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Soil, Compost & Mulch

Amending a compost pile

17 years ago

Should I be putting anything in the compost pile such as lime, gypsum, bone meal, blood meal, etc. to help things along? My pile never seems to heat up but it does break things down and there sure are a lot of worms in the pile. Newbie at this stuff.

Thanks

Tom R (edgman)

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Comments (11)

Kimmsr
17 years ago
Current research shows that by adding materials such as lime, gypsum, Bone meal, to the materials in your compost pile will simply slow things down and do not really help much anyway because the quantities put into the compost cannot be enough to make much difference to your soil. Prior to adding anything like lime, gypsum, rock phosphates, granite dust, etc. have a soil test done to see what is really needed and how much. A good gardener who is also somewhat environmentally aware (and all gardeners should be concerned about the environment) will not throw "stuff" that is not needed and could easily cause pollution at the soil in their garden, they will only add what is needed in the quantities needed.
Blood meal is a source of Nitrogen and could be used in place of other Nitrogen sources, but not in addition to because adding more N than is really needed is a form of pollution, the excess simply gases off to the atmosphere.
A compost pile that does not seem to heat up is short of something. The C/N ratio may not be right (it should be quite close to 30:1 C:N) or the moisture is not close to just right, just enough moisture but not too much. Too much water drives out the air the bacteria need to function well and many people start with too much water.

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Composting Online
pablo_nh
17 years ago
Sometimes a pile doesn't heat up because it's too dispersed (pile higher) or because it's built very slowly. When you build a pile over a longer time- stuff breaks down to a point where it won't contribute to heating so much. If you had all the material that you put in the pile, and threw it together at once- you might have a smoker.

Not saying that's definitely the reason, but it's possible. The worms will do the job for you. Castings rock house. If you start adding all that other stuff- you may just screw with the worms happy home- then you'd have a really slow pile.

Seriously- compost, and vermicompost especially, is perfect. You'll have a great nutrient source there, and I'd guess that adding stuff to it would only do harm.
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I have a friend who says starfish exoskeletons may have too much calcium. I found a list of NPK values for various compost ingredients including starfish on another site. The person who posted it there found it online but didn't give the source. She says at the bottom: "P.S. I just copied and pasted the entire list from the site onto MS word, then onto here. I didn't write any of the notes next to the compost ingredient." Here is the link from my Google search: my.gardenguides.com/forums/topic/46561 You'll need to scroll down in the post. 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dchall_san_antonio
17 years ago
I can't see buying brand new stuff and dumping it straight into a pile. That's not the purpose. If you have recently added a couple buckets of manure and still can't get heat, then you are too spread out.
rayama
17 years ago
If you can, add some shavings soaked in horse urine to the pile. Ka-Zam!
habitat_gardener
17 years ago
I add kitchen and garden waste as I generate it. Whenever I add moist coffee grounds, the pile heats up.

If you don't have access to a horse, human urine works as a nitrogen source, too -- collect it discreetly and pour it on (straight or diluted), or add directly if your compost is located away from public view.
edgman
Original Author
17 years ago
This is a very straight question and I am not getting smart about it but what you are saying is that if I drink a beer and have to urinate I could do it on my compost heap and that would help it instead of flushing it down my septic tank? How much human urine is good lets say in a 24 hour period for a compost heap? Boy, are we getting into some real deep stuff here. The reason I ask is that although I am not a farmer I live in a 99% farming region and I have heard some stories about some farmers round here having a urine party to help the compost heap along. Now some of these farmers have compost piles a ton or two deep so I could see a lot of urine would be needed. Another little secret a farmer told me. If you plant a tomato or most any other vegetable plant, take a book of matches, tear the matches out and throw them in the bottom of the planting hole. Gives the plants a certain nutrient thats hard to get. Tried it, it worked. He told me a 1.50 box of paper matchbooks was the best investment at planting time you could make.
Thanks again for your help.

edgman
Tom R.
edgman
Original Author
17 years ago
This is a very straight question and I am not getting smart about it but what you are saying is that if I drink a beer and have to urinate I could do it on my compost heap and that would help it instead of flushing it down my septic tank? How much human urine is good lets say in a 24 hour period for a compost heap? Boy, are we getting into some real deep stuff here. The reason I ask is that although I am not a farmer I live in a 99% farming region and I have heard some stories about some farmers round here having a urine party to help the compost heap along. Now some of these farmers have compost piles a ton or two deep so I could see a lot of urine would be needed. Another little secret a farmer told me. If you plant a tomato or most any other vegetable plant, take a book of matches, tear the matches out and throw them in the bottom of the planting hole. Gives the plants a certain nutrient thats hard to get. Tried it, it worked. He told me a 1.50 box of paper matchbooks was the best investment at planting time you could make.
Thanks again for your help.

edgman
Tom R.
Kimmsr
17 years ago
When you do things such as add unburned matches to the planting hole of any plant, and see better growth that should tell you that you have a soil related problem, your soil is not in good health and you need a soil test.
pablo_nh
17 years ago
Urea, which is basically what you're left with if you evaporated urine, is 45% N. Urine is some small % urea. You can put a LOT of urine on a compost pile that needs nitrogen before you see a problem (anaerobic, smelly, etc).

I pee outside on purpose for fertilizer value, to save water and septic, and because hey- who doesn't like peeing outside? Just rotate where you pee on a lawn, and try to disperse just a bit. I currently don't need N for my compost- but leaf season's coming.
organic_farmer_bob
16 years ago
I was hoping somebody might have some sources for nutrient content of HUMAN urine. I keep hearing that Urine is a 45-0-0 fertilizer and when used raw on yards will burn plants severely. Then I read articles that give numbers that say...
Carbon 11-17%, Nitrogen 15-19%, Calcium 4-6%, Potassium 3-5%,
Phosphorus 2-5%. If these numbers are accurate then wouldn't Urine be a 15-2-3?
patty4150
16 years ago
My google found this:

{{gwi:310296}}

From this website:

http://www.eawag.ch/services/publikationen/eanews/news_63/en63e_maurer.pdf

Here is a link that might be useful: Link

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