Ya gotta start somewhere... my organic compost factory

[flylowgethigh]

Where do you think Fox Farms gets their inputs for Happy Frog and their other soils? I can get a lot more aged chips that he dumped in his yard, but they may have some pine. Maybe that doesn't matter anyways.

I moved the first piles he had delivered, that I had fertilized. The clay dirt under them has changed for the better with the organic juice that has soaked in. This is my objective, to improve my clay based dirt.

A ton of urea is small compared to the piles. I wonder what the ideal ratio is?

 

[flylowgethigh]

So I also have one of those 80 gallon black plastic compost tumblers. Into it I have loaded a bunch of the chips, some moldy leafs from a wet spot under a tree, a bunch of dried leaves (same oak tree), and a bunch of urea and water. I tumble it daily, and it gets afternoon sun. The ammonia from the urea is pretty strong when I open the top. What is interesting is these were green leafy branches, and the sap is crystalizing and coming out of the air holes of the tumbler.

Sap. Maple tree sap is also called syrup. Is there a place for sap in my tea or soil, especially maple sap? Don't people put molasses in to "sweeten" up soil? I wonder what the sap will do to the compost.

 

[Mr Jay]

Chuck some king stropharia/wine cap mycelium in there and it will be soil in two years or less with a side benefit of mountains of delicious mushrooms.

 

[flylowgethigh]

I have had shrooms come up volunteer already. I have a ton of urea fert in the pile now, and you can sure smell it. I turn the pile periodically, and clay is getting in it (good, more cations). More shredded tree tops come in weekly.

Just a hobby tax write-off, with benefits.

 

[flylowgethigh]

Dig your hand in and it is wet and hot inside. I have been putting mushrooms I find on the pile. There are also volunteer mushrooms that are getting pretty thick, growing just under the surface.

Here are some that have popped out, and subsequently wilted off the heads in the sun.

 

[...CR500AF...]

Hi flylow not trying to be an ass hat but that wood is going to take a long time to break down, it should make a good shroom pile for a while...

 

[Creeperpark]

Flylowgethigh Why don't you use that frontend loader in the photo and bury some of the wood. That should speed things up and you would have compost in a year or two. Check out this cool method of decomposing wood, (permaculture). I have two areas in my yard that are a few years old and the growth is unbelievable I have sunflowers growing into the canopy of my Pecan trees.

https://www.permaculturenews.org/2012/01/04/hugelkultur-composting-whole-trees-with-ease/

 

[Sunshineinabag]

Mother nature decomposes things well

 

[flylowgethigh]

I plan to dig some 3 foot deep holes in the 35x50 foot garden, and toss in wood from the trees here that have fungus growing on them (mossy oak camo looking fungus)- termite tek I call it.

This composted wood is going to be spread onto an area that I built up with poor yellow clay soil, that doesn't grow grass very well unless I water it constantly. The idea is to build up long organic chain cations to help the yellow clay dirt. That pic I showed was just some chips on the ground that shrooms had grown in, which was easier to access. Inside the pile it is hot and that ton of urea is breaking down the wood - black and wet inside. I will fluff up the piles in a few daze, which will let O2 get to the wet black stuff. The area I have the wood chip piles on is getting all the nice humic juice coming off, making the soil under the pile dark. As I fluff the pile, the location it sits on moves, spreading that dark juice goodness.

They cut the dirt down to hard red clay and put houses on it here, then toss down sod. That material I am making if tilled into that clay would probably allow them to have a lawn which lasts longer than the 1/2" layer of dirt that comes with the sod can support, before weeds take over.

Since the wood pile supports growing shrooms so well, what kind can I put in there and eat, and get high off of? I wonder if I am screwing up putting shrooms in that I find around the yard? These "fairy ring" shrooms will grow in grass in full sun, making a green ring in the grass from the nutes they put in. Others I find in shaded woods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_ring

 

[...CR500AF...]

Well fly i bought a mushroom book or two or three lol,then started walking through the bush,pasture, i find them in rotting wood,logs
and cow patties lol.sorry i could not tell you how to grow them other then buy a shroom Kit and know exactly what you are getting...

 

[flylowgethigh]

This is an experiment. It seems to be working. The pile of material with the urea mixed in makes a nice dark tea when it rains.That is soaking onyo the yellow clay, and making soil.

This pic shows a chunk of dry yellow clay, a chunk of composting wood from inside the pile, and a chunk of the clay/compost that has been under the pile. It is now approaching good soil, and has fungus roots. Shrooms are thriving in there. As I keep rolling the pile across the area it is on, the soil under it will keep getting his humic treatment.

Like I said, an experiment. I believe some of this stuff will be part of a soil bin in a few months.

 

[CosmicGiggle]

...... looking good, it's getting there!

 

[40degsouth]

Hi everyone,
great experiment. May l ask if the clay has changed ph and if it’s friable enough to stay in a fine tilth when worked?
Cheers,
40.

 

[flylowgethigh]

Changing pH will be the job of the ag lime, and I have already tilled-in some lime on the area I am playin with. I haven't checked for any change yet. That yellow clay has a pH of 5 or so when you dig it up. It came from where the pond is, and not too far down. When it is dry it is hard as a rock, wet it looks just fine from a distance. Negative charged plates, classic clay. It won't grow grass as-is.

 

[...CR500AF...]