Compost pits

[Beachboy]

with rubbish a problem on the eastside. I was curious how many of you have created a "compost pit" at your home to help with your rubbish?

When my home is finshed being built in HPP. I think a compost pit is one of the first things I will do with my lot!

Could some of you good people offer up "compost pit" stories How it's working? How you made it, and things to avoid when making a pit.

[JerryCarr]

Aloha, Beachboy,
We compost everything from the table scraps to all the weeds we pull out of the gardens. We did not have a conveniently located puka, so we built an unmortared square rock enclosure. Actually, we built two, one for household waste and the other for weeds. (The weed compost sometimes has weed seeds in it, so we have to wait longer to use it.) We left the front wall of the enclosure only two-thirds as high as the other three to allow for easier turning and removal of finished compost.

We didn't use any fancy starter cultures or anything. Just started throwing stuff in there, and it started rotting. If it gets stinky, we throw a thin layer of soil or cinders on top. (Only the household stuff ever stinks.) We turn it with grubbing fork every couple months, which lets us admire all the earthworms living in there.

This is very unscientific, but it works, and we have nice dark brown compost to mix with cinders to make new garden soil. There is a lady on the island who gives classes and sells systems for this, and her methods are probably better, but this works for us.

Cheers,
Jerry



Edited by - JerryCarr on 01/15/2007 07:17:47

[aline]

Composting is great but doesnt putting table scraps in attract rats?

[JerryCarr]

Aloha, Aline,
We put our household compost in the back of the vegetable garden, which is pretty far behind the house, so we haven't noticed any rats. We have noticed that the resident mongoose likes to steal and lick out the eggshells, though. He stashes them in a crack in the lava rock.

I think rats would be worse if we put meat scraps in the compost. Those go to our very large doggies.

Cheers,
Jerry

[Carey]

The composters that the county supply if you take a compostng class are great. They are rodent resistant & made from recycled plastic. To reduce spells & rodents, you gotta remember to feed your pile right, equal amounts of dry brown leaves & stuff with green wets. You can also get worm composter from the county, by signing up for the worm class, great for veggie matter kitchen scraps. We haven't done that yet, but do use are blender to munch up our kitchen scraps. If you have the land, goats, sheep & piggies do this well.
This is the coop page provided by Recyle Hawaii on composting:
http://www.recyclehawaii.org/HG-41.pdf
Their quick tips web page:
http://www.recyclehawaii.org/Facts%20of%...ng2006.pdf
Check at the Keaau Transfer "Recycle Hawaii" bulletin boards for workshop dates & times (last year they were $10, included seminar, "Earth Machine" composter or worm composter + worms & instructional DVD).
Aloha, Carey

Edited by - Carey on 01/15/2007 10:41:18

[Hotzcatz]

Instead of dragging all the stuff to one spot we have several areas where trimmings get put. That's mostly from laziness since I don't feel like dragging everything up to the back of the back yard. They all turn into compost nicely no matter if they are many piles or just one. We don't turn them or anything else but we have dirt all over and don't especially need extra compost so we are mostly trying to get rid of trimmings and not create compost.

We've found chickens do really well for getting rid of table scraps. They also fertilize the yard nicely, get rid of bugs - especially centipedes, give us eggs and seem to survive the mongoose once they are grown. Their cage is up on metal legs so mongoose can't climb inside and the door is left open so they can go in and out.

I would think a compost pit would mean you'd have to dig to get the compost. I think just putting it in a pile somewhere would do just as well and be easier to get to afterwards.

[toucano]

I don't think that it is advisable to ever put animal matter in a compost pile. I've known people to toss a fish in a hole when they plant things, but that is a different matter.

[canhle]

Aloha Hotzcatz,
I am interest in getting some chickens too. How many do you have? Do you have to fence in your yard so the chicken will not go to the neighbor? Where do you buy your chicken?
Sorry for two many questions.
Mahalo
Canh


canhle

[allensylves]

The usual recommendation is to not place meat, animal matter or feces in a compost pile. However, a friend of mine worked on composting for LSU before he retired. They put fish into rice hulls inside a wire mesh cylinder (if I remember right, it was about 4 feet across) for ventilation and to keep things in place. In a few weeks there was no trace of the fish or the bones and there was never any fishy odor. Sawdust or other fairly fine, high carbon material should work equally well.

Allen
Baton Rouge, LA & HPP

[Nate SC]

I've seen peices of fence wire fixed into a hoop then laid on end. The composting material is thrown into the wire bin like a large trash basket. The material is just piled in over and over. the weight of the new material placed ontop of the old material will break down the matter into composte. when you need to rotate the pile, you just pick up the wire basket and turn the pile with a shovel or rake. You can then just shovel the material back into the wire basket and let it sit until it's ready to use in the garden.
Meat and dairy products should not be put into compost or worm bins.