Restartin a stalled compost bin?
 

New location, and the compost bin is full.
The top layer is dried lawn mowings.

What is the best way to kick start some composting action? Just add
water. use Garotta or similar, wee in it?

Does it need some fresh vegetation added?

I'm reluctant to empty it all out then put it all back in again at the
moment due to far too many things to do.


Cheers



Dave R


--
Dell XPS laptop running W8.1

Restartin a stalled compost bin?
 

On 20/08/2018 14:48, David wrote:
New location, and the compost bin is full.
The top layer is dried lawn mowings.

What is the best way to kick start some composting action? Just add
water. use Garotta or similar, wee in it?

It probably needs more moisture after the recent hot weather but often
it is difficult to get water into it in one go. Pee in a bucket, add
water and apply multiple times over a week.

Buy a second bin and put the top layer of the old bin in the bottom of a
new bin

Subsidised Darleks may be available from
https://getcomposting.com/
depending on your location and/or local council policies


--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

Restartin a stalled compost bin?
 

On Mon, 20 Aug 2018 15:06:00 +0100, alan_m wrote:

On 20/08/2018 14:48, David wrote:
New location, and the compost bin is full.
The top layer is dried lawn mowings.

What is the best way to kick start some composting action? Just add
water. use Garotta or similar, wee in it?

It probably needs more moisture after the recent hot weather but often
it is difficult to get water into it in one go. Pee in a bucket, add
water and apply multiple times over a week.

Buy a second bin and put the top layer of the old bin in the bottom of a
new bin

Subsidised Darleks may be available from https://getcomposting.com/
depending on your location and/or local council policies

Thanks for the link. Looks like the black 330 litre at £20.

I've stirred it from the top with a gardening fork and it looks quite
promising.

Watered it as I stirred it so it is now nice and moist. Next step is to
see if it starts to heat up!

Cheers



Dave R

--
Dell XPS laptop running W8.1

Restartin a stalled compost bin?
 

In article ,
David wrote:

New location, and the compost bin is full.
The top layer is dried lawn mowings.

What is the best way to kick start some composting action? Just add
water. use Garotta or similar, wee in it?

It probably needs more moisture after the recent hot weather but often
it is difficult to get water into it in one go. Pee in a bucket, add
water and apply multiple times over a week.

Buy a second bin and put the top layer of the old bin in the bottom of a
new bin

Subsidised Darleks may be available from https://getcomposting.com/
depending on your location and/or local council policies

Thanks for the link. Looks like the black 330 litre at £20.

I've stirred it from the top with a gardening fork and it looks quite
promising.

Watered it as I stirred it so it is now nice and moist. Next step is to
see if it starts to heat up!

Don't worry if it doesn't. Cold composting proceeds at any temperature
from zero to 40 Celsius, though the mixture of organisms changes and it
rapidly speeds up as it warms up. Hot composting is somewhat different.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Restartin a stalled compost bin?
 

On Fri, 24 Aug 2018 09:23:31 -0000 (UTC), Nick Maclaren wrote:

In article ,
David wrote:

New location, and the compost bin is full.
The top layer is dried lawn mowings.

What is the best way to kick start some composting action? Just add
water. use Garotta or similar, wee in it?

It probably needs more moisture after the recent hot weather but often
it is difficult to get water into it in one go. Pee in a bucket, add
water and apply multiple times over a week.

Buy a second bin and put the top layer of the old bin in the bottom of a
new bin

Subsidised Darleks may be available from https://getcomposting.com/
depending on your location and/or local council policies

Thanks for the link. Looks like the black 330 litre at £20.

I've stirred it from the top with a gardening fork and it looks quite
promising.

Watered it as I stirred it so it is now nice and moist. Next step is to
see if it starts to heat up!

Don't worry if it doesn't. Cold composting proceeds at any temperature
from zero to 40 Celsius, though the mixture of organisms changes and it
rapidly speeds up as it warms up. Hot composting is somewhat different.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

You could use the technique used by Leek Growing Miners on their way home
from the Working Men's Club.
Need I say more?
--
Jim S

Restartin a stalled compost bin?
 

On 20/08/2018 14:48, David wrote:
New location, and the compost bin is full.
The top layer is dried lawn mowings.

What is the best way to kick start some composting action? Just add
water. use Garotta or similar, wee in it?

I favour Garotta cut with ammonium sulphate to restart a smaller heap.
(or some compost from a working hot heap)

Does it need some fresh vegetation added?

Mainly I expect it needs some air and water introduced to get things
going again. This drought has seen my compost heap stall for a while.

Grass cuttings can pack too densely to be easily wetted from above - and
too much water with no air will turn it into smelly anaerobic slime.

I'm reluctant to empty it all out then put it all back in again at the
moment due to far too many things to do.

Poke some hole in it with a stick or a garden fork and then add some
water and/or Garotta would be my suggestion for a lazy quick fix.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown