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Hamilton Nj

i have a compost pile i started a month ago and i put 1 bag leaves ,5 galons veggie scraps,and about 20 old tomato plants that were green added a cup of bloodmeal ,it shrank about 1/3 of its size been adding more scraps from kitchen but im running out of green folige to put in there, can i just add extra leaves and more bloodmeal to get it cooking ??and how much is too much on the blood meal???i wet the pile once a week to moisten it aout 1/2 galon??? thanks pizza

12/4/2009 10:32:47 PM

[email protected]

Pete,

How many yards of brown leaves?
Stop adding table the scraps.
Spray the mess with black strap molasses &/or add already decayed compost.
How many pounds of blood meal have you already used?

12/4/2009 11:38:08 PM

Portsmouth, RI

I found if the pile is too small, it doesn't get cooking. You might try adding some compost inoculant.

12/5/2009 7:48:52 AM

Boulder County Colorado USA planet Earth

build a hoop house around it and cover with plastc to help get it hot.

12/5/2009 9:42:14 AM

Hamilton Nj

i used 2 cups of bloodmeal so far , i added 1 full trash bag of leaves brown,there is a shovel full of dirt or 2 in there 2 i dug a whole before i started it i turn it once a week????? should i take it out of the hole??? thanks pizza

12/5/2009 10:08:32 AM

Hamilton Nj

oh i added i garbadge bag of news paper too shredded!!!

12/5/2009 10:10:12 AM

[email protected]

Ahhh....you'll need a much larger volume to build & keep the heat required for true aerobic composting.

12/5/2009 10:41:04 AM

Bloomington, IN

Forget the bloodmeal, bacterial populations in the pile are too small to be able to utilize it before it leaches. And like Tremor said you'll definitely need a larger volume of compostable material. Last year was the first time I made a compost pile and what I did was I made as big a pile of leaves as I could last fall (2-3 yards), abandoned it for the winter not turning it until March, then in May added a lot of manure to it and saw its temperature soar to 130°F. I turned it every few days while it was hot then once a week as it cooled down. After mid-August the only aeration it got was when I moved the pile to another part of the yard to let it sit. It had the nice earthy smell I'd read about. Anything more to make compost seems excessive to me. If you want to use the bloodmeal in the compost pile I'd wait till spring when the daytime temps start to hit 60-70 regularly, elsewise I'd save the fertilizer for the plants. Just my 2 cents.

12/5/2009 2:09:14 PM

Hamilton Nj

ok thanks guys i got lots of leaves!! pizza

12/5/2009 4:07:36 PM

Portsmouth, RI

The best thing I have done for winter composting is made some indoor worm bins, right in my basement. The only cost was for the red wiggler worms.

12/7/2009 11:42:31 AM