screening to compost pile in 6 ish weeks

[pjt]

A while back I decided to screen the rocks out of the vege patch, this was my main vege growing spot, over time I have added compost, cow poo, mulch, etc all with the aim to improve the soil which it has done, so much so that I can just drive the shovel in without much effort, but the rocks remain so I decided to set the screen up and start shoveling, being clay soil it can still be a bit lump forming, I do have plenty of worms which also help
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A few days shoveling and I had 3 piles of sifted soil and no rocks :U I did still have the rocks but separated!! the experts tell us that to break up a clay soil add either organic matter or gypsum, I have opted for the organic matter approach which certainly does help but I decided with all this effort to also add some gypsum just to see if there is a further improvement in soil structure, I spread the piles, chucked a bit of BB about and I then planted a mix of sunflower, french millet, oats, lab lab and whatever left over seeds I had
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Interesting to note is the lack of growth in the shadow of the shed, the millet was starting to go to seed so it's time to all come out, the simplest option is to just push it over and then cover with mulch and leave or dig it in, but there's time taken for it to decompose and I want to replant this area shortly, I opted to pull it out and make a compost pile in the shady spot
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It's just alternating layers of brown and green stuff, I'm guessing that it will get hot and if it does I'll turn it but if it doesn't I'll just leave it and maybe turn it once.



Pete

[KBs PensNmore]

Hi Pete,
I'm not a gardeners backside, but I do watch the gardening shows with SWMBO, and I believe that the compost piles work better in the sun as it breaks down quicker and kills any weed seeds that might be in there.
Kryn

[HUON]

Hmm, not sure about that one Kryn, plants need sunlight to grow including weeds. I might be wrong (wouldn't be the first time) but from what I've gleaned over the years it's the heat generated in the decomposing heap that sometimes kills the seed of unwanted plants. The emphasis being on the word "sometimes", because once a gardener always a weeder.

[pjt]

Not every compost heap is created equal, a properly made compost pile will heat up to as much as 60°C, no sun required, the heat is due to bacteria doing the work of decomposing, a well made compost pile should have a C:N ratio of about 25:1, be not too wet or too dry, the bacteria need water to move about in, too wet and it become anaerobic (stink) too dry and bacterial activity stops and the pile goes cold prematurely, it should take about 6 weeks to go from hot to ambient and in that time the pile will have different bacteria move into the pile and take it thru different stages of heating/decomposing and then it becomes the work of fungi, molds, critters to further break it down.

Shredded material is helpful to the bacteria as this gives them lots of edges to work on, I have no doubts the pile would heat up if I had of shredded (mowed) the green (sunflowers) and brown stuff (fallen leaves).
A sure sign of a pile failing to heat up is low N, something more like 50:1, typically a pile that has stuff added to it slowly, (the odd green bit of lettuce leaf and some prunings) and might look more like a 3 stage system, a pile/system like this most likely will benefit from being in the sun as it will help the slower working fungi, molds, critters to do the decomposing, these also like the correct amount of water, so a dry low N pile even if it is in the sun will take a long time to break down and if it had weed seeds in it there's a real good chance they will survive to germinate, however, if a pile heats up to 60 and is regularly turned so the outside is turned to the middle and has correct moisture and maintains the heat for about the 6 weeks seeds will be cooked and not survive.

My doubt about whether this pile will heat up is based on how I made it, mainly, non shredded material, there will be adequate N and water in the green stuff, the leaves are dry so will suck up some water, my thinking is that it will be a slower heatup, once the green stuff starts to lose it's shape and strength (2 or 3 days) and I turn it it will go ahead then, I just need to keep an eye on it and see what it does.



Pete