Hi,

Due to the layout of the house - I probably need to locate most of my black
plastic compost bins (3/5) to an area of the garden which gets full sun. I
tried it before - but the worms invariably die during Summer.

But would the composting process still work? (I'll put a bucket of water
each day to keep it moist)

I tried the open concept - but the compost invariably dries up and does not
decompose. Doesn't work so well.

On Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:52:13 +1100, "YMC"
wrote:

Hi,

Due to the layout of the house - I probably need to locate most of my black
plastic compost bins (3/5) to an area of the garden which gets full sun. I
tried it before - but the worms invariably die during Summer.

But would the composting process still work? (I'll put a bucket of water
each day to keep it moist)

I tried the open concept - but the compost invariably dries up and does not
decompose. Doesn't work so well.





Your compost pile should work in sun or shade. A compost pile (at
least 1 cubic yard) should stay moist inside for days, although the
edges will dry out. I'd think your pile may be too small if you need
to water it daily, else you are in an arid region. Guidelines suggest
locating your compost pile near the garden, convenient location, and
out-of-sight. Your bin is working fine if it is warm 12" inside it. I
use rabbit fencing shaped into a 4' rings. I planted rose-of-sharon
around the cylinders to keep the bins somewhat hidden. They get
mostly shade, but good ventilation. If you have more than one bin,
you can experiment to see which location works best. Any plants
growing near a compost bin usually grow like weeds!

"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:52:13 +1100, "YMC"
wrote:

Hi,

Due to the layout of the house - I probably need to locate most of my
black
plastic compost bins (3/5) to an area of the garden which gets full sun. I
tried it before - but the worms invariably die during Summer.

But would the composting process still work? (I'll put a bucket of water
each day to keep it moist)

I tried the open concept - but the compost invariably dries up and does
not
decompose. Doesn't work so well.

Your compost pile should work in sun or shade. A compost pile (at
least 1 cubic yard) should stay moist inside for days, although the
edges will dry out. I'd think your pile may be too small if you need
to water it daily, else you are in an arid region. Guidelines suggest
locating your compost pile near the garden, convenient location, and
out-of-sight. Your bin is working fine if it is warm 12" inside it. I
use rabbit fencing shaped into a 4' rings. I planted rose-of-sharon
around the cylinders to keep the bins somewhat hidden. They get
mostly shade, but good ventilation. If you have more than one bin,
you can experiment to see which location works best. Any plants
growing near a compost bin usually grow like weeds!

The worms don't really die. As the pile heats up and/or dries out they just
move to a deeper, cooler, moister location. Most likely if you'd dig down in
the soil UNDER the pile you'd find them.

Val

"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
Your compost pile should work in sun or shade. A compost pile (at
least 1 cubic yard) should stay moist inside for days, although the
edges will dry out. I'd think your pile may be too small if you need
to water it daily, else you are in an arid region. Guidelines suggest
locating your compost pile near the garden, convenient location, and
out-of-sight. Your bin is working fine if it is warm 12" inside it. I
use rabbit fencing shaped into a 4' rings. I planted rose-of-sharon
around the cylinders to keep the bins somewhat hidden. They get
mostly shade, but good ventilation. If you have more than one bin,
you can experiment to see which location works best. Any plants
growing near a compost bin usually grow like weeds!

Yes, indeed the weeds that grow near the compost pile grow like monsters.

But I have the problem of the open compost piles - drying out.

Placing it in big plastic compost bins (they look like post office
letterboxes with the bottom cut out) ... that should speed up the compost
process? The problem is that they will be exposed to full sun. It gets very
hot here in Summer - 42C+ or 130F? And the compost worms don't survive. But
it should all still work?

I relocated the compost worm section to another shady but smaller part of
the garden.

On Oct 12, 8:36*pm, "YMC" wrote:
"Phisherman" wrote in message

...

Your compost pile should work in sun or shade. * *A compost pile (at
least 1 cubic yard) should stay moist inside for days, although the
edges will dry out. *I'd think your pile may be too small if you need
to water it daily, else you are in an arid region. *Guidelines suggest
locating your compost pile near the garden, convenient location, and
out-of-sight. *Your bin is working fine if it is warm 12" inside it. I
use rabbit fencing shaped into a 4' rings. *I planted rose-of-sharon
around the cylinders to keep the bins somewhat hidden. * They get
mostly shade, but good ventilation. * If you have more than one bin,
you can experiment to see which location works best. *Any plants
growing near a compost bin usually grow like weeds!

