Hello all. I have just decided to take the plunge into compostiing at home. I figured instead of hauling the grass clippings, vegtable clippings, etc away it was time to compost. I have prepared the area and I am ready to begin. The problem I have is "browns". In the research I have done I have found I need 2/3 "browns" and 1/3 "greens". I don't have a problem getting the greens. It is the browns I have an issue with. Where do most of you get your browns?
Also, is there anything else I should be adding? I read one of the discussion about coffee grounds. Would that help too?
Thanks,
Jeff
Replies
http://vynniethegardener.blogspot.com/2009/07/high-tech-dirt.html
http://vynniethegardener.blogspot.com/2009/05/in-gardeners-garden-2...
Check out a few compost workshops from the PPG and you'll learn there is no set formula, but lots of recipes (depending on you method - pile, tumbler, bin, layer, etc). My old compost presentation is still available to download. It's high-level, but may give you some beginner guidance.
Enjoy and just keep it fun.
- VYNNIE
Central Phoenix
http://vynniethegardener.blogspot.com/
See http://www.magicsoil.com and http://www.magicsoil.com/research may have some additional material
I was amazed when we set up in our compost research silo lab to be able to quantify the rate of air flow required to hold the CO2 in the off-gas (and compost) ≤ 2%. We express aeration requirement as multiples of the volume of compost, every HOUR. We've frequently needed 23X or more, and have needed as much as 42X. So far we've never assayed over 3.0E+9 (3 billion) active bacteria, per teaspoonful of compost (one gram, dry weight), when the CO2 was greater than 4%.
The graph shows some of our research comparing the active bacteria population to the level of CO2 where the sample was taken from. Samples 2536 & 2540 were from a passively aerated windrow of yard waste, whereas the rest of the samples were from compost that was on forced aeration, 24/7, with the rate of aeration adjusted to try to match the needs of the microbes.
John Crockett, a.k.a. Dr. Mike Robe
No expert here, either. I have set aside all the leaves, debries from our yard at a corner. After a while, they turn dry and brown and that's my brown materials. Every time I add kitchen scraps to the compost pile, I mix in some brown. And most importantly, I cover the pile with the brown materials so it won't give out smell or attact flies.
I've been watching the Garden Guy Dave's segment on Good Morning Arizona (Ch3 or Ch14) on Saturday mornings. He is local and seems very knowlegable about how to do organic in the valley. According to him, besides the green, the brown, and water, some sweet stuff (malasses, suger+water, ...) added to the pile can encourage the microbiotic activities and speed up the process a lot. He turns his piles once a month that gives me some relief about how often I should work on mine :-). I found his books ("The Garden Guy", "Extreme Gardening") every helpful, too. They are available in most of the bookstores in the valley. Hope this helps and good luck!
I-Wei