Home made Compost

[geepee]

I have 5 Dalek composters which I fill with kitchen and green garden waste ,putting in a 'Green Layer' and then a Brown Layer. This has worked great for many years and produces excellent compost .I usually leave the Daleks to compost for 2 years.
In addition to that I have 3X 80 ltr plastic Dustbins in which I put last years potato and Tomato compost into, so they were full by about Sept,October 2019. The worms have done a fantastic job on breaking it down ,its now looking like fine bread crumbs,Im wondering how long I should leave it before growing Pots or Tomatoes in it again as These 2 Crops require a large proportion of my annual compost use .
Obviously its not easy or cheap to get new compost supplies at the minute .
Thoughts please .
Gp

[Mr Bones]

For toms and spuds I'd mix dalek compost with the old stuff 50-50. It works well for us with aubergines too.

[burnie]

I'd be nervous of using old tomato compost for tomatoes again, the reason being we as amateur gardeners often don't get enough heat generated in our composting to sterilise the compost. You could get a build up of problems a bit like if you don't rotate crops. I'm sure it will be great for other crops, but I would be cautious just in case, wouldn't want to lose a seasons crops.

[geepee]

Thanks for the advice .
Gp

[Mark_Riga]

i would do like Mr. Bones suggests. A farmer round here grew potatoes in same field 2 years running with no problems. If you mix 50-50 there should be plenty of nutrients at least for a few weeks. Hopefully by next year you can use all fresh.

[nickdub]

The main thing I'd add for newcomers to gardening reading this thread is that seeds and small seedling plants are at risk if you use non-sterile compost to try to grow them in. So my advice would be to use boughten compost for your seed sowing and seedlings and if you do make home made compost, as I do, only use it for larger plants.

PS Its said that you can use a microwave to home sterilise your own compost but I've never tried this.

[MarkPelican]

I've seen one way of sterilising compost to be to put it in a black plastic bag in the sun. The temperature gets high enough to kill of most bugs. I've done it myself but have no way of knowing whether the compost was any better than the stuff I mix in the bottom of my tomato pots anyway.

[annie8]

I can never make enough compost to use it for my seedlings or tomatoes. All of my homemade compost goes on the beds or garden and I could still easily use 10 times the amount I can produce. At end of season I tip any spare compost from my tomatoes on the beds and put the root ball in the compost.

[Jimny14]

The main thing I'd add for newcomers to gardening reading this thread is that seeds and small seedling plants are at risk if you use non-sterile compost to try to grow them in.

Hi nick, when you say at risk what do you mean? For a variety of reasons I do pretty much all my sowing direct to soil or compost and have never used anything I'd consider sterile. The vast majority of my seedlings come up and are fine and go on to make productive plants.
What risks am I putting my plants at? Also when you say sterile what is removed from the compost to allow it to be called sterile?

[Baldy]

Jimny - the risk from fungus and bacterial stuff is greater in home made compost - not neccesarily unmanageable but something to take into consideration. Hopme made stuff also probably needs sieving for seeds - and I can't be bothered with that usually so tend to use bought stuff for seeds and home made for potting on.

If you sterilise home made compost by e.g microwaving then you are zapping the fungal spores etc.

[Jimny14]

Ah, cheers baldy, so basically it's a compost manufacturing problem, hence why you tend not to get problems in garden soil. So why don't people use sieved garden soil to with or without added nutrients to make seed mix instead of compost?

[nickdub]

Hi nick, when you say at risk what do you mean? For a variety of reasons I do pretty much all my sowing direct to soil or compost and have never used anything I'd consider sterile. The vast majority of my seedlings come up and are fine and go on to make productive plants.
What risks am I putting my plants at? Also when you say sterile what is removed from the compost to allow it to be called sterile?

Hi,
If it works for you I'd say go with it - you're obviously doing something right. As for the risks there are a few, but the main one is soil born diseases like "damping off" which can kill a whole tray of seedlings like tomatoes just as they are starting to grow away.

I'm generally pretty tight (aka mean) but I always use fresh compost for sowing seeds or small plants - I've lost too many in the past to want to risk losing more for the sake of a few pounds each year. When the plants are older, then I re-use old compost and also make up some of my own.

Cheers

Nick

[Essexboy]

Be careful , I composted my Daughters herbal tea bags. Weeds everywhere !!!!!

[Plot70]

Be careful , I composted my Daughters herbal tea bags. Weeds everywhere !!!!!

Would the tea making process not have killed the seeds in it?

[roitelet]

Ive used home made compost for years. 1 bucket of soil and 1 bucket of homemade compost sifted and half a bucket of sharp sand then add a couple of handfuls of organic fertilizer. At the end of the season I reuse the compost for other crops that haven’t been grown in it before. Add some more sifted compost or leaf mould and more organic fertilizer. I’ve never had a problem and it keeps the cost down. This year the compost from the potato buckets had a bit more sand and fertilizer added and then I grew carrots in it. When the carrots are finished I will add sifted leaf mould and more fertilizer and then use that for potting on flowering plants. In the end it will be added to the plot or flower beds. For seed sowing and cuttings I use 50/50 sifted leaf mould and sharp sand. I dont sterilize and rarely have a damping off problem. If I do it’s usually because I have kept the too damp. Weeds, I do get a few but not enough to worry about.