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Soil, Compost & Mulch

When should I start a new compost pile?

16 years ago

Hi everyone My current compost is a pile 4' wide 3' tall and 18' long and has progressed quite nicely. Its made up of leaves and grass clippings and I turn it often by running my Mantis tiller thru the pile and shoveling it back into shape. Its dark brown but not finished yet. I guess I'm waiting for the black crumbly stage for it to be "finished".

Should I let this sit and finish off while I start a new pile? I have old fallen leaves that I can start a new pile with along with some chipped branches that I will add to the mix. Grass clippings are available weekly as I mow the lawn. I am afraid that if I keep adding the existing pile it will get too big and will never be finished. I figure to add a tarp on top to keep the newly fallen leaves off when they come if its not finished by the end of October when the leaves fall. Any suggestions? Thanks

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Comments (6)

cowgirl2
16 years ago
Yes, start a new pile.

As for the old one, there is no need to put a tarp over it. You could cover it with a layer of soil and let it sit for a couple of months to cure before starting to use it.
digdirt2
16 years ago
Yes, start a new pile. As for the old one, why not just put it on the gardens now and let it finish there? Even so-called "un-finished" compost is quite beneficial for the garden. You don't indicate what zone you are in so I don't know where you are in your gardening season but the almost finished pile is losing nutrients where it is so it might as well be losing them into the gardens and by spring it will be a lot less nutrient rich than it is now. ;)

Dave
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Just when to turn a compost pile depends on many factors, and a thermometer is an unnecessary expense, unneeded. If the material was piled up so the ratio of Carbon to Nitrogen is the optimal 30:1, and the moisture level is relatively close to just moist, then the bacteria will get to work on that material and could have most of the stuff in the center digested in about 5 days and that is the time to turn that pile, just as the temperature in the center of the pile starts to drop. The reason you turn compost is to put the undigested material from the outside of the pile into the center of the pile where the bacteria are most active. You could just turn that pile every 5 to 7 days without paying much attention to what is going on and that would work as well as anything else.
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Depends on a couple of things. Type of leaves and if you have other greens. For example, if you have sweet gum and maple, they would keep the heat up better than just adding oak leaves. (C:N 20 to 30 versus maybe 60 for oak). Size of the pile. If the pile is less than 3 feet by 3 feet, I'd be more inclined to make one big pile. I prefer 4 feet in diameter, two to three feet high. I love October because there is at least one week where you can mowe the lawn and get a optimal mix of grass and shredded leaves. Sometimes I sprinkle a little water in with it.
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Kimmsr
16 years ago
What does the current pile smell like. If it has an odor of good, rich earth, pleasant and not at all offensive, it is finished and ready to use. Starting a new pile now is a good idea. Covering your present pile with a tarp is not since that could limit air exchange. Since the nutrients in compost are not water soluble your present pile will not be loosing any nutrients, they will still be there until the soil bacteria can release them for plant use.
love2landscape
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the replies. The current pile smells like rich earth but the leaves havent completely broken down as some pieces of them are still visible. The purpose of the tarp was to keep the newly fallen leaves from covering the pile and adding new material when I dont want to. The compost is under trees.
tclynx
16 years ago
some leaf bits in the compost are just fine. Some types of leaves are just very slow to break down, that is ok, they can help keep the soil microbes busy and worms like some leaf litter too.

The smell thing is the more important test of how done compost is. An advance step to checking this (if you feel the need) would be to seal up a sample of your compost into a plastic bag for three days. If the bag starts to inflate in that time, it may still be active -smell at your own risk-. If the bag still seems pretty normal after the three days, open and check the smell. If no major offensive odors are present, then it is probably quite safe to use.
gonefishin
16 years ago
Congratulations on your big compost pile. Those tillers work wonders in helping make it, don't they?

With a pile that big, you could pile half of it up on the other half, kinda like I have done in the picture that I linked on down in this thread, and start a new pile where you have cleared it out. It will go ahead finishing and breaking down.

As mentioned above, if it is to a point where you are satisfied with it, to put it on your garden would allow any leacing to go into the soil where it would be of benefit. I like to till mine in some and usually add it when I mow and mulch knee high greens and add a layer of shredded oak leaves and aged horse manure. I usually turn all that under with my moldboard plow which flops it over upside down with some dirt on top of it. I let that set awhile through a few rains and hopefully freezes before bedding it up to make my rows for next spring.

It is hard to make a bad choice with good compost, what ever you do, it will continue to break down and become plant food that the plants can use. Good luck with your choice.
Just my .02
Bill P.

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