Compost is decomposed organic material, which can be used as a fertilizer and soil amendment.
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Can kitchen waste be used as manure?
Can kitchen wastes (like potato peels, onion skins, orange rinds, egg shells, tea inside tea bags etc) be used as manure? If so, how to use them?
Right now, I'm just dumping them in soil, which I ...
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3answers
517 views
Is there any reason not to add commercially produced flowers to compost?
Is there any reason to avoid putting flowers purchased from the florist in compost?
The flowers were gifts but are now wilting. Would florists or growers use anything on the flowers to preserve them ...
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What is the difference between compost tea, manure tea, compost leachate and herbal tea?
We have seen several questions recently about compost tea. We have also seen questions about manure tea and at least one question that referred to compost leachate as "compost tea."
What are the ...
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How does one make compost tea? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to make manure tea without e. coli
In this post, the benefits of compost tea were discussed. In short, it promotes growth, nourishes the plant and the soil, and ...
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1answer
614 views
How much coffee grounds should I add to my compost (and how frequently)?
I have been reading that spent coffee grounds can be used for fertilizer and/or composting and also came across this question on this site. I have a compost pile in the yard that holds roughly two 33 ...
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2answers
394 views
Composting Bins - DIY vs Bought
I want to start composting.
I live in a house of 2, and a fairly large garden, in Australia, and I am renting (therefore do not want to spend a lot of money on something that I can't take with me).
...
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5answers
1k views
Is spent cat litter an appropriate source of nitrogen for compost?
Is spent cat litter an appropriate source of nitrogen for compost?
The cat litter used is made of recycled paper pellets so is rich in carbon.
It doesn't contain the cat faeces because that is ...
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5answers
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Ant colony in my compost bin: are they beneficial?
I've got a smallish black plastic compost bin in my garden and I recently noticed that an ant colony has taken up residence. This has happened a couple of times in the past, but they tend to move on ...
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1answer
157 views
Risk of contamination via leaf mulch/compost
Soil in the city I live in is quite often contaminated with nasty things like arsenic and lead. Levels are sometimes twice or more what's considered acceptable. For this reason, people usually ...
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2answers
655 views
How dangerous are the roots of brassicas (cabbage, broccoli etc)?
I've read that putting the roots of brassicas in the compost is a bad idea because of the risk of disease. I've also read that you shouldn't even plant them in the same spot for three years!
What ...
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3answers
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Should I add water to my compost heap?
I have a 1m x 1m x 0.6m compost heap. I was turning the heap yesterday and was surprised to find that most of the heap hadn't really decomposed, and was in fact quite dry.
Should I be regularly ...
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1answer
142 views
Is it okay to pile compost on to the base of a tomato plant?
In previous years, I've noticed my tomatoes have root-like buds towards the base of the stem, but haven't wanted to experiment in case I wreck them.
Anybody had any experience of this? Is it worth ...
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How do I compost a large pile of branches and heavy shrub clippings?
This Spring, I pruned all my shrubs and pulled out a few pine stumps. My first thought was just to pile them all up on their own. I have never had good luck trying to compost such material with the ...
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7answers
843 views
Speeding up decomposition of sickly sweet smelling giant compost heap
I have created a monster of a compost heap on my property (3 meters, by 2 meters, by almost 2 meters tall) next to an old granite rock wall. Anyway, I mostly put all my grass clippings (primary ...
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4answers
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What can you do with oak leaves within a garden? Are they compostable?
We have a lot of oak trees on our property. Is there anything we can do with the oak leaves? They never really seem to break down, and because of that, I am afraid to try and add them to a compost. ...
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1answer
399 views
How do I compost lots of grass clippings?
I find that grass clippings tend not to compost well on their own, however we have lots of grass clippings to compost – so what do we do?
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1answer
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How can I keep my compost wet?
During summer my compost bin dries out considerably and slows down. We have hot dry summers.
What should I do to keep the compost moist? Should I add water or will this rinse nutrients away?
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4answers
840 views
Why is it a problem to use manure as a fertilizing amendment over the long term?
I had my soil tested last fall. As part of the submission I checked the box that said I use manure as a soil amendment / fertilizer.
In the results from the lab, they included a note that said that ...
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3answers
614 views
What's the best way to increase the carbon content of compost heap in a grassy garden?
I've a small compost heap (1.2m x 1.2m x 0.8m), which is mostly formed of grass clippings. Thanks to this answer to another composting question, I now understand the C:N ratio.
Unfortunately, there ...
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1answer
230 views
Wormery failure in mass worm die-off … any advice?
Last fall our household of two people invested in a small, 3-tiered, commercially-available wormery that came with all components (bedding, lime, worms). All seemed to be going well until we brought ...
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3answers
240 views
Should I insulate my compost heap?
I understand that compost heaps have an ideal temperature for the bacteria to decompose the material into compost. Living in the changeable Great Britain, the weather can be windy, rainy, sunny and ...
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3answers
2k views
How hot can my compost get?
I went to stir my compost pile the other day, and to my surprise, when I dug into the center of the pile, I found that it was hot. As in, really hot. Once I removed the top layer steam was literally ...
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4answers
474 views
What is “Compost Tea” good for?
I have read that you can get a tumbler type of composter and collect the "juices" from the composter. This is referred to as "compost tea".
Does anyone know what the real usage of this is? Some ...
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2answers
392 views
Does unused compost keep on getting better and better?
We have a compost bin to which I've been adding kitchen scraps (and some garden waste) over several years. I have never used the resulting compost (mainly because I have a ready supply of horse manure ...
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2answers
2k views
Can weeds be put into compost, or will they grow again when the compost is used?
I usually discard weeds but it occurred to me that they would probably be good for compost.
Are there any steps I can take to use them in compost without having them grow again when I use the ...
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2answers
1k views
What actually occurs for manure to become considered “well-rotted”?
I know that you shouldn't use raw manure on plants because it's bad for them, but I don't understand why.
I know you should stack manure before using it (i.e. literally stack it into a big cone), and ...
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2answers
421 views
Rats have transferred poison into my compost. Is the compost usable on vegetables?
Delighted to observe that the rat poison we put down was disappearing.
Less delighted to find some weeks later that they had moved it all to a larder in the compost. The poison is Slaymore (as far ...
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4answers
575 views
How do I keep red wiggler worms alive overwinter in the Northeastern USA?
I'm going to be moving into my first house soon in Westchester County, NY. I've done a lot of container and patio/balcony gardening and am looking forward to having a real backyard garden. I want to ...
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5answers
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How often do you need to turn the compost heap?
If you have a compost heap, how often should you turn it? Does it make a difference if it's a simple heap (a mound on the ground) or in a tumbler?
Alternately, is it even necessary to turn the heap?
