I just got one of those compost tumblers - it has 2 bins so while one is making I can be filling the other. I know it won't make much but since it's for a small (4' X 4') raised bed it will be fine. I only grow squashes and a couple of tomato plants there. That is one thing I miss about having horses & chickens. We used to have one heck of a garden!

Tinker bell, i use alfalfa hay in the compost pile so it doesn’t produce weeds as it is ‘cooking’. As a mulch around plants I use something called
‘Coastal hay’. not really hay — it is the cheapest straw you can get and it doesn’t seem to have seeds that sprout.

I know that hay, as opposed to straw, is supposed to produce weeds but maybe someone will talk about that as I don’t use hay as a mulch—too expensive.

What kind of straw did you get? Are you just noticing the weeds where you used it? Hard to pull weeds would be a royal pain, some grasses
are particularly hard to get rid of too.

Edie, I always like my compost tumbler when I had one. I had the big single one and enjoyed using it.

Question: once the pile cools down even tho I keep turning it every other day, can I /should I turn the heat back up by adding more grass? I notice that usually heats up my compost bins in the past. It's readily available once a week. The pile is on the ground & was almost the 3x3 minimum recommended size.
I'd like the compost to be ready in 4 to 6 weeks from now, it's been 2 weeks since started. Thanks.

MsCowpea wrote: ↑Sun Mar 01, 2020 3:16 pm Tinker bell, i use alfalfa hay in the compost pile so it doesn’t produce weeds as it is ‘cooking’. As a mulch around plants I use something called
‘Coastal hay’. not really hay — it is the cheapest straw you can get and it doesn’t seem to have seeds that sprout.

I know that hay, as opposed to straw, is supposed to produce weeds but maybe someone will talk about that as I don’t use hay as a mulch—too expensive.

What kind of straw did you get? Are you just noticing the weeds where you used it? Hard to pull weeds would be a royal pain, some grasses
are particularly hard to get rid of too.

I think that mine is wheat straw. It has a lot of seeds and many weeds in it too. If I leave the bail out in the rain like I do for Halloween then they burst into life and start growing like crazy. I get it from a local retired farmer. It sounds like maybe I need to try to find a new source because I have this sprouting everywhere and the roots are really strong too.

Peebee, I reread an article on the Berkeley Rapid Compost method you mentioned in another thread. Glad you mentioned it as it is interesting reading. You are basically making a compost pile but turning it frequently.
Don’t add any more material—at some point you need to stop but keep turning, Make sure the pile is moist not saturated. The pile
will cool down as the pile is shrinking and getting smaller.
(See number 6)
https://vric.ucdavis.edu/pdf/compost_rapidcompost.pdf


Tinker bell, sound like something you need to compost first and not use as a mulch around plants. Wonder if it would stop sprouting and be usable if you let it sit for a long time?

I'm noticing sprouts all over the place too, where I've mulched, not in the compost pile . I specifically asked if the bales were straw not hay too. Maybe straw can also sprout? Oh well, I just pull them up and compost the green blades.

Tinkerbell wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 8:14 pm Does anyone else have problems with the straw sprouting all over the place? I you do, how do you cope with it? It is hard to pull and is everywhere.

Depends how they baled it - did they harvest the oats/wheat/grain first?

Re hay vs straw for mulch...
Ruth stout always told people to use hay...
If we think about it... It makes sense...
It's by producing seed that renders the straw unfit to eat... (if you are a horse or cow).
Can't imagine that either hay or straw is fit to eat for us...

Anyway... Hay isn't much good if it has gone to seed... Means they didn't mow it soon enough.

Hate those compost tumblers... They get too heavy to turn... And the material still isn't suitable...

My compost bin?

The chicken pen... I'm busily pulling chickweed and filling up their pen... They spend every waking hour turning it!

Gorgeous stuff after they have been working it...