Tools for composting

Have you taken an inventory of the tools and supplies you use when you are working on your compost? Did you just shove everything in the corner of your garage or storage shed at the end of the season, intending to get back to them, but never remembered to do so? It’s never too late and you have a lot of time before the next gardening season is upon us.

For the moment, you can take stock of what you have, clean it up for the next season, and purchase the new things you would like to have in your “compost” arsenal.

Tool Tips for Compost Making

Claw Fork Compost Turner

Leaf Rake

Hula Hoe (remember them?)

Hose & Nozzle

Compost Thermometer

Pitchfork

Compost Aerater

Oil & Rags

Toolbox or Crate

Garden Shredder

Garden Gloves

Garden Boots

Sun Hat

Black Plastic Bags (for leaf mulch)

Shovel

Good Book on HOW TO COMPOST

Sieve to sift out the larger twigs and pieces

Compost Activator in case the temperature doesn’t rise

Long & Short Handled Pruning Shears

Gather what you have together, inspect and clean each piece with your oil and rags (if appropriate), check for damaged tools and replace them as necessary, and buy whatever new things you would like to have for next season. You’ll be glad you took the time to do this now when that first sunny day arrives and your ready to get busy in your garden!

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

Tools & Tips for Compost Making is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting

A Different Way of Composting

Worm composting is done in a wormery (worm compost bin) and is an alternative method of making compost that utilizes live worms to “eat” kitchen and garden refuse and turn it into castings. A worm can process half of its body weight each day, effectively reducing the materials by as much as 80%.

Watering your houseplants with worm compost tea

Worm compost bins make compost much quicker than regular compost bins or compost tumblers. After the worms eat the materials you feed them and produce the castings, which are richer in nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium than normal compost, you benefit from the results in two ways. First, you can collect the liquid, a form of compost tea, that drips out of the bottom of the wormery, mix it with water, and use it to spray on your plants leaves. Second, when the castings are finished, you collect them and use them as you would compost in your garden.

How a Compost Using a Worm Compost Bin

Wormeries are very simple. One example is a vertical wormery that is composed of three trays with holes in the bottom of each tray allowing the worms to move from tray to tray. To begin, you put bedding in the bottom tray and then add the worms. The bedding can consist of shredded newspapers, mature compost, sawdust, hay, dried leaves, burlap bags, etc. The goal is to have the bedding as similar to the worm’s natural habitat as possible, which would be like the moist, dried leaves found in a garden or forest floor. The worms will then migrate towards the food.

The top tray holds the food – fresh kitchen and garden scraps that can be put in every day or so and covered with damp newspapers or other bedding. The second tray is the work-in-progress tray where most of the composting takes place. This compost is not finished yet. The third tray is where the finished product ends up.

You can keep a compost crock or compost pail in your kitchen to collect the scraps, but be careful not to provide the worms with too much at one time or it will just rot in the wormery.

When the third tray becomes full, you take the finished compost out and rotate the trays, putting the now empty bottom tray on the top and moving the other two trays down a notch. These particular wormeries are on legs and also include another container at the bottom, with a spigot, where the liquid collects. This is the liquid that, when mixed with water, is great for your plants.

There are other types of wormeries as well. The one mentioned above is vertical. You can also find divided horizontal wormeries that work much the same way. There are also wormeries that aren’t divided, but they are a lot less convenient to use as you have to empty them out from time to time to remove the compost and aerate them by hand.

The Types of Materials You Can Put Into a Wormery

The types of material you can put into a wormery are somewhat different than what you would put in conventional compost bins or compost tumblers. First, you need to chop up the materials and give it to the worms often and in small batches. You can add a lot of the same things, such as plant and vegetable refuse, that you would normally use in a compost bin or compost tumbler, but you should avoid heavily acidic fruits, onions and garlic, and some people say not to use potato peelings. Also, worms don’t do well with anything oily.

Temperature Considerations

The temperature for a wormery is important. Worms won’t survive long in high temperatures. It’s best to keep the wormery in a shady spot between 55 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (12-21 degrees Celsius). The temperature of the bedding should not drop below freezing or above 89.6 °F (32 °C).

Yes!  A Wormery is Great for Dog Feces and Cat Litter!

A separate wormery can be used to process dog feces and cat litter. Worms will eat this and turn it into castings that can be used in the ornamental part of your garden. This is especially useful if you have a dog or cat and disposing of the their feces and litter is a continuing problem. If handled correctly, there will be no odor.

A Wormery is Great in a Small Space

Wormeries are great if you don’t have a lot of space. They can be tucked into the laundry room, in a shady corner of your patio or courtyard or, when the weather permits, under a shady tree. They have no odor and they turn your garden and kitchen refuse into usable compost quickly and benefit your garden and indoor plants.

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

What is Worm Composting? is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting

It’s a By-Product of Mushroom Growing!

Mushroom compost is actually the compost that mushroom growers make in which to grow mushrooms.  What you buy is the by-product of this growing process after the mushrooms are harvested.

Mushrooms growing in mushroom compost

Mushroom growers prepare a compost made of different organic materials, such as wheat or rye straw, hay, ground corn cobs, peat moss, cotton seed hulls, gypsum, used horse bedding straw, cocoa shells, cottonseed hulls, canola meal, grape crushings from wineries, soybean meal, potash, gypsum, poultry litter, and other natural organic materials.    Most mushroom growers have their own special recipe for their compost.

For the first three to four weeks, the compost is closely watched to make sure the temperature reaches,  and exceeds, 160 degrees F for a few days.  This heat kills any weed seeds, pests, or pathogens.  The compost is also turned frequently to aid in aeration.

When the above stage is finished, the compost is moved  into the building where the mushrooms will be grown. Approximately one week before the mushroom spawn is added, the mushroom compost is steam pasteurized to about 140 degrees F. This kills any remaining surface disease-causing organisms and pests.

When the compost is finally ready, it is topped with sphagnum peat moss which has been mixed with some ground limestone and the mushroom spores are sprinkled on top.

Approximately five weeks later the mushrooms are ready for harvest and they will be harvested for about three to four weeks.

The “spent” compost, as well as everything else in the growing room, is then steam pasteurized.  The mushroom compost is ready.

Because the materials used to make mushroom compost do not contain many heavy metals,  the  compost itself  is low in heavy metals .  Also, the pesticide level is low as mushroom farmers do not, as a rule, use pesticides on their mushroom crops.

This is the mushroom compost you can buy as Spent Mushroom Compost (SMC), Mushroom Soil, or Spent Mushroom Substrate (SMS).

How to Use Mushroom Compost

Mushroom compost, even if it is labeled “mushroom soil”, is not a replacement for regular soil, and should not be used as such.  Especially in container gardening, you should not use more than 25% mushroom compost mixed with the soil in the containers.

Because mushroom compost has a high level of soluble salts, which can be harmful to your plants, it must be mixed 50/50 with soil, and then it can be used as a good slow release organic fertilizer (2-1-1,pH 6.8).  Be especially careful with plants  from the heath family, such as rhododendrons, azaleas, and blueberries.  Another way to make mushroom compost “safe” for young plants, is to let it sit, uncovered, over the winter months so it can “cure.”

A lot of people are concerned that  mushroom compost, after being pasteurized, is not “alive.”  They believe that the pasteurization process kills off  the good micro-organisims that normal compost contains.  If you feel tht this can be a problem, add some regular organic compost – or compost tea – to your mushroom compost and letting it cure for a while.  It doesn’t take long for the mushroom compost to be teeming with micro-organisms again.

An Earthworm for worm composting

Putting mushroom compost into your wormery and letting the worms work on the mushroom compost over the winter months is also good for mushroom compost. The worm castings have many beneficial organisisms, the soluble salts can leach out of the wormery, and any synthetic fertilizers which may have been used on the mushrooms will be broken down by the worms.

Mushroom Compost Research and Statistics

Research from the Pennsylvania State University has shown that mushroom compost contains about 25% organic matter and 58% moisture.  This makes the mushroom compost perfect for handling and both making surface applications or incorporating it into the soil.  Due to an average of 1.12 % nigrogen, in mostly organic form, the nitrogen is slowly available to your plants.  It also contains an average of 0.67% phosphorous (phosphate), 1.24% potassium (potash), 2.29% calcium, 0.35% magnesium, and 1.07% iron.  The ideal pH range for most plants is 6.0 to 7.0, and mushroom compost averages 6.6.  Perfect compost contains a ratio of 30:1 or LOWER of carbon relative to nitrogen, and mushroom compost has a ratio of 13:1.

A good plan of action is to alternate the mushroom compost as a mulch one year and as a soil amendment the next year.

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

What is Mushroom Compost? is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting