Questions tagged [compost]
Compost is organic material which has undergone decomposition by microorganisms and is used as a soil amendment.
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Sequoia needles as mulch or compost
I live in Portland, OR and I have a 100+ ft sequoia in my back yard. Keeping up with the falling needles/leaves is a year-round project. I've often wondered if they would make good compost. And ...
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564 views
Does compost 100% decompose?
I guess another way to ask the same question: Can compost be used as soil?
The question comes up as I have just removed a tree stump and would like to plant grass instead. So right now there is a hole ...
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Should a compost bin have air gaps or solid walls?
When watching videos about composting there seams to be two kinds. Those that are made from pallets, and therefore have air gaps and those with solid walls.
According to this video, the correct way to ...
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1answer
79 views
What do I do with compost bin contents
I'm not particularly green fingered but recently purchased a compost bin however I'm not entirely sure what I do with it once it's full.
I've been putting grass cuttings and fruit/veg waste from the ...
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1answer
51 views
How can I tell whether compost is too hot to plant into?
I have just had delivered a tonne of bulk compost. My intention was to mulch flowerbeds and also lay out a new no-dig vegetable bed so I ordered what I expected to be mature compost.
The compost is ...
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1answer
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Should I put more soil / compost to cover bottom of cherry blossom tree?
I just planted this Yoshino cherry tree late last year.
But I have been wondering if I didn't bury it deep enough. Should I pile up more compost around the trunk where the red line is?
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1answer
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Front yard shrubs need a boost
I come over from New Zealand once a year and get the family garden sorted. This year I haven't been able to arrive any earlier because of Covid-19. So we are in the middle of summer and the garden ...
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2answers
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Using old soil with lying of new turf
I am building up my lawn as current one was messy and home to rice and rats crossing from the neighbour with the help of some videos here, here and I have taken out some old turf and still in process. ...
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Is spruce bark equivalent to pine bark in potting mixes?
Composted pine bark is a standard ingredient in potting mixes. Most of the local forestry is spruce. Is there any reason to not use spruce bark?
I know that generally barks need to be composted at ...
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1answer
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approximately how much compost does a foot of wood chips compost down to?
I'm heavily composting my garden with arborist wood chips, and was wondering how much compost I get from a square foot of wood chips. I'm using Stropharia Rugosoannulata to break down the wood chips.
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1answer
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Acer Beni Maiko potting soil
Hi I am new to gardening and have bought myself an Acer Beni Maiko tree. I have repottd it when I got home. I have been reading that they prefer slightly acidic soil. I have potted it in Westlands ...
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What dug this hole under my compost heap?
This morning we noticed something has dug a large hole (20-30cm wide) under our compost heap. I'm not sure if they were digging out of our garden or into it. Based on my research I think it is either ...
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Do my tomatoes have aminopyralid herbicide damage?
Photo below of my tomato plant. This was planted in 3 inches of miracle grow with composted horse manure below, sourced locally. Everything was fine for about 2 weeks, then this morning I noticed that ...
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Processing compost while protecting earthworms
We were processing some messy compost/soil to get the junk (ie plastic bags, large bones) out when we realized it is full of earthworms. Any suggestions on a process that results in fewer worms being ...
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329 views
How to compost bacon grease, cooking oil, and other voluminous fats?
I don't often deep fry, or have bacon in the mornings, but when I do, I always have the same question of what to do with the grease. Usually, I just put it in the city compost bin, figuring all the ...
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1answer
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What is the carbon content of tree seeds and would they be suitable to balance nitrogen rich compost?
On top of my garage was a full 2 inches of densely composted material that I presume has built up over many years. Right above the garage are 2 trees that seem to shed hundreds of thousands of tiny ...
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Is fertilizing a zero-sum endeavor?
Maybe a better way to put this question is:
Given an isolated garden bed, that had no external inputs except light, water and air. If you were to grow plants in it, compost those plants and add them ...
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good or bad guys in compost bin?
I am making this compost at home using green and brown materials (egg shells, banana peel, kitchen waste, dead leaves, green leaves, etc.). While there is no bad smell or any liquid discharge, I ...
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3answers
71 views
Safe to use dirt with a dead possum in it?
So I just bought some bagged topsoil and a week in I'm covering my compost with it and I discover what looks like the hide and fur of a possum or racoon. I shoveled it out and there's no wet anything ...
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2answers
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Can I Compost Grape Sticks?
My field is surrounded with wine fields and my neighbors prune their wine field every spring which makes so much grape sticks available for me. Sticks are about 1ft-3ft long and thinner than my finger....
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1answer
28 views
Help potatos growing?
I think i have potato plants growing in my compose box . which would be a first for me. And i am unsure if that is what they are and how to cross plant them to a new location.
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1answer
37 views
Can I compost around a mature live oak tree?
I have a mature live oak tree in Florida that is much taller than my two story house. I have a small yard and would like to compost around it if possible. I've read here on stackechange that this can ...
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2answers
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Planted chili seeds in regular garden compost: should I dig them up and start again?
I ordered a variety of types of chilli seed (habanero, jalapeno, anaheim) because I can't buy these types of chilli here. I've never grown anything from seed before, so I think I approached this a bit ...
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Bokashi with little food waste
I am new to composting and I have so far failed 2 batches of bokashi. I have a 20l bokashi bin which lasted about 3 weeks in my 2 attempts before they started to smell rotten. It usually takes me ...
