Should i add soil to compost

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Anderson Mr. Anderson 1 1 silver badge 3 3 bronze badges. Add a comment. The optimal peak temperature for aerobic composting is to degrees Fahrenheit , which occurs when aerobic macro- and microorganisms are breaking down waste and reproducing at a fast rate. This high temperature also kills any lingering bacteria or weed seeds. Aeration encourages an aerobic environment, which helps to speed up the composting process and reduce odors.

It is recommended you turn your pile or rotate your tumbler around once a week during summer and at minimum once every three to fou r weeks during winter. You can also add piping or large sticks to help increase natural airflow.

Moisture is essential for composting —your pile should always feel like a wrung-out sponge. Too dry a pile may cause the composting process to slow down. Too wet a pile may create an anaerobic environment, which can cause bad odors and also slow down decomposition. Water your pile or add more wet materials if it becomes too dry, and add carbon-heavy browns if it becomes too wet.

A 3-foot cube is the ideal size for a compost bin or pile. You need a large volume of waste to be able to produce a high enough temperature for aerobic organisms to thrive.

However, piles larger than 5 cubic feet are not likely to allow enough air to reach the decomposers at the center; they may also be harder to turn. Chop up larger pieces of food or yard scraps before adding to your bin or pile. The smaller the pieces, the quicker the decomposition process will be. A good rule is not to include anything thicker than a finger.

The ideal compost location is a dry and shady spot. If you live in a rainy climate, avoid placing your pile or bin under eaves or places with poor drainage, or else the compost may get too soggy. To start your pile, add alternating thin layers of greens and browns, ending with a layer of browns.

You can keep adding materials over time until you reach the optimal height of 3 feet. Wet the compost pile if needed as you layer. Then leave the pile alone for four days to allow initial decomposition to begin, after which you can regularly aerate your pile or bin by turning with a pitchfork or garden fork and regularly monitor the moisture level.

Closed Bin A closed compost bin is an enclosed structure that keeps your composting materials together and helps to retain heat and moisture. Typically, closed bins have an open bottom and you place the bin directly on a patch of soil. The open bottom allows the nutrients in the developing compost to travel directly into the soil.

You can either buy a compost bin or build one yourself , making sure to include a removable top so you can add more compostable materials as you accumulate them. Depending on the material you build your bin out of, you may have to drill or punch holes along the sides to allow airflow or turn it manually for a hotter process. You should ensure that any holes or openings in the bin are small enough to prevent entry by rodents or any other animals of concern.

You can build your bin to fit the amount of organics you expect to produce over time—size can range from 3 by 3 by 3 feet to a larger, three-bin system. You may already have some materials around the house to use for a DIY bin. Possibilities include:. Open Bin Open-topped bins or open compost systems typically require less maintenance and are better suited to composting yard waste food waste may attract animals, and open bins are not animal proof.

An open bin can be as simple as a loop of chicken wire that allows you to dump materials in. You can even just pile materials on the ground without an enclosure. With an open bin, you have easier access to the composting material. The primary disadvantage is that materials are loosely confined and may be easily accessed by animals or insects, or they may spill out over the boundaries of the bin or pile.

Open bins can be purchased, or you can make one yourself by driving metal stakes or wooden posts into the soil, ideally in a 3-byfoot square, and then wrapping the posts with wire mesh fencing. If you have the materials handy, you can also make an open bin from wooden pallets. Tumbler Bin A tumbler is a sealed container that is mounted on an axle or base and can be rotated with a handle.

By turning the container, you are aerating and mixing the waste inside, which will help foster aerobic conditions to break down the materials and speed up the composting process. An aerated tumbler with built-in air vents, on the other hand, speeds up the composting process. With ideal conditions, tumblers can convert waste to finished compost in as little as three weeks , though a month or two is much more common. Compost tumblers can be purchased online or in most gardening stores. Another form of home composting involves burying your organic waste directly in the soil.

Trench composting can help nearby plants develop water-conserving root systems. Moreover, it is odorless and invisible since all the waste is buried underground. Trench composting can be easier than maintaining a compost pile: All you have to do is dig a hole, fill it with organic waste, and cover it up with soil. Earthworms and other organisms in the soil do the rest of the work.

