weeds, compost and the odds

[grahamhobbs]

Odsox, got the rotating composter up and running this weekend. Filled it up with various weeds and by the end of the weekend it was obviously getting hot and sweaty in there.............report back on progress later

[Odsox]

Thanks Graham, I will be very interested what the contents are like after a month.
It's good of you to get stuck in and finish it, I appreciate it.

[Peggy Sue]

I'm a big believer in compost, i've got comopst heaps made of pallets with loads of horse poo added so in theory I can add all my weeds and it will get nice and hot, kill the seeds etc. I turn them out once a year and out into a new mix so it gets 2 years which should be plenty. HOWEVER my allotment is covered with nettles & chickweed that weren't a problem when we took the plot on but are rampant in my horses field so maybe not hot enough or long enough- but worse on the other plot which did have a bind weed issue I 'composted' that and now it's everywhere. The compost does have visible white roots but so many it's like a street map of London. I have watched the danm stuff strangle my raspberries year after year and last year my goosberries too- you can't hoe or even easily pull when it's round such a prickly plant. I have resorted reluctantly to selective spraying until it gets wrapped round my plants (hubby dying to spray the other weeds but I won't let him!!!).

Personally I won't compost bind weed again for this reason. Did the drowning method a bit last year but might have a go at black bags this year- I guess I could use smaller buckets with lids (I have a large number left over from feedstuff) so they could stack in the corner and be reused?

[nyghtowl]

If you know anyone who keeps fowl, chicken poo is HOT AS HELL.

[dave45]

my chicken poo is mixed with wood shavings and goes rather hard when it dries. I still mix it in with the soil though... and sometimes I compost it

[grahamhobbs]

I am in the process (eh hhmm, have been for several months now) of assembling a rotating composter made from an old metal drum with a short scaffold tube through the middle. Just needs the supporting frame setting up. Going to give this a try for rapid composting of particularly seedy weeds or grass cuttings.

Please let us know how you get on Graham.
I've been thinking of this for several years now, but have yet to hear from anyone who has actually used one. The trouble is they are expensive to buy, especially with shipping over here, and I have yet to find any suitable drum to make one from.
If I was sure that it worked I would make one out of timber ... slats nailed on three discs of ply sort of arrangement.
But I would really like for someone to tell me it's well worth it before I start.

Odsox, so far my experience hasn't been good. To test the thing, I filled the drum full over a couple of days with weeds and some grass clippings. Within a month it had rotted down to about 1/10th of its original size but still recognisable as strands of vegetable material rather than compost. It has stayed that way since. .

I suppose the thing is to continually keep feeding it with more material, but will it then maintain high temperatures, I'm not sure. The other problem I'm now having is having used a metal drum, the band that holds the lid on no longer wants to close and so the lid can't be secured and the drum can't be turned.

The drum fully filled probably only holds about 1/3cu.m, so I'm thinking if you can't rely on maintaining high temperatures then it is easier to just dump things on the ordinary compost heap (I have 3 on the go, each holding at least 1.5cu.m) and let it rot down slowly. But in the cause of experimentation I guess I will persist a little longer..........

[wabbit955]

i just put the lot in compost bin
and just pull weeds up while they are small
found i get a lot less weed sence i been covering any unsed ground over the winter with carboard
which i then compost when i start planting the next year

[Odsox]

Thanks for that Graham, I really appreciate your findings.
I guess I won't spend any more time contemplating if one is worth making then.
My conventional compost bins work well enough for ordinary kitchen/garden waste, it's just that I thought that a rotary compost bin might be the answer to my tons of grass mowings. I shall keep on chucking it over the fence for the cows to nose about.

This autumn I'm all geared up to collect significant quantities of seaweed, I'm hoping that it will raise my polytunnel fertility to better levels. My new tunnel straddles the site of a hedge I had to grub out to make room for it, and it is really noticeable with this year's crops. It will be nearly empty this winter so the plan is to pile a thick layer of washed seaweed just about everywhere.