT IS the extent to which they will be able to assist you. Please stay in touch with this thread, to ask questions and peruse opinions/advice/suggestions to help you to determine what questions you should be asking. And keep us informed about your progress... Looking forward to the day that you send us beautiful photos of your prize tomatoes and cucumbers, Robert...See MoreMake compost with mostly shredded paper? (junk mail, photocopies)
Comments (17)Regular shredded photocopies and junk mail etc will compost fine, esp with your mix of other stuff. Don't worry about making it 'nutritious', the various fungi and bacteria and bugs and worms will help. I put pretty large amounts of cardboard through my compost pile. It will eventually help with your clay soil. But you may need a fair bit of it - read, a lot, applied over time, probably more than your junk mail and household paper after composting. I've found wood chips, wood shavings, leaves (composted on their own or mixed with other stuff) to be most helpful and available in quantity - along with just chopped garden waste or whatever's left over from mowing/mulching everything growing. The lignin in woody wastes and leaves and to a lesser degree paper and cardboard (varies) breaks down more slowly and leaves more behind - both to feed the soil organisms and bind to clay particles, opening the soil up from the tight packed clay. Will depend on climate and other factors - and it won't loosen up your compacted clay overnight. So go for it. And if you can get loads of wood chips (for example from utility crews or when trees are taken down), it's great. Your soil may not need fertilizers added (clay holds a lot). Also just casting various cheap seeds of the green manure and similar cover crops, some flower types, some radishes and mustards (the cheap type) seems to help - most of them don't mind clay soils and their root growth does the work of penetrating the clay on its own. I've got patches that were more compacted where not much was growing; compost, mulch, woodchips, shredded or composted leaves and casting these types of seeds about has made the soil nicer, and the yard more pleasant and prettier. (But it's not a manicured yard, tends more to the wild looking). In a lot of spots you can feel how springy the soil is (although not necessarily that deep to clay)....See MoreHow to Calculate Effective Nitrogen Delivered to Soil From Compost?
Comments (22)I'm just visiting from the lawn care forum to see what you folks have been up to. Back in 2002 to about 2007 I hung out here, but then moved primarily to lawn care. Anyway this topic caught my eye, and this sentence has me wondering: Is there any study that documents how much NPK is actually delivered to the soil when compost is used in typical volumes (e.g., one, two, three inches of top dressing)? Being a lawns guy now, where would you use 1-3 inches of top dressing? The answer, I presume is in a flower or veggie garden. At those amounts would you still call it top dressing? Anything 1 inch or deeper is mulch to me. In the amateur lawns biz, we have always talked about using no more than 1/4-inch of compost as a topdressing. Why? Because any more and you seriously risk smothering the turf. I have pictures of a lawn which smothers their St Augustine lawn every other year, and they pay for it the rest of the growing season. So 1/4-inch it is. How much is that? That is 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet. That is roughly 700 to 1000 pounds depending on moisture content. If you are limited to 1/4-inch for a lawn, the cost of that (in my area) is $50/yard for the compost and $100 delivery up to 3 yards. For 3 yards delivered that's $250 or $83 per yard (or per 1,000 square feet). Then you get to spend the weekend behind a shovel and wheelbarrow applying the stuff. Or, you could apply organic fertilizer instead of compost. The organic fertilizer I like for now is alfalfa pellets, but I'm warming up to Tractor Supply's floating catfish food and will try that later in the season. The application rate for these fertilizers is 15 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Alfalfa pellets cost $12 for 50 pounds at the local feed store. Cost to apply then is $12/50*15 or $3.60 per 1,000 square feet. In order for compost to be a favorable 'topdressing,' it's going to have to have a lot more benefit than it seems to have. Yes I have a compost pile, and it gets used under the roses when we don't have chipped tree mulch. Also under the roses I use both alfalfa pellets and corn meal several times during the growing season. Our roses have not had chemical fertilizer...ever....See Moredchall_san_antonio
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoswanz
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoKimmsr
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoswanz
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14 years agolast modified: 9 years agojoe.jr317
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agodchall_san_antonio
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoavid_hiker
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agodchall_san_antonio
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agovalerie_ru
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agovalerie_ru
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agovalerie_ru
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agovalerie_ru
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agovalerie_ru
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agovalerie_ru
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agovalerie_ru
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agovalerie_ru
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoidaho_gardener
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agodchall_san_antonio
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agovalerie_ru
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agobpgreen
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agoDan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agovalerie_ru
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agocatlover_gardener
14 years agolast modified: 9 years agojolj
13 years agolast modified: 9 years agotapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
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11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoOil_Robb
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoTheMasterGardener1
11 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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