Whats the best food compost?
 

Hi there!

Im new to this site and would love to hear your opinions on the best food waste for compost?

I found this interesting video on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G8UdbM1_iw

Composting Food Waster
 

There is an excellent Irish website www.raceagainstwaste.ie which covers all biological treatment of waste. In addition, they provide fact sheets on composting. It has worked out well for my 3 compost bins.

Thanks
 

Thats an excellent site!

:)

Compost
 

We here at the assembly use just about all vegetable, fruit waste. We DO NOT use any meat waste. Even wilted lettuce.

On the compost heap, anything vegatitive that was once alive is good. Avoid weeds with seed heads or roots if your heap is small as it won't reach high enough temperatures to kill these.

The trick is to alternate a 'wet' layer such as grass cuttings or kitchen waste with a 'dry' layer of straw or torn cardboard, you can add a little newspaper, ripped into strips as the 'dry' layer too.

Add a layer of garden soil about every fourth or fifth layer to bring the 'good bugs' in. Idealy the compost heap should be sat on the soil for the worms to access it.

The best 'activator' for the heap is urine. A discrete bottle may be the answer for an overlooked heap! ;)

MW

I've never heard of that being used before? Where did you find information on this please? I have been researching some useful tips on,ine about garden care products as I am looking for start planting soon for spring, this www.Ireland website is great for advice, and www.groupon.ie is perfect for those seeking discounts on garden products!


thanks

Not in front of the neighbours please! :-)

Maybe send me a message with the information I am interested!

Whats the best food compost?
 

Thanks for the info! But how do you keep out the insects that you don't want in there like fly larvae, mosquitoes, beetles and such??

The use of urine as an activator is old family knowledge, but is often mentioned on gardening programmes. Using it (discreatly, of course!) as well as human hair trimmings is supposed to put rats off your heap too, but I don't know if this is true. I've never had rats in my compost though.

Most heaps don't attract flys so long as you don't put meat waste on them. Beetles, bugs, worms and even ants are a GOOD thing. They are the workers who break down your grass clippings & old cabbage leaves into black gold. Even a few slugs will do no harm, so long as you ensure that they & their eggs are not spread onto the garden.

MW

I have had rats in my compost before thats why I was hestitate about using urine or abything along those lines. Any websites with information on this would be useful please!!

Whats the best food compost
 

We have talked about different kind of pest control. Here is a site that can help with how to get rid of flys.

This is an excellent site, I usually have an issue with fruit flies, does anyone else have this issue in the summer?

They always seem to breed anywhere! No matter what I try.

inherited the compost heap
 

i moved to a place where a person was 'into' composting, its jammers to the brim.
using the compost it looks and seems glorious, but included in that bin are coat hangers, tin foil and it seems everything went in.
they ate a lot of eggs too, so do i tip it all out and start again or what?
i certainly can add nothing more.
there are megga roots too, and another bin is jammed too with grass cuttings, very little of that has rotted down, suggestions welcomed
p

One way of helping to eliminate bad odours, fruit flies and rodents from a compost heap is to treat it first in a Food Waste Dehydrator.
More info at http://purchase.ie/eco-gift-ideas/loofen/