| Damp and warm only in the middle of the pile. |
Pile could be too small, or cold weather might have slowed composting
|
If you are only composting in piles, make sure your pile is at least 3 feet high and 3 feet wide. With a bin, the pile doesn’t need to be so large. |
| Nothing is happening.Pile doesn’t seem to be heating up at all. |
1. Not enough nitrogen
2. Not enough oxygen
3. Not enough moisture
4. Cold weather?
5. Compost is finished. |
1. Make sure you have enough nitrogen rich sources like manure, grass clippings or food scraps.
2. Mix up the pile so it can breathe.
3. Mix up the pile and water it with the hose so that there is some moisture in the pile. A completely dry pile doesn’t compost.
4. Wait for spring, cover the pile, or use a bin. |
| Matted leaves or grass clippings aren’t decomposing. |
Poor aeration, or lack of moisture. |
Avoid thick layers of just one material. Too much of something like leaves, paper or grass clippings don’t break down well. Break up the layers and mix up the pile so that there is a good mix of materials. Shred any big material that isn’t breaking down well. |
| Stinks like rancid butter, vinegar or rotten eggs. |
Not enough oxygen, or the pile is too wet, or compacted. |
Mix up the pile so that it gets some aeration and can breathe. Add course dry materials like straw, hay or leaves to soak up excess moisture. If smell is too bad, add dry materials on top and wait until it dries out a bit before you mix the pile. |
| Odor like ammonia. |
Not enough carbon. |
Add brown materials like leaves, straw, hay, shredded newspaper, etc. |
| Attracts rodents, flies, or other animals. |
Inappropriate materials (like meat, oil, bones), or the food-like material is too close to the surface of the pile. |
Bury kitchen scraps near the center of the pile. Don’t add inappropriate materials to compost. Switch to a rodent-proof closed bin. |
| Attracts insects, millipedes, slugs, etc. |
This is normal composting, and part of the natural process. |
Not a problem. |
| Fire ant problems. |
Pile could be too dry, not hot enough, or has kitchen scraps too close to the surface. |
Make sure your pile has a good mix of materials to heat up, and keep it moist enough. |
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
There is no mention of what to do on finding ants in the compost?
I have discovered an ant’s nest in my compost bin. I do not want to kill the ants and am reluctant to disturb them. What to do?
@Vasantraj Pande,
Typically ants come around when the compost is to dry. Keep it moist as a well rung out sponge. I suggest you kill or remove them. When you go to spread your finished compost you will spread the ants.
my compost bin has ants. small ones, not fire ants. I’m in Chicago.
are they a problem?
@Bervena Souoth,
Ants tend to mean the compost is to dry, try making sure it is typically as wet as a well rung out sponge or towel.
The ants will not hurt anything other then when you go to spread your finished compost you will be spreading ants as well.
Here is a product to organically kill the ants.
http://www.cleanairgardening.com/insectkiller1.html
I am a new composter and I’m not sure I’m doing this right. I’ve had my bin now for a year and I thought I would have a nice rich compost for my planters this year. I opened the bottom to let out the compost and there were ants everywhere! I figured it wasn’t moist enough so I watered it and stirred it up. Is there anything I should know or do about the ants? Would adding baking soda help or hurt?
Just started composting on an apartment balcony. I guess the tumbler won’t be getting enough sun, so I’m wondering what to cover it with to increase the temperature (although it will be getting hotter here soon–high today will be 90). Hay, straw, etc., are not available or usable in an apartment situation!
@MMorgan, Once you hit those temperatures your best efforts will be spent making sure the compost is well aerated, moist and a good mix of brown and greens. When you do those three your compost will naturally reach temperatures of plus 120 degrees. Keep in mind each time you mix or add water it will cool down, but once the micro-organism start again it will heat back up. HAPPY COMPOSTING
My compost is “filled” with crawly things that look like they might be maggots. They consume food scraps like crazy. The compost is very wet, even though the bin drains dark thick liquid all the time. I have no leaves to add and don’t want to use newspaper to the compost because of the chemicals I assume would be in the ink.
I need to enrich my organic garden box so I can plant fall vegetables. What will happen if I mix the compost–maggots and all–into the dirt?
@Margaret Thomas,
Those may be maggots; did you put meat or bread items in your bin? If so that might be the source so then I suggest NOT putting those items in any more. I doubt the maggots will harm your garden, most likely they will die off or mature and leave the area.
The ink in the newspaper will not hurt your compost. Shred some up along with any dried grass or even shredded cardboard. Also try leaving the lid off the bin to dry out the material, cover it back up if expecting rain.
Been all summer and it’s not composting. Tumbler, half full, plenty moist, mostly grass clippings, added ‘compost starter’, ammonium nitrate. I have balls of stuff that look like a variety of sizes of horse manure. They break apart to see mushy grass. At first I only tumbled it once a week. Now every day.
