Compost Ingredients

[mosquitomountainman]

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The buffalo got out a couple of times and got into the hay that was stacked here. What they didn't eat they defacated in so I'm forking it into the truck so we can compost it for use in the garden.

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The dog decided to sit in the truck and listen to the radio while I worked.

[hunter63]

LOL, smart dog........
Talk about turning smitte into shinola, good job!

I once had the oppertunity to clean out some barn stalls....Barn was falling down, nothing had been in there for 5 years or so, composted bedding and manure was abot 18" deap, and pretty much the consistancy of good black dirt.

Got several pick-up loads and as I was diriving out with the last load, the lady of the house was spreading "composted cow manure" from bags that she had bought at the garden center, in her rose bushes beds........??????
Go figure.

[crashdive123]

Exotic compost. Most just settle for cow manure.

Once you compost it, how long does it take for the hay to break down?

[mosquitomountainman]

hunter63; You have to wonder about people. We've had people question how we could be safe eating apples from the tree because they hadn't been USDA inspected!

crashdive123; We use whatever's available! It will take about six to eight weeks because it has so much hay in it. I let the stack sit awhile. After it's settled to about half the original size I'll turn it by forking it to another spot putting the "outside," "inside." I let that settle then do it all again. After this, when the pile settles it will be finished. The hay will be 95 percent good black compost. It may be late enough in the season by then that I'll store it in the pile for use next spring. Years ago I used to speed up the process by turning it more, mixing in dirt and watering it occassionally but we have to haul all of our water so it doesn't stay as moist as it should. It still gets hot enough to kill weed seeds though.

[sjhopkins]

Thanks so much for the detailed info about how you "process" your pile. Gives me a clearer picture of what to do with my own.

[your_comforting_company]

Just a little tidbit we encountered this week. The fellow we are working for had several heaping piles of what he called "compost" mostly peanut hay, hulls, and cow manure, that he intended simply to use as filler for holes in the pasture.
They went through a heat, and started smoking on Monday. He went to turn them and the fire spread through four of his ten piles. It's important to turn your compost every so often or it will go through such a heat and all you'll have is ash. It's been burning for days now.
I've seen cottonseed piles and peanut hulls do the same thing and it's a pretty common occurence around here. Seems like folks would learn from other's mistakes, so that's why I mention it here.
I don't know much about composting, but I do know that it will burn of it's own accord!!

[Rick]

We had a very large wholesaler of compost have a mountain catch fire. He moved it every day with a dozer but it still caught fire. It was probably 40 feet high.

SJH - Stay with greens and browns. Things like grass (green) or dead weeds (brown). Tossing things like sticks in it will just make it that much harder to work. Once you get your vegetation piled up then toss a shovel full of garden dirt on it and sprinkle it with beer. The dirt from the garden will have the organism you need to break down the mulch and the beer will give them something to eat while they grow. Remember that they are living organism so letting the pile get too hot or stagnant by not moving it will kill them and your mulch pile won't decay like you want it to. Keep it moist but not wet.