You can trench compost any time of year as long as the soil in your yard remains pliable and manageable. However, this method is best suited to a single application of materials and is generally not practical if you want to compost materials on an ongoing basis, unless you have a lot of space and are willing to dig up your yard regularly.

One of the benefits of trenching is that it allows you to compost small amounts of cooked food waste, including meat, grains, and dairy, because animals and insects are less likely to be attracted to the material if it is buried deep underground. If you do decide to compost animal products, be sure to cover them with 12 to 18 inches of soil.

To start a simple compost pit, use a shovel to dig an elongated hole 12 to 24 inches deep. Fill in the pit with your organic waste, making sure the items are quite moist, and then fill the hole back up with soil.

One of the downsides to this method, as with all cold composting methods, is that it takes longer for the waste to decompose. Trenching can produce finished compost in about 12 months , sometimes sooner if the conditions are ideal.

Vermicomposting, or worm composting, is a great indoor option if your outdoor space is limited it can be done outdoors as well. You can do it year-round in a basement or garage or even under your sink. Vermicomposting produces natural, odorless castings, which are a nutrient-rich fertilizer, in about three to six months.

There is very little maintenance required; the most significant time commitment is harvesting the vermicompost every few months. You can purchase a cheap worm composter in stores or make one yourself. At its simplest, a vermicompost system can be a wooden or plastic bin with holes in the sides and bottom for ventilation and drainage similar to a regular enclosed compost bin. A worm composter needs to be raised off the ground to allow excess liquids to flow out.

A simple setup for worm composting is to place a taller plastic bin inside a shorter one. Then you have to add worm bedding and some soil.

Bedding should be made out of carbon-heavy material to help hold the right amount of air and moisture for the worms. As a rough guide, a mix of grass cuttings to scrunched up paper, squashed cereal boxes and cardboard egg boxes will ensure that you have a good mix. Spiders play an important role within the food chains that exist inside a compost bin.

In fact, the broader the range of minibeasts and insects you can attract the better. Although they will take an incredibly long time to break down, natural corks are certainly valuable additions to the composting process.

Apart from providing a food source for some beneficial organisms; being porous, they contain numerous tiny holes which help to both aerate the bin and offer hiding places for other smaller insects.

People generally turn their compost to incorporate air into the mix to speed up the composting process. However, if you ensure that as you fill your compost bin you mix plenty of drier, air trapping material such as shredded paper, egg boxes and cardboard with your wetter kitchen and garden waste, there is no necessity to then turn your compost as well.

It's quite normal for a small amount of liquid to be produced by a compost bin. If you could find a way to collect it you could use it, well diluted, as a liquid feed. The idea of turning the material in a compost bin is to reintroduce air. The aerobic bacteria that do the decomposition need air to breathe, otherwise the process almost stops when they die off.

The process is continued by anaerobic bacteria which are much slower. As the aerobic bacteria work, they produce heat inside the mix. As they do so their air supply gradually depletes until the heat subsides because the bacteria have died off due to lack of oxygen. Turning is required once the temperature has dropped almost back to the ambient temperature.

This would probably take around a week. When the air is replenished by turning, the heat-up-and-cool-down cycle starts again. If you turn a second time, after about two weeks the cycle will repeat. Turn again at the end of the third week. It's unlikely that you'd get any significant heat-up by further turning after that.

Fruit flies are a normal part of the composting process and are attracted to the sweet sugars being released from overripe fruit and vegetables lying on the surface of the bin. In the first instance, remove the lid completely and leave the compost bin open for a few hours. This will encourage the flies to disperse and beetles natural predators to fly into your compost bin. Try to ensure that any fruit and vegetable waste is wrapped in newspaper before putting in the bin.

Although you may not be able to eliminate fruit flies altogether, you should notice a marked decrease in their numbers by doing this. It's likely that the mice are attracted to the warmth and shelter of the bin rather than the materials you are putting in. It is however, good practice to wear gardening gloves when handling your compost.