Yes, indeed the weeds that grow near the compost pile grow like monsters.

But I have the problem of the open compost piles - drying out.

Placing it in big plastic compost bins (they look like post office
letterboxes with the bottom cut out) ... that should speed up the compost
process? The problem is that they will be exposed to full sun. It gets very
hot here in Summer - 42C+ or 130F? And the compost worms don't survive. But
it should all still work?

I relocated the compost worm section to another shady but smaller part of
the garden.

My Compost has always been open although I have a rather large setup,
It decomposes rather quickly, and I do not turn it often because of
the large size makes it rather backbreaking and I try to turn it with
a loader when I have one available.
My thought on compost is to just let it go mostly and it will break
down, I add nitrogen and lime from time to time but other than that I
let the natural thing happen and I end up with a pretty balanced
compost.

On Oct 12, 6:52�am, "YMC" wrote:
Hi,

Due to the layout of the house - I probably need to locate most of my black
plastic compost bins (3/5) to an area of the garden which gets full sun. I
tried it before - but the worms invariably die during Summer.

Worms die during summer, that's ridiculous.

First, the heat generated from composting in of itself raises the
internal temperature more than the radiant energy from the sun...
compost is an excellent insulator. Second, worms do most of their
work at night regardless of a compost bin or not... you're obviously
not a country boy. Third, there are many microbes at work that do
most of the composting and the heat generated from microbe composting
does not harm them until extreme temperatures are reached... worms are
only the first in line, they do the pre-composting, microbes are the
real composters. It's cold that retards/stops composting, not heat.

When a compost bin is set on rich deep moist soil it will work just
fine in full sun... if you set your compost bin on hard dry ground it
will work as if set on a concrete slab.

"Sheldon" wrote in message news:6dcffda8-095b-4a74-959a-
Worms die during summer, that's ridiculous.

Its gets very hot here in Summer in Melbourne, Australia. About 42C...
that's about 120F? Plus our sun is esp. searing. Skin Cancer is the no 3 or
2 killer health killer here.

It gets so hot you can literally fry an egg on top of the compost bin left
out in the sun.

^ Third, there are many microbes at work that do
most of the composting and the heat generated from microbe composting
does not harm them until extreme temperatures are reached... worms are
only the first in line, they do the pre-composting, microbes are the
real composters. It's cold that retards/stops composting, not heat.

When a compost bin is set on rich deep moist soil it will work just
fine in full sun... if you set your compost bin on hard dry ground it
will work as if set on a concrete slab.

The bin is set on soil... not hard ground. I also cover 5% of the lower
bottom of the bin with earth - to seal it.

But what sort of extreme temperatures are we talking about here?

On Oct 13, 10:47�am, "YMC" wrote:
"Sheldon" wrote in message news:6dcffda8-095b-4a74-959a-

Worms die during summer, that's ridiculous.

Its gets very hot here in Summer in Melbourne, Australia. About 42C...
that's about 120F?

In what's essentially desert composting is a waste of time.

But I have the problem of the open compost piles - drying out.
Placing it in big plastic compost bins (they look like post office
letterboxes with the bottom cut out) ... that should speed up the compost
process? The problem is that they will be exposed to full sun. It gets very
hot here in Summer - 42C+ or 130F? And the compost worms don't survive. But
it should all still work?

I live in southern California where it gets about 120 degrees (48.89
C) in the summer. I can fry eggs too.

Your bin needs to be open to the ground. That lets worms travel up
and down where you won't see them. It's more than just worms creating
compost.

Compost does not need to be sopping wet all the time. It sounds like
you could use a little shade on the bin. Rig up a little fence or
umbrella or tee-pee something and see if that helps.

Don't give up. You'll get the hang of it.
Laura

--------------
So California
http://www.theGardenPages.com

Thanks Laura!

I made a mistake - the outside temp here gets to 110F during the height of
Summer. But only for a few days.

However the inside temp of the compost is much higher - but I'm not exactly
sure.

"Sheldon" wrote in message
On Oct 13, 10:47?am, "YMC" wrote:
"Sheldon" wrote in message
news:6dcffda8-095b-4a74-959a-

Worms die during summer, that's ridiculous.

