TonyCal

COMPOST QUESTION

Bob's is a the sure way to check. Another quick test is to see if it still smells - anything other than an 'earthy, musty' smell is an indicator it has not  fully composted. 4 years is a long time - typically you can hotcompost grass in 7-14 days and cold compost it in under 6 months. I read many reports and they all indicate the majority of DIY garden feeds will breakdown in well under a year.

Talkback: Spiders in the compost bin

Great post - love all things composting. Compost heap is a thriving eco-system of bacteria, fungi and worms decomposing waste and other predators moving in to eat them up (spiders)

Read with interest that you are only getting compost infrequently (10 years!). I would expect 1-2 years in a ‘cold’ compost heap like your beehive and 3-6 months in hotbin composting. (A compost heap at 60C decomposes 32 times faster than an open heap at 10C). Views will differ on the eco-system benefits, but 60C also kills of all spiders and other insects.

Composting in excavation

If I have understood your post - you have dug a hole and are filling it with variosu types of waste. The key thing here is air will not circulate down into the hole - you will get anaerobic rotting and a digestate rather than aerobic compost. You hav a warm climate so i would google Idhore and/or New Zealand composting methods and use a bin above ground with good aeration. You could also look up hot composting.

Talkback: Spiders in the compost bin

Great post - love all things composting. Compost heap is a thriving eco-system of bacteria, fungi and worms decomposing waste and other pred...