You can successfully compost leaves ... pile them up in a bin and keep them damp. Mother Nature does it all the time :)

http://lazygardens.blogspot.com/2015/05/diy-trommel-sifter-for-compost.html

The last photo is the compost coming from my 100% dead leaf and weed pile ... I was doing a major yard cleanup and tossed several years worth of dead leaves and weeds and twigs into a wire cylinder and left them until I was ready to deal with it, topping it up a couple of times with more leaves and weeds. Things were barely decomposed by early spring, so I set a sprinkler on top and watered the bin several times.

If you want to speed up a mostly browns pile, a small amount of ammonium sulfate or nitrate or phosphate sprinkled over it and watered in, or dissolved into a sprinkler can and applied to the top is the cheap way. Purists shudder, but it's effective.

Hey thx, just ran out there and checked that bag of manure again.. guess its sold as a soil amendment ?? Those three numbers aren't on there... Sounds like its gonna be great for my compost pile though. But, since I'm a beginner n all, can u throw a rough number at me, to use loosely, but one I'm familiar with?? That gives me an idea of the nitrogen content, like 10/1 or 20/1 or....?

I find a lot of information that poultry manure is quite hot with no numbers about how much Nitrogen is there and some more that report pound of N per ton of manure with a very few giving an analysis like about 1.0-0.5-0.8 which is what most of my books that have that information also list. Those numbers are the soluble nutrients, however, not the total.

I have always worked with Sir Albert Howards making compost formula of 1 part manure to 3 parts vegetative waste and that has worked quite well for me as long as the material to be composted was just moist and not damp.

kimmq is kimmsr

Anything that's already composted doesn't do much for your compost because the nitrogen has already been metabolized by the microbes to make humus. I would use that chicken manure compost directly on the soil.

You're composting your kitchen scraps, right? Keep a pile of leaves next to your compost pile/bin, and every time you add greens, add a layer of leaves. Meanwhile let the leaves do their thing slowly and get a head start. You'll use them up.

Okay cool, makes sense. I've just had to be more assertive with the gardeners on my street and hit them up, with my trash bag in hand, asking for the clippings. :) And with the last bag I scored, looks like I got enough to accompany my leaves for a good HOT batch.

Yeah I'll still keep my table scraps but going that route just doesn't seem to add up... I mean how long does it take to get a pile 3' x 3' .. of banana peels?? lol And I've concluded that's been my problem in the past, not heating up, b/c I was lacking the 'mass'.

But now I have my bin built, and all the ingredients, and ready to get cooking!

"Those numbers are the soluble nutrients, however, not the total."

There's not much soluble in any manure, composted or not, nor in almost any other organic fertilizer.

I'm not at all sure why you insist that the NPK labels/ratings of different sources of fertilizers are only representative of soluble nutrients. That is not the case, as has been pointed out to you many times. The NPK ratio represents the total available nutrient analysis of that product, some of which may be soluble, some not. With organics, little if anything is going to be soluble, excluding liquids like fish or seaweed emulsion. And even those are not fully soluble but require activity of soil organisms to convert into fully soluble salts.

LOL. 1st sentence I said I was struggling to understand the C:N ratios. So I have no idea what you are saying your entire post, haha must have written for yourself, not me. But that's okay, found out what I needed (earlier) you can be the rocket scientist.. Ima go out in the dirt, build my compost pile, and have a blast!

Maybe I'll come back w pics when it starts 'heating up'...

Sorry, Chris......did not mean to confuse you :-) As per the quote I started my post with, it was directed at another poster and their confusing remarks.

It's true kitchen scraps will never add up to a huge amount of compost if you're needing a lot. The idea is to keep them out of the landfill and recycle them back into the ground. If everyone did that, we'd be millions of tons ahead on our solid waste problems. :-]

NOW< NOW! We don't argue on these boards! Kiss and make up! Nancy

I'm available for that. Just don't tell Mrs. Tox.