If you carefully disturb the mice, they should move on and find a new home. Some suggestions to prevent them reinhabiting the bin would be:. These measures should do the trick but, as a last resort, wrap the base of the bin with expanded wire mesh plaster mesh which can be purchased from a builders' merchant. Fungi in your compost bin are quite natural and there are many more microscopic ones. They are all helping to break down your compost. If the composting process is complete, use your compost and get the nutrients into your soil.

If there are plenty of worms in your mature compost you could add some of this to the new compost. This will introduce more worms and mico organisms to get the process started. Yes - t ea bags can be composted in home compost bins. These can be sieved out and discarded or dug in with the compost. However, you will find that the tea leaves will compost down and, if the bags are still visible when you want to use the compost, these can be sieved out and put back into the compost bin to go through the composting cycle again.

There is no cut off time. Composting is a continual process; you put in at the top and take away the finished compost at the bottom. If the amount in your bin is reducing, it's working! It is frequently said to be on the alkaline side of neutral. If you are concerned about using it around acid-loving plants then consider buying an inexpensive pH soil testing kit and testing your compost before use.

As you may know, leather jackets are the larvae of the crane-fly daddy long legs and these grubs generally feed on the roots of grasses. This may have been how they have entered your bin. We would not recommend using chemicals to eradicate the larvae found in your compost bin as they are also likely to kill off any beneficial insects. You could try to remove the leather jackets by sieving the compost first, and then picking out any that are left.

The slow-worm is one of the most commonly encountered British reptiles and is often found in gardens throughout the British Isles and can be found in almost any open or semi-open habitat.

Slow-worms are keen on compost heaps where they find warmth and plenty of food. They feed on slow moving prey, particularly small slugs. Slow-worms are protected by law so please be careful when turning your compost to ensure that you do not hurt or frighten them. Slow worms may lay eggs in your compost so care should also be taken not to damage the eggs.

In most cases the slow-worm will disappear on their own but, like most reptiles, they need warmer weather to move about freely and will hibernate when the temperature drops. Bumble bees are sometimes attracted to compost bins.

Usually they prefer old, reasonably dry compost heaps or bins - one that has lots of fresh material would probably be too damp and messy for them. Bumble bees are very docile and will only sting if hard pressed; a nest near a house is not a problem. It was once thought that hedgehogs would be hibernating by the end of October, when in fact, many are still out in December, and some even until January when the hard frosts descend.

They hibernate as a last resort when their natural food supply has all but disappeared. Your warm compost heap makes an ideal nest for those looking for a quiet place to hibernate.

Please refrain from turning your entire compost heap over at this time of year. This could injure or kill your visitors who help reduce the number of pests in your garden in a pesticide-free way. Hopefully you will have struck a good balance of 'greens' and 'browns' in your bin already which will help keep the pile aerated as it settles, reducing the need to turn the pile. Due to milder winters, a growing number of baby hedgehogs are being born later in the year and have no hope of making the necessary weight before the onset of winter, so will need your assistance.

Sick, underweight or injured hedgehogs should not be allowed to hibernate, as they will not survive the winter. Should you find a hedgehog that needs help, please contact your local wildlife centre or St Tiggywinkles Hospital for advice. It's surprising how many Christmas items can be composted. We have come up with some suggestions which we hope you will find useful. January is often seen as the time of year when we all try to change our ways.

Composting at home is a great way to reduce the amount of waste you throw away, and not only is it good for the environment, it can also be a great way to put cardboard packaging from Christmas presents and paper hats and napkins from New Year celebrations to good use - as well as all your vegetable peelings from those extra guests! By starting now, you may have some nutritious compost ready to use in the growing season on flower beds, vegetable plots and in patio planters, hanging baskets and window boxes.

Even during the winter months, there is still material you can add to your compost bin, such as egg shells from Shrove Tuesday pancakes or faded Valentines Day flowers. Skip to main content. Use the links below to navigate to the question you have: Our compost looks like it has all turned to mush.

What can we do? I have had my compost bin for 6 months.