home made compost

[kingkano]

Probably been asked alot before but here goes. Anybody got good recipes for home made potting compost? Specifically for the greenhouse. I make like 20-30 bags of leafmould a year, but still I'm down B&Q buying loads of compost for the tomatoes/cucumbers/etc in the greenhouse. Must be someway I can make my own?

Have got plenty of household compost, leafmould, spent compost from last year's pots, sand, good topsoil free of weeds (bought in). Any suggestions welcome!

Also other uses for leafmould welcome - can I earth up my potatoes in sacks with it? I use some as a mulch round the sweetcorn/courgettes, otherwise its building up!

[RedThorn]

what about mixing your spent compost with the mulch to build it back up again?

[Florence Fennel]

I've two daleks, but I use the compost from them mainly to nourish the soil in the veg beds, there's not nearly enough for potting purposes. Hope someone who does this on a bigger scale comes along soon to help you KK.

[Kaiya]

I don't think I have enough home made compost to be self-sufficient, especially seeing as I love my modules, but there are some recipes here: Monty Don's peat-free compost - Telegraph - a lot include leaf mould as an ingredient.

[Two_Sheds]

I'm growing my spuds in leafmould now KK ~ because my sandy alkaline soil gives them scab

[kingkano]

Thanks Kaiya for the link. Looks like I am lacking in the home compost area too, but I can probably make 10 bags or so from my 2 daleks which are practically full. So thats a good start on the pile of bags of leafmould.

Cheers TS - I thought I had saw a post by you saying you earthed up tatties with leaf mould. Thats what I will do with the rest then. A dozen or so bags of spuds should make a big dent in the leftover.

Would you believe I still throw away alot of leaves every Autumn too! I need to build a couple of really really big leafmould bins I think.

[solway cropper]

You won't be able to make a compost that looks like the stuff that comes in sacks from B+Q but if you have the space you should make as much of your own as you possibly can. To my mind it's a far superior product without the environmental negatives associated with the commercial stuff. Two daleks, two leaf mould cages, a big open heap and loads of plastic sacks and drums gives me just about all the compost and feed I need. I still buy a bit of seed compost because it's a bit of a faff sterilizing your own.

[maytreefrannie]

I can probably make 10 bags or so from my 2 daleks which are practically full.

Does everyone get this good a result from Daleks? We have one for about three years and it's never produced more than a few small shovefulls of compost - not even fully broken down at that. There's a good mix of materials put in there and it's regularly watered. To my mind, its chief advantage is that it has taken so much waste over its time in the garden.

I find a much better result comes from a loose covered bin which gets plenty of rainwater.

If anyone has some guidance on how I can improve that performance, I'd appreciate it.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I have 2 daleks and on a half decent year they will produce about 600ltrs of good compost.

I used to use an activator but since joining the forum have gone over to 'wee' with no discernible diifference.

I riddle all compost produced and return the waste back to the composter in the belief that this returns some of the good buggies to the bin and therefore speeds things up a little.

In my opinion the compost produced is to rich for seed cutting but in light of the poor quality of MPC around at this time I intend to cut it 25% home produced with 75% saved from last year and see if this mix works.

Most old compost can be rejuvenated by riddling and adding a NPK neutral fertilizer such as growmore of blood fish and bone. I reuse about 6/7 dustbins a year.

Colin

[kingkano]

You won't be able to make a compost that looks like the stuff that comes in sacks from B+Q but if you have the space you should make as much of your own as you possibly can. To my mind it's a far superior product without the environmental negatives associated with the commercial stuff. Two daleks, two leaf mould cages, a big open heap and loads of plastic sacks and drums gives me just about all the compost and feed I need. I still buy a bit of seed compost because it's a bit of a faff sterilizing your own.

How do you mix it up for pots? Or do you mean all the compost you need as in soil conditioner?

I know it won't exactly resemble growbag stuff. But I can't actually say that would disappoint me. Last couple years I have found its too much bark and not composted enough anyways. Would be happier to make more of my own if I can work out exactly what mix is best.

maytreefrannie I did mean 10 bags once mixed Which only calls for about 1/4 of the mix to be compost from the dalek. My daleks are pretty full and I think atleast 2/3 is nicely rotted down ready to use. They are a pig to empty though I find.

[Florence Fennel]

I rock mine over KK, but they are sited on grass very close to my veg beds. In that way I can return any unrotted stuff into the bin. I've found it hopeless trying to get it out via the slot at the bottom.

[Two_Sheds]

Does everyone get this good a result from Daleks?

They are a pig to empty though I find.

You might find some top tips in this thread: http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ins_62925.html

[dod]

I make compost mostly just using grass clippings (from the lawn) and wood shavings (from the shed). I don't put any weeds in it, but I will put some of the other plant waste in it. I have the heap kind of fenced in, with 2 sections both of which are about 1m square. I only fill one side each year, and try to turn it as often as I can be bothered to. It will usually get quite hot for a while, but it is not big enough to generate enough heat for long enough to sterilise itself (PAS 100 compost (http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/Int...4364d.2181.pdf) needs to be at quite a high temperature for some time to ensure this).

I also have a worm composter, and towards the end of the season once the heap has cooled a bit, I add the worm compost (with worms) to the heap. Because "fresh" compost can be slightly phytotoxic, due mostly (as I understand) to its salt content, I then leave the worms to get on with it for the following year. So it has a year composting, followed by another year resting with the worms working through it. When I want to use it for potting I sieve it to remove any uncomposted material, and the bits that were too big either go back into the new heap, or are used as a mulch.

I like my own compost more than I do most of the stuff that can be bought, especially the low peat or peat free ones, and I know that there is no peat going into mine. My main problem with the commercial ones is that they seem rather too fibrous, although it is rather hard work sieving my own stuff. Last weekend I sterilised some by putting it in a large tin and haeting it in the oven at 80 deg C for about 3 hours. It smells revolting, but by seling the tin and using an extractor fan the smell in the house wasn't too bad.

[lottie dolly]

very interesting thread,i have lots of lovely rotted down compost,sieved some yesterday,is heavy and looks like fine soil now,so if i mix it with some B&Q from last year it it should be good to use in flower buckets in the grow barn,instead of the usual latter on its own,or would it be recomended to use it on it's own,with or without a suppliment feed,last year i fed the toms and peppers ext,with chicken pu pellets put into their water trays,it worked well,

[Two_Sheds]

it is not big enough to generate enough heat for long enough ... needs to be at quite a high temperature for some time

from your link: at least 65c for 7 days, (not necessarily consecutive days). My dalek was 26c inside when there was snow outside

Pathogens will die at high temps, or over time. If you only have a cold heap, pathogens will be all dead after 1 year (leave it for 2 to be absolutely sure). weblife.org: Humanure Handbook: Chapter 3: Thermophilic Microorganisms