When starting out with small compost piles, you can follow ‘rule of thumb’ measurements rather than calculating the carbon to nitrogen ratio. Simply add one part green to two parts brown, and your compost should be roughly balanced.
However, with larger compost piles, a poor carbon:nitrogen ratio can lead to cold piles that don’t break down quickly, or even worse, smelly slimy piles (which won’t break down either!!) A well balanced pile breaks down quickly with few odors, so getting the ratio right is worthwhile!
Compost Mix Calculator
We use the Klickitat County Compost Mix Calculator. To use the calculator, follow the link above. Choose your material from the first column, and then choose the volume of that material. They use cubic feet, but you can use any container, as long as you keep it consistent. The rest of the table gets filled in automatically, and the C:N ratio updates each time you change the input.
Our working ratio is one part juicer pulp to one part shredded card/paper/newspaper and one part wood-chips. This puts us comfortably with in the ideal C:N range of 25-30:1.
ASP Compost Update
Batch two is almost full. This batch we are using more sargassum seaweed and we are using layers rather than mixing the feed-stock before adding it. The compost is still reaching comfortable thermophilic temperatures, but not quite as high as batch one. Adding in layers saves time, but does make the moisture content harder to manage.
Batch one spent three weeks in the thermophilic phase while in chamber one, and has only just dropped below thermophilic composting temperatures in chamber two.
Strictly speaking, batch one should be turned into chamber three so that the fungi and earthworms can break it down further as it matures, but most of batch one has been used to fill new garden terraces. We aren’t ready to plant them just yet, so they will be able to break down in place. Compost takes patience!
Click Here For More Information on our Green SXM Pilot Compost Project.
