hot batch... a reamendment story.

[Coba]

The pile.

in need of a little lift.

after I took all the goodz


sooo it's time to feed the beast.

i peeled her open, and made a ring to mix the raw amendments with the inoculate, and water.

the inoculate...

quantum, LAB, old compost, and forest soil should get her started off.

 

[Coba]

10 #'s of alfalfa

10 gallons of raw chicken manure

10 gallons of fish carcasses

and some other stuff... shrimp shells, household green waste, etc.
My mother-in-law gave me a case of mona-vie a year ago... it helped to reconstitute the alfalfa.

 

[Coba]

while the alfalfa soaked up the molasses inoculate water...

I started to mix...
a little fish

with poo

and brown...

then BIM and inoculated alfalfa...

water, mix, repeat...

 

[Coba]

crazy big mahi carcasses.

can't find it in there...

 

[Easy7]

How long will that compost?

 

[Coba]

took 4 hours to get all of it mixed... the rest of the pile went back on top

it's done.

I took a nap.

found some flies buzzing around the pile about 3 hours later. I fixed that with a couple of inches of leaf litter.. when I checked the pile this morning for animal activity I didn't see any holes or any flies.

 

[Coba]

How long will that compost?

I probably won't need it till the end of summer...

 

[John Deere]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Coba again.

Beautiful setup. Congrats.

 

[Durdy]

You get those fish carcasses from work?

 

[BlueJayWay]

Mmmmmm fish! Good stuff Coba, real good!

 

[Old_Headbanger]

Awesome compost pile man. You gonna turn it and cover it or just leave it be? Starting another one so you can let that sit undisturbed? That's gonna be some prime humus when you use it.

 

[Coba]

Durdy, not exactly... I went to one of the shops that delivers to us. I walked in the shop around 9am and the two "monger's" were breaking down those huge mahi... when I asked for the carcasses. these two guy's eyes lit up, full of stoke, like they live to give fish bones and guts away. they gave me all they had and told me to come back later for more...

John Deere, BlueJayWay, Thanks guys! means a lot to me coming from both of you.

Old_Headbanger, Thank you sir. I'm feeling like I should just leaving it alone for 3 months.
But, you know... I get bored, then antsy... then I gotta just do something that involves my garden... so, I'll probably end up digging around in there sometime after 3-4 weeks of hot composting. I like turning hot steaming piles of compost first thing in the morning... it makes a man feel alive.






I forgot to mention the 30(ish):1 - C:N ratio. 30 parts brown to 1 part green. (as recommended by the UF http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep323)

I just eye-balled it.

 

[Easy7]

That's the best fish story I've read on ic, glad they were cool

 

[Coba]

poking around this morning...

steam was coming out of that hole.. I stuck my fingers about an inch or two iin there and it was warm to the touch. I'm going to stick a thermometer in there when I find my bio-therm.

 

[TwistedPistils]

Sifting the compost with a milk crate! That is genius!!!

 

[Coba]

some numbers... C:N
fish carcasses.....5:1
hen manure ........5:1
alfalfa ...............15:1
dry oak leaves...40:1

a compost mix calculator HERE suggests adding 35 parts dry oak leaves for a C:N ratio of 30:1 ... so the recipe should look like this.
2 parts fish carcasses
2 parts hen manure
1 part alfalfa
35 parts dry oak leaves

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

This is a nice method. I like the idea of a no-till compost heap.

Adding some char, say 5% would increase its nutrients even more.

Which reminds me i must make some for my current heap im working on. Must look around for some salmon carcasses...

 

[Coba]

"Adding some char, say 5% would increase its nutrients even more."

I need more char in my life for sure.

 

[Dingofriar]

I loves the sifter Coba! Bet that pile stinks just rite also? Nothings better then getting your own hands dirty. What are you using for pest control?

 

[TwistedPistils]

Dude, my cat is named Char Char! Maybe I love char more than I realized! I filled a bucket to ferment bio-char the other day too.....