When making my pike i alternated between putting greens and browns, im having a hard time trusting the process and wanted to have get some opinions
by FrostyNotASnowman
When making my pike i alternated between putting greens and browns, im having a hard time trusting the process and wanted to have get some opinions
by FrostyNotASnowman
9 Comments
Ummm, no
Compost is about rotting, you are going to rot the wall of your shed.
Compost is about mixing, you aren’t going to be able to turn with all those sticks.
Compost is a chemical reaction that requires water as an input. How are going to wet this?
Cutting those branches up a bit would speed things up. As it is, that’s going to take a long time.
https://preview.redd.it/cx2hzqg1rb0h1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=c8d35c30c334a6e0b6b9ef2115ba5e80b00e6214
I have a garden shredder. Bought it for $20 on the intternet, like eBay from other people that stopped gardening. What you see here is pruning from my apple tree. Fresh leaves and the woody sticks.
Higher density. This stuff will break down great if it gets run through a chipper first. But like this, all you’ll get is a nice dry stick pile rodent hotel that never goes anywhere.
And move it away from anything you don’t want to also be rotting or catch on fire.
What you have is a top-notch brush pile. Those tend to break down slowly and won’t produce compost due to the pile being mostly air and dry, brown matter. Like others say, the structure would be better off without the pile right up on it.
A shredder is a great tool to speed things up . The pile as u have it will take years to break down
Increase your fire insurance coverage and lower your deductible while you are at it.
If you don’t have a chipper (I have one. It’s in the garage, but I don’t know where) then you should probably start a second pile. The brush will take forever, but it’s still really useful for aeration.
You could start a new pile by taking some of that brush and chopping it up with clompers to make a base. Then put smaller and more dense things inside – kitchen waste, leaves, shredded cardboard, pulled weeds.
Long brush can also be useful if you want to create a freestanding enclosure. Get some fence posts (metal u-posts or t-posts) and then you can use the longer and heavier sticks to build up a “wall” along the edge as you fill the bin. Thinner and fresher long sticks can be woven.
But for the most part, you want there to be some air in your pile, but it also has to be dense enough so mold and worms and things can live in constant contact.
(Note: I like to create a separate brush pile, which acts as bird habitat, and also where I can get woody sticks for pea fence and chopping up for the base of the next compost bin.)
If you have chickens this is awesome. If not then no as a compost pile just no.