Suggestions on how to fix non-decomposing compost?

[Bamboozled]

Hi,

I was recently gifted a rotating compost bin by a neighbor that's about 70% full of material that reportedly has barely decomposed after a year. They were misinformed and started off with a 1:1 C/N ratio, until about 6 months ago when they realized their mistake and started adding C (dry leaves, shredded newspaper etc.), but despite warm weather and keeping the compost moist, there still doesn't seem to be much decomposition happening.

Any suggestions on how to get this back on track? I suppose I could dump out the material and start over, but would prefer to salvage it if possible. Thanks so much.

 

[Owdboggy]

If it was me I would empty out the material, give it a good mixing and watering and put it back in the composter.

 

[Bamboozled]

I'll give that a try, thanks. Going forward, I'm wondering if adding more compost at 30:1 is the way to go, or if I should try to correct the imbalance by going even higher C to N, like 50:1?

 

[DirtMechanic]

N is basically like feeding sugar. Wet, with a handful of soil, and air, air, air helps the process find its balance. Those ratios are by weight (mass) if it helps.

 

[Bamboozled]

Makes sense, thanks. For the past week or so I've been rotating the bin every other day and adding water when it looks dry. I believe the existing compost is still too high in N, so maybe I'll add more C and see what happens.

 

[Owdboggy]

I find those revolving things do let the compost become oxygen depleted. We have two of them and the compost is always better when I turn it over out of the container. Never bothered working out percentages of material to add, we just throw everything biodegradable on to the heap and let it get on with it. Works for us.

 

[Bamboozled]

Thanks for the tip, I dumped out the compost and it looks pretty good to my untrained eye- food scraps, dry leaves, shredded newspaper, small twigs- then put it back in. Maybe I'm sweating the ratio too much, but something seems up with how slow this is decomposing. I've composted before in piles out in the yard without issue, but this is my first experience with a rotating bin.

 

[DirtMechanic]

You could affix a perforated pipe or 3 through the middle from side to side to ensure aeration. I use 10ft 6 inch dia thin wall pvc under my big pile. I drilled holes in the top half of the pipes.

 

[Bamboozled]

Worth a shot, I'll give it a go- thanks!

 

[oneeye]

If you keep turning the pile and add a little composted manure it will break down. The #1 reason the compost cools is not being turned enough and lacking nitrogen. .

 

[Bamboozled]

Good to know, thanks. I've been turning it daily and added air holes, let's see what happens.

 

[oneeye]

Good to know, thanks. I've been turning it daily and added air holes, let's see what happens.

I would not do it every day only one time a week. That way the microbes have a chance to populate before you tear their homes up. When my compost pile goes cold, I just add a couple of coffee cans of poultry manure out of the bag. It takes about 3 days before it is hot again.

 

[Owdboggy]

It was always said that if you wanted to start an argument, the best way was to ask any three old fashioned gardeners how to make garden compost.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

If you keep turning the pile and add a little composted manure it will break down.

Good thinking. I don't have a tumbler, but I always mix a bit of old stuff in when I am making a new heap to make sure it is infected with the right thins to breakdown.