Accelerating your compost.

[sarraceniac]

It will soon be time to start clearing the garden of rubbish ready for the spring splurge. Many weeds are compostable (but not the invidious perennials like dock and dandelion, the home composter is just not hot enough to kill the seeds, let alone the roots) but nettles and chick-weed are fine for composting and we will soon be battling with them again.

Commercial accelerators to speed up the composting process are available at any garden centre or chain store like Wilko's, but they are expensive. Very expensive.

Here are a couple of suggestions to save money. The second one, a lot of money.

1) Accelerators are usually based on ammonia. It breaks down vegetative matter. Many gardeners, particularly those with fruit trees, will have a bag a of Sulphate of ammonia sitting around for a once a year dusting of the soil. Use it to break down your composting material. A layer of about 8 inches deep of material and then put about 100 gms (4 oz) per square meter (yard) surface area of S of A and that is it.

2) An even cheaper accelerator is human urine. No set quantity, just make sure your compost does not get sodden and smelly. Just pour it on. People with neighbours (particularly ladies) are advised to use a decent receptacle and transfer it to a discrete bottle for use. Gentlemen are advised not to use this as an excuse to go to the pub every night for 3 hours. Do not use cat or dog urine, it is too acidic. Human urine works fine - honestly.

[Two_Sheds]

Do not use cat or dog urine

I can't even begin to imagine how you'd go about collecting it

[Two_Sheds]

weeds are compostable (but not the invidious perennials like dock and dandelion

those can be rotted down in a bucket of water, then added to the compost heap (as an accelerator )

[sarraceniac]

those can be rotted down in a bucket of water, then added to the compost heap (as an accelerator )

That is apparently safe if you give them long enough. But rather you than me TS. Mine are donated to the council. I don't even charge them.

[Bren In Pots]

I can't even begin to imagine how you'd go about collecting it

You'd need a dog with really long legs

[Bigmallly]

You'd need a dog with really long legs

And a weak bladder.

[coreopsis]

those can be rotted down in a bucket of water, then added to the compost heap (as an accelerator )

I'll have to establish weeeeed bucket.Dog is a dachshund so unfortunately no use...

[Nicos]

We throw in yarrow and comfrey- works a treat!

[Two_Sheds]

those can be rotted down in a bucket of water, then added to the compost heap

That is apparently safe if you give them long enough.

It takes a couple of weeks only. Keep a lid on though, the pong is awful

[sarraceniac]

It takes a couple of weeks only. Keep a lid on though, the pong is awful

What! To rot down a dandelion or dock root? No thank you.

[Two_Sheds]

What! To rot down a dandelion or dock root? No thank you.

I don't understand. You don't believe that it rots?

[sarraceniac]

TS. I've just looked through this thread and it seems to have gone off it's original subject.

You will note that the title is 'Accelerating your compost'. Not 'Things you can make compost with'. I make comfrey liquid fertiliser every year and very quick (and pongy) it is too. It is a better mix of PPK than Growmore or any tomato food. If I throw comfrey in my bin it will rot down far quicker than a shredded newspaper, but it will not accelerate anything else in that bin. I know that dandelion and dock leaves can also be fermented in a bucket fairly quickly, (but not the roots) though they are not as 'rounded' as comfrey. But that was not the purpose of this tip.

The advice to add Sulphate of ammonia (non-organic) or urine (organic) to a standard compost bin or heap, made up of a mixture of green and brown waste matter from your garden and house was to tell people a way of accelerating their compost, so if it normally takes say a year, it will only take say, 6 months to rot down to a fine tilth.

Grapes are now advising what makes good compost or fertiliser. That is fine by me, I am all in favour of threads becoming chats and branching out from the original subject but please don't make the mistake of confusing an accelerator, which adds nothing to the quality of the end product, with a component of the compost, or fertiliser, or liquid manure.

If anybody wants to, to avoid confusion, we can start a thread about what to put on a compost heap (toilet roll inners are very good for getting air in there if you have too many to use as plant pots) and what not to, like perennial weed roots and seeds which at normal composting temperatures can take years to break down. We could discuss the best mix of green and brown material and why raw egg shells are fine but from boiled eggs are useless. But these are not accelerators and the thread can now be confusing for beginners or for people who have not read as many books as some.

Just editing to say if anybody wants a couple of roots of Bocking 14 comfrey now is the time to PM me. It will require a pre-stamped jiffy bag sending.

[Lovage]

A very effective way to accelerate the composting process is to shred or chop everthing. It gives a much bigger surface area for bacteria and fungi to work on.

Domestic compost heaps would also work very much better if material was stock-piled then mixed into a heap at one go. The whole heap can then heat up and produce much better compost that when stuff is added sporadically. Guess it's not very practical for most folks though.

Aeration can also speed up the process - does anyone use a Compost Tumbler? Tried one once but never got on with it

Does anyone use a herbal or biodynamic activator? It's supposed to work in a different way to the added nitrogen but I've never tried it

[Two_Sheds]

TS. I've just looked through this thread and it seems to have gone off it's original subject.

You will note that the title is 'Accelerating your compost'.

But I was talking about "weed tea" as an accelerator. To accelerate your compost decomposition, you need to add nitrogen.

Weed tea (the liquid from rotted weeds), whether it's made from comfrey, nettles or other weeds, is high in nitrogen, just like urine.

[sarraceniac]

But I was talking about "weed tea" as an accelerator. To accelerate your compost decomposition, you need to add nitrogen.

Weed tea (the liquid from rotted weeds), whether it's made from comfrey, nettles or other weeds, is high in nitrogen, just like urine.

Don't, for goodness sake Google 'weed tea'. The only weed tea mentioned on there will accelerate you alright. Particularly the recipe on Wikipedia which advises breaking open the tea bag before adding the additional material. Alice B Toklas is alive and well and living on GYO.