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210 views
Composting Citrus Leaves
I have three mature citrus trees. One orange, one tangelo, and one really productive lemon tree. These trees produce a ton of leaves as you might imagine. Will composting so many citrus leaves "...
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2answers
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Are grubs helpful in decomposition?
I have a small decomposition box made out of improvised plastic machine oil tubs. I have been adding kitchen wastes to it for the past couple weeks along with dry leaves.
Recently I added okara to it ...
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1answer
131 views
How to check quality of vermicompost?
I know it must be really hard without proper equipment to check the quality of vermicompost, but is there, still, another way to test the quality?
To me, this doesn't look like vermicompost at all. ...
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1answer
70 views
How to use worm castings indoors?
My wife and I have a worm compost pile in our workshop that processes a few pounds of food waste a week. Up until now, it has been used in outdoor gardens.
Now I am starting some indoor plant gardens ...
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1answer
89 views
Heavy wet clayey soil - grit, sand or perlite?
I live in a rented house with a garden in North East of England. Last year I attempted to create a small bed for growing herbs and some vegetables but the soil appears to be very clayey and wet all ...
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1answer
54 views
How to root basil cuttings without putting them in water?
I tried several times to multiple my basil using the cutting method, however they don't root and rot everytime, even if I put a piece of charcoal in the container fil with water.
So, is there other ...
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1answer
64 views
Is this some kind of moss?
When I took the lid off of a large container of my composted soil that I had stored in the garage, I found this! Small whitish little balls all over the top of the soil and growing up the side of the ...
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1answer
36 views
How long should I leave potted roots to rot down before reusing the soil?
I have a number of pots I grew tomatoes and cucumbers in through the he summer. These have now died off but I want to reuse the soil (mixing it with compost etc to get nutrients back) for other plants....
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Could one grow mushrooms on processed food waste?
I'm wondering if the processed food waste (PFW) output of an electric composter, like this one, could be used to grow (oyster) mushrooms on?
The PFW is supposedly sterile, so the idea is to lightly ...
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Rat proofing compost bin but allowing worms in
I've found a rat this morning in my compost bin :-(. It burrowed into in.
It's a small compost bin with solid plastic sides, a lid with an open bottom. In retrospect it was a potential rat haven. It ...
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2answers
50 views
Seeds That Grow in Decomposing Scraps
Are there any seeds that will tolerate growing in decomposing scraps of food? My city collects organic waste, but I thought I'd try to put it to use myself. I have a can of sweetened red bean paste ...
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1answer
160 views
Small white worms in the garden compost
It's been a couple of weeks that I've started to recycle our kitchen scraps (vegetables, fruits, coffee grounds, paper towels) in our garden. I've been reading various instructions over the internet ...
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2answers
117 views
Can the bacteria in compost bin be dangerous for kids?
During the process of composting, is it dangerous for kids to play with? I mean to say is it okay if a child plays close to a compost heap or touches the material with their bare hands? I heard about ...
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Are my compost bin bugs ‘good’?
I have a closed compost bin and when I took the lid of today to put something in it I noticed lots of bugs, a bit like flattened wood lice... I am just wondering if they are good for the compost bin ...
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3answers
172 views
Cooked rice and peanut shells?
Some background: I’m a beginner gardener (and that’s being generous) with a rooftop and a balcony, so everything I grow, if it survives, is in planters and pots. But I know almost nothing about ...
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1answer
106 views
Moldy apple core in potted plant
Put an apple core in the pot with my plant and now it’s getting moldy and the mold is spreading to the soil. Will the mold hurt my plant? Or is this all part of the composting process?
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138 views
do wood chips insulate better for cold than heat?
I noticed that my wood chip compost pile that I never turned has ice still about 1" below the surface, so that got me to wonder if wood chips are better cold insulators than heat insulators.
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1answer
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Making emulsion out of slaughterhouse waste
I have previously made fish emulsion to fertilize a small greywater garden; pretty much sealing fish waste (entrails, bones, skin) into oxygen-free plastic containers and leaving it for 6 months to a ...
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1answer
26 views
Why do compost piles warm from the outside in during the springtime?
I started moving my composting wood chips this spring, and noticed that the middle of the pile is still frozen, but the outside is workable, why is that?
I can tell you that when we had no snow on ...
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2answers
118 views
What is the difference between replacing soil and amending soil?
I came across this article and I find that it goes against everything that's said about soil amendment before planting. I've copied bits of it down below.
You are planting a new tree, and you want ...
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1answer
109 views
Can I put mealybug-infested kale in my compost?
I have a huge infestation of mealybugs in my kale. Am I able to compost these plants or will I risk contamination?
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2answers
58 views
Burying large amounts of burgen
I need to dispose of a very large amount of Burgan (kunzea/tea trees) that I am removing from a part of a rural property it took over and is posing a fire danger.
The current pile is about 3x3x10 ...
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1answer
117 views
Can I throw a plant that has white flies into the compost pile?
I have a bunch of dead leaves from a plant that has white flies. Can I use them for compost?
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227 views
Can the filter papers in coffee K-pods be used for composting?
I already know it's a lot of trouble to remove them for composting, but does anyone know if the paper filters inside the K-pods are actually biodegradable? We no longer use the old fashioned coffee ...
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2answers
56 views
Bury Rodents Compost
Is it safe to bury a rat, approx 12" deep in my vegetable garden? I grow tomatoes, cilantro & peppers. Does it pose any health hazard?
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Is composting just stacking organic waste together?
I read a few sites, http://decompose.co and how to compost and a few other sites
is it really that complicated?
Is there anything else I need to learn?
