what to do when compost is too wet
How to Fix Common Compost Problems
Compost is the foundation to a thriving garden. The trouble is, few of u.s. have the perfect conditions to make ideal compost every time. We'll look at some common compost bug, and piece of cake ways to solve them.
The Perfect Compost
Perfect compost has a fine, crumbly texture and pleasant, earthy odor similar a forest flooring. The original ingredients used to make the compost will no longer exist visible, having been transformed into dark-looking organic matter with an fifty-fifty consistency. Mature compost is gardeners' gilded. Use it to mulch around plants, make potting soils or to dig into soil to amend its food content and moisture-belongings capacity.
For instructions on how to make good compost by calculation the correct residual of ingredients, read our article How to Compost – Like shooting fish in a barrel Steps to Success.
Compost Bug
Few gardeners get composting right every fourth dimension. Common problems include smelly compost bins, slimy ingredients that accept become excessively wet, or compost that has simply stopped rotting downwards before information technology's set.
Problem 1: Too Wet
The nearly mutual problem is excess moisture, which causes foul odors, flies, and the production of substances harmful to your plants. Calculation also much fresh textile, instead of a balanced mix of fresh and dry materials, is the usual culprit.
Fresh materials such as vegetable peelings and grass clippings have a high water content, which makes them heavy. If also much is added to your compost heap at in one case it can become compacted, excluding air or filling air spaces with water. These oxygen-starved 'anaerobic' weather condition enable harmful microbes to thrive – the same microbes responsible for creating the unpleasant smells that ascend from such putrid conditions. Fresh materials are by and large 'greens' which have a loftier nitrogen content, so mixing in more carbon-rich 'browns' will help solve the problem.
If your compost heap is likewise moisture, dig information technology out completely, then turn the ingredients to incorporate more than air before restacking. Add dry materials into the mix to become a balance of greens and browns, improve drainage and forestall the compost from clogging up once more.
Ingredients such every bit shredded prunings, sawdust, straw and cardboard torn into smaller pieces volition create channels within the compost that permit air to percolate and backlog moisture to bleed abroad. Scrunched up newspaper makes a good curt-term choice if you haven't got plenty of these dry out ingredients to hand.
Trouble 2: Grass Clippings
Grass clippings are frequently generated in large batches. Don't exist tempted to add thick layers to the compost bin just to go rid of them or they could create a soggy mat. Instead, sprinkle grass clippings in sparse layers and balance them with dryer ingredients. If you have too many clippings lay them every bit a mulch around fruit copse and bushes where they will slow down weed growth and lock in soil moisture.
Be enlightened that enclosed plastic compost bins permit less air in than open heaps. They require actress care to ensure a remainder of dry out to fresh materials. Never stamp or force materials down in order to fit more in, or you run the risk of over-compacting your compost ingredients and artificially stimulating anaerobic atmospheric condition.
Problem 3: Too Acid
Compost is naturally slightly acidic but sometimes an abundance of some 'wetter' ingredients can upset the balance. This tin can crusade the compost heap to become a bit evil-smelling and slow to decompose.
Acidic ingredients such as citrus fruit can also contribute to an excessively acidic compost bin. Annul the acidity by sprinkling handfuls of ground lime or wood ash into the mix, plus plenty of 'browns' if the bin is wet and other fresh, green fabric to boot-start the composting process again.
Trouble iv: Too Dry out
If your compost bin is too dry information technology will end decomposing as the bacteria and fungi responsible for the composting process won't be able to piece of work finer. Re-wet the heap by watering it - ideally with rainwater, merely if you don't take whatever stored rainwater ordinary water will do. Apply it evenly using a watering can fitted with a rose, mixing the materials at the same time if yous can.
Bins with too many dry materials tin be given a boost by adding lots of fresh material to balance out the ingredients. Dig out the compost bin, add your fresh materials then refill the bin. Or, if you have two bins side by side, mix the extra materials and water every bit you lot turn the materials from ane bin into the other.
The exception to the rule is leafmold, which is a form of compost fabricated entirely from fallen leaves. Leafmold naturally takes up to iii years to fully mature before it'south ready to use, past which fourth dimension the leaves should no longer be visible.
Using Compost
Mature compost can be sieved into sturdy plastic bags or garbage cans for storage. Whatever lumps or part-rotted materials left behind in the sieve may be thrown back into an active compost bin to go on decomposing, helping to transfer benign microbes into the next batch.
To brand a general-purpose potting soil suitable for growing about vegetables, mix ii parts compost to ane part sieved garden soil and, for added drainage, one part vermiculite. For a potting soil suitable for containers and window boxes combine two parts soil to one part compost and one part sharp sand. Garden compost is likely to comprise weed seeds, so to avert a flush of weed seedlings, cap your domicile-made mix with a layer of sterile potting soil.
Compost is an fantabulous soil amendment. Apply it directly to beds and borders. Fork it in or leave it on the soil surface as a mulch. This valuable organic matter will work gradually to better your soil'due south nutrient content and overall structure, resulting in healthier plants and better crops for you.
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