Comments on: Got Composting Questions?

By: erin

erin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:51:41 +0000

we’ve moved to a house with about 20 gigantic rose bushes. is there a good way to add the prunings to the compost pile if i don’t have a chipper/shredder? i’ve been chopping them (with pruning shears) into 1-6″ pieces, 1/4-2″ diameter, but am afraid that they are just going to make my heap a thorny mess next year.

By: supercomposter

supercomposter — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:53:05 +0000

Thanks for your question!

I answered with a blog post here:
http://compostinstructions.com/can-you-compost-pineapple-peel/

By: Zenny

Zenny — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:08:04 +0000

Hello,
I am a beginner with composting. I learned a lot from reading your answers to various questions. Thank you. However, I did not see anytyhing about composting pineapple peels? WE eat a lot of fresh pineapple and I hate to throw the peels. CAn I compost it?
Thanks,
Zenny

By: Anya

Anya — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:59:25 +0000

Hello there! I live on an island in the Caribbean, so the climate is tropical: humid and warm, but the ground is full of rocks and white chippy swiss-cheese holed deposits, the soil is lighter brown and is in many places clay-like. We have chickens running all over the place-they throw my compost around the yard if it’s not covered- and rats can be a big problem. I have attempted to compost by trench method, but we also live on a hill and I seemed to have simply developed a maggot-puddle in doing so. When it rains, it rains very heavily, but there’s always sun to heat things up after. It is also frequently very windy. In general, I have had a hard time getting enough browns as everything rots so fast and many of the trees around us are supposedly toxic in some way – annonaceas. Which home-built method do you think could work the best here? I believe I need some way of elevating the compost (for better drainage) and good openings to take advantage of the wind but still keep out the chickens (and the rats?). Thanks for your ideas.

By: supercomposter

supercomposter — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:30:04 +0000

Thanks for your question!

I answered with a blog post here. http://compostinstructions.com/composting-ashes/

By: Michele McMillan

Michele McMillan — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:43:02 +0000

Can ashes from a fireplace be used in a compost pile? Would it be considered “brown” stuff rather than “green” stuff, The only things in the ashes would be newspaper, pine and other dried natural wood; nothing chemically treated.

By: supercomposter

supercomposter — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:52:01 +0000

In general, too much of any one material can overwhelm a compost pile. And citrus rinds can sometimes take a while to decompose.

But even so, I say go for it. Throw it in there and see what happens! Worst case scenario, it will just slow down your pile or bin.

If they don’t break down quickly enough, just keep adding more carbon rich materials, or take some of them out and bury them in the ground to get rid of them.

I wouldn’t worry about the acidity so much.

By: desert deweller

desert deweller — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:30:00 +0000

I’m a beginner composter and everything seems to be going well. Question is about lemons. I can’t use or give away all my lemons and am wondering if they can go into the composter. Talking about 1/2 to 3/4 filled trash can amount of lemons. Will this overwhelm; will be too much acid? Thanks for the help.

By: peggy

peggy — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:34:39 +0000

Hello, I am a casual composter because I don’t have a lot of time. My composting is hit and miss! I do spend a lot of the free time I do have gardening and love the cyclical nature of composting and the fact that I am sending less to the landfill. That said, I have a black bin made for composting and I basically add my brown and kitchen scraps in the top, mix when I remember and then pull out compost from the bottom to put in my garden. My question is about the large quantity of insect life in my compost. Is there supposed to be so many bugs (worms, but other stuff too) in there? Will they harm my plants? Thanx for your informative site!

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Bugs are attracted to the materials that are breaking down, because they can consume them.

When you are really going hard core with your composting, your materials can heat up to 140 degrees or more, which reduces the number of creatures that get into it. But when you’re casually composting, and the compost isn’t heating up very much, you’ll see more insects. Bugs don’t hurt anything, and it’s no big deal.

By: Larry

Larry — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:17:30 +0000

OK, that makes sense. I was wondering if the shredded leaves were choking off the air circulation too. I will keep adding the scraps and coffee grounds. Hope it heats up soon. I sure appreciate the helpful advice! Merry Christmas!