It has some straw, vegetables, soil, bark dust in varying states of decomposition, etc. About two months ago I added the ammonium nitrate and compost starter. It got fairly warm some of the time. It’s still mostly balls of grass mush. any ideas?
@jeff bennett, You need more browns (carbons). Try adding some leaves or shredded newspaper. Typically when you have too much nitrogen the compost tends to clump together as you have described. It will eventually break down but will take much longer.
I have left over hard boiled eggs that are too old to eat. Could those be put in the compost? I am new at this personally, although I grew up with it. I am loving it. Want to do right by my bins!
@martha, I do not suggest adding dairy products which includes eggs to your compost pile. Yes, it can be done however it more likely going to cause more problems than it’s worth. Between the rodents it will attract and the smell it will not be worth adding to your compost bin.
I built a DIY compost pile with chicken wire. Worked great in Ohio, but not as well in Arizona. I might just be being impatient with it. My main concerns are that there are a lot of ants and it is moldy on the bottom when I rake it. I water it every morning to keep it moist. Should I avoid throwing in moldy fruit? Strawberries seem to mold no matter what.
@Gretchen B, For the mold, cut back on the water and see how it does, remember it should be as wet as a well rung out sponge. To get rid of the ants, just turn the pile more often, if you keep disrupting their process of building nest they will move on. Try turning it a few times a week.
My grass clip in compose bin got a doughy and bunch of grapefruit size balls in 3 weeks. What can I do?
@Kimi, You have too much nitrogen rich items, i.e. greens. You need more carbon items, like dried grass clippings, shredded leaves or newspaper. Eventually those balls will break down, but to keep it from happening again try to do a mix of 2/3 browns to 1/3 greens. Keep it moist as a well wrung out sponge and mix it atleast once a week.
As with Margaret, my compost is also extremely wet, although I have what I believe are millipeds, not maggots. The compost is like watery soup and absolutely full of millipeds. I don’t add water to my compost, nor does it receive rainwater. Until a few weeks ago, it seemed just about perfect – nicely composting, not too wet, not too dry. I don’t have grass, so no grass clippings to add. I’ve opened the lid to try to dry it out. Any other suggestions?
Thank you for your help.
@Joan Brooks, The water or moisture is coming from somewhere, could a sprinkler be hitting it? If its soupy then you are definitely getting water from somewhere. If your able, try moving the bin and see what happens.
The composter is one of those “tumber” types, suspended on a medal frame. It’s designed so that rainwater will run off of it, rather than infiltrate the bin. Besides, we didn’t have a lot of rain in the few weeks it went from compost to soup. Also, I’ve had this composter for over a year and this is the first time this has had, even in heavy rains we had last Spring. Could the thousands (literally) of millipedes be changing the compost to soup?
Hi, I have just purchased a compost bin. I read that coloured paper is not suitable to compost. Does that include bleached white office paper? Thanks
@Christine, Colored paper can be composted however the dyes will leach into the pile. It’s really best not to use the colored paper but the bleached white office paper should be fine to compost. I recommend shredding it to speed up the composting process.
What must you add to to the compost mix when using citrus peel?
@michael, When adding citrus peels it is a good idea to first make sure they’re shredded or chopped up. Then be sure to add a fair amount of carbon (browns) like leaves or dried grass clippings, keep it at a ratio of 4 to 1 by weight (four parts browns to one part citrus peels). Make sure the compost is well mixed and kept moist.
I have millions of bugs like millipedes etc in my composter. They contribute to the disintergration; however, when I move the composted material to the garden, the bugs go with it and eat the roots of all the existing plants and any new plants that shoot.
I have tried flooding the compost to remove them prior to putting it on the garden but to no avail.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Peter
@Peter, You can try adding some diatomaceous earth, which will kill a fair number of the insects, otherwise repeating turning/aerating may disrupt the insects into finding a better home.
My compost had about 20 or more “large” white grubs which I picked out and killed. The compost pile always has a lid on it and I can’t understand where these came from. ‘”Any suggestions on how to get rid of these ugly things?
@Sandi L, I have had the same problem, you can pick them out like you have already, or you can add some grub killer. Something like this: http://www.cleanairgardening.com/milkyspore.html
I am cleaning out a neglected section of my garden. It´s being irrigated so the weeds are enormous. As I cut the weeds I use them to build up compost heaps, layering with horse manure and dry grass. A heap typically gets about three feet wide, five to six feet long and about 120 cm high; when the heaps are build I irrigate them and cover them with black gardening cloth that lets through water but not light. In theory everything looks right but I just can´t get the heaps to ignite and raise the temperature! Any ideas? Can too much water actually cool off the composition process and break it?
@Anton, Yes, you could be cooling it off but more important are you aerating it. If not, you should try turning it once a week. As you turn it, add water, just putting water on top is not sufficient.
i was once told not to put eggplant skin in the compost,
is this an old wive tail???
@Frank, I asked my old wife and she said it should be fine to add eggplant skin to the compost.