Compost

Compost Problems: How To Handle Them Like A Pro

1. It’s Wet, Soggy Or Slimy
Nothing is worse than cold, slimy compost! How does it get this way? Three factors are usually to blame: poor aeration, too much moisture, or not enough nitrogen-rich material in the pile.

A compost pile overburdened with materials that mat down when wet—grass clippings, spoiled hay, heaps of unshredded tree leaves—can become so dense that the pile’s center receives no air. If you leave such a suffocating heap uncovered during a prolonged rainy spell (and don’t turn it to introduce some air into the center), you’ll end up with a cold, soggy lump that just sits there.

Aerobic bacteria—the tiny microorganisms that make compost cook—cannot live in such an oxygen-poor environment. What you instead make welcome in such a pile are anaerobic bacteria, which don’t require air to thrive. These microbes will eventually make compost, but they work much more slowly than aerobic bacteria and the compost will be slimy and soggy during the long (about 2 or 3 years) process.

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3. It’s Got Bugs
Pill bugs and sow bugs are small crustaceans (not insects) that live on decaying organic refuse. If you turn over the top layer of your compost pile and see thousands of tiny gray, creatures that look like armadillos with seven pairs of legs each, you have discovered a nest of these bugs. (Pill bugs roll up into a ball when threatened and sow bugs don’t; other than that, there isn’t much difference between them.)

Sow bugs won’t harm your compost—in fact, they’re actually helping to break it down. But if you don’t remove them from the finished mixture before you spread it on the garden, you might find them snipping off the emerging roots and leaves of your beans, beets, and other seedlings.

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5. It Smells Bad

If your pile emits the sharp, nose-twisting stench of ammonia, it contains too much nitrogen-rich material (raw manure containing lots of urine is the likely culprit); it may also be too wet to allow aerobic bacteria to thrive. If it just “smells rotten” and lots of flies are hanging around it, you’ve most likely added large loads of kitchen scraps or canning wastes to the pile without chopping or mixing them in thoroughly. In either case, you should remake the heap to bring your stinky compost under control.

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6. Raccoons Are Eating It
Actually, raccoons (…or opossums or dogs or skunks or rats or bears or…) do not eat compost; they tear up the pile to get at any fresh, edible kitchen garbage (especially if you risked adding “forbidden” meat scraps or fat) that you recently buried.

Mixing kitchen garbage with soil or wood ashes before burying it (in the hot center of your pile) might discourage animals from trying to reach the hidden goods to begin with. But once such scavengers have gotten used to visiting your heap for a free meal, your best bet is to build or buy a covered bin (go for an off-the-ground model, such as the Compost Tumbler, if you can) to keep the garbage hounds away.

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Article source: Rodale’s Organic Life
Image source: Gardening Know How

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