Its gets very hot here in Summer in Melbourne, Australia. About 42C...
that's about 120F?

In what's essentially desert composting is a waste of time.
______________________________________________

Sheldon you moron, Melbourne is a major Australian city in a temperate
climate. Think Los Angeles rather than Las Vegas and you might get the
picture.

On Oct 14, 11:48�pm, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:
"Sheldon" wrote in message

On Oct 13, 10:47?am, "YMC" wrote:

"Sheldon" wrote in message
news:6dcffda8-095b-4a74-959a-

Worms die during summer, that's ridiculous.

Its gets very hot here in Summer in Melbourne, Australia. About 42C...
that's about 120F?

In what's essentially desert composting is a waste of time.
______________________________________________

Sheldon you moron, Melbourne is a major Australian city in a temperate
climate. �Think Los Angeles rather than Las Vegas and you might get the
picture.

You're the moron. Most of LA county is essentially desert, the ground
holds little moisture (C-ment rivers), it's primarily sand and rock.

"Sheldon" wrote in message
On Oct 14, 11:48?pm, "FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote:
"Sheldon" wrote in message

On Oct 13, 10:47?am, "YMC" wrote:

"Sheldon" wrote in message
news:6dcffda8-095b-4a74-959a-

Worms die during summer, that's ridiculous.

Its gets very hot here in Summer in Melbourne, Australia. About 42C...
that's about 120F?

In what's essentially desert composting is a waste of time.
______________________________________________

Sheldon you moron, Melbourne is a major Australian city in a temperate
climate. ?Think Los Angeles rather than Las Vegas and you might get the
picture.

You're the moron. Most of LA county is essentially desert, the ground
holds little moisture (C-ment rivers), it's primarily sand and rock.
__________________________________________________

Snort! You obviously failed to notice that between your 'desert' comment and
my 'moron' comment there was a post from "Laura at the garden pages" who
lives in California and makes compost.

And even in rock and sand, it is still possible to make compost and improve
the soil. In fact even in desert, it's possible to still improve the soil
and make compost. It's just a lot harder than in temperate zones.

"FarmI" wrote:
"Sheldon" wrote:
"FarmI" wrote:
"Sheldon" wrote:
C" wrote:
Sheldon" wrote:
Worms die during summer, that's ridiculous.

Its gets very hot here in Summer in Melbourne, Australia. About 42C....
that's about 120F?

In what's essentially desert composting is a waste of time.
______________________________________________

Sheldon you moron, Melbourne is a major Australian city in a temperate
climate. ?Think Los Angeles rather than Las Vegas and you might get the
picture.

You're the moron. �Most of LA county is essentially desert, the ground
holds little moisture (C-ment rivers), it's primarily sand and rock.
__________________________________________________

Snort! You obviously failed to notice that between your 'desert' comment and
my 'moron' comment there was a post from "Laura at the garden pages" who
lives in California and makes compost.

Why should believe and who cares anyway.

And even in rock and sand, it is still possible to make compost and improve
the soil. �In fact even in desert, it's possible to still improve the soil
and make compost. �It's just a lot harder than in temperate zones

I lived in S, Cal for a number of years (6), it's near impossible to
compost sucessfully, too hot, too arid/dry... and why bother, hardly
anyone has a home veggie garden anyway. People tend to grow what
grows there naturally whether cared for or not; avocado, persimmon,
fig, date, citrus, etc... but the native plants are primarilly
succulents/cacti, and need no compost... they do just fine on dry
alkaline marl, and not only need little water, overwatering is a
detriment. Precipitation
is generally low in S. Cal, when it does precipatation is extremely
heavy but of relatively short duration. The ground absorbs very
little moisture (it can't), most becomes run off and causes
disasterous erosion. All the time I lived in S. Cal I never saw an
earthworm, not a one. Wherever there is artificial landscaping there
topsoil is trucked in at great expense. Composting in such an arid
biome as S. Cal is a total waste because any lush landscaping there is
absolutely artificial. Everything in S. Cal is artificial anyway
including the people.

"Sheldon" wrote in message news:94827e1b-c59c-4bd3-865f-
I lived in S, Cal for a number of years (6), it's near impossible to
....absolutely artificial. Everything in S. Cal is artificial anyway
including the people.

Really? Lol.