Jumping up from a 1 cubic yard home composting to …quite a bit more. As the title says, plenty of arborists chips. Got maybe 500 yards stockpiled (plus more coming). Its incredible how much the volume reduces after a year! Located near Boston, so decent rain, but cold winters. Started getting chips as a way to keep the ~20 acre property mulched but great opportunity to make compost so made first pile late last year. Turned it twice last fall, none in the winter, started turning again mid summer. Keeping moisture levels up now, it was pretty dry. Its still cooking away at 160F, volume is maybe 1/3 of original, but still a lot of large pieces of wood mixed in with the good stuff. Site is alongside a brewery, distillery, and large commercial kitchen, so readily available but relatively narrow options for nitrogen inputs. Small kubota w front loader for mixing. No trommel for screening, but Id really like at least a small one for better texture for finished compost for raised vegetable garden beds.
Ive got 3 x 100 yard piles going now. They're all sat on top of a yard that already has an 1.5ft deep bed of chips to prevent weeds and nutrient runoff.
Anyone have advice in a similar set up who's managed compost production as a (very) part time one man show?
And yes, I pee on the piles when no one is looking. 👀
by PerspectiveShot654
6 Comments
you’re going to need either a lot of N or a lot of time to deal with that volume of C. Are ther e any farms near you that have poultry or ungulates?
Time is your friend. In my yard, we excavated 12” down a big area where we put my kids’ swingset. Filled it with arborist mulch. Topped it off every year. Kids are in college. Freecycled the swingset. Where the mulch “is” I have 12” of “soil” the texture of coffee grounds. It’s my raingarden now. Moisture is your friend with this. It will break down faster than you realize.
Lok up Jean Pain Heater Composter on YouTube. English part 1&2
I mean if it were me, I would use some mixed with my grass clippings and garden scraps
but most of it I would just let it age and use it as mulch, maybe spread it next year and till it into the soil, or just use it to keep weeds down in garden beds
So sad. Mine goes up to 160 😔
Sell it.