Phoenix Tropicals Gardening

[Dauntless]

I just got a composter and want to get going on making my own compost as soon as I put it together.

Since I have never made compost, I was wondering if any of you do or have and have any words of wisdom? At this point, I only have questions.

I have horses and chickens so plenty of raw manure as well as plant matter. My question about the manure is since the horse manure is always full of weed seeds, will composting it kill the seeds?
Do you have to add some compost to the mix to start with to get the organisms so that things move along faster?

[Bkaus]

I have been wanting to get a fancy composter but just stuck with the $5 trash can that you buy at the phoenix dump. Currently have 5 trash cans two for kitchen waste and one for leaves and the other two for yard waste. It takes 6-12 months to get broken down but I don’t ever turn it and sometimes forget to water it. Because the two for kitchen waste is wet and smelly when a new batch of garbage is added it get covered with a layer of yard trimming to keep the bugs and stink down when it gets full I use the second one. What seems to matter is a mix of browns and greens. You-tube has “growing your greens” where he shows how to make compost. Search for “growing your greens compost”. Another thing I was reading the other day about compost is that it has an imbalance of KNP with the potassium being on the high side. It probably doesn’t matter here in the desert because of our clay soil is lacking potassium.

What was very interesting when reading up on no-fertilizer gardening and creating a food forest it is very important having a layer of wood chips around your tree (don’t touch the trunk). My dwarf naval orange tree planted in 1987 is in the best shape it’s ever been after using a leaf and wood chip mulch the last 2 years (its never been over 8 feet tall and this year it put on lots of new growth) if there was extra compost it most likely would do even better (more potassium equals sweeter fruit most of the time). My family had oranges for 2 ½ months this year and had to give a bunch away because it produced so good. I’m doing the same with my new fruit trees putting down wood/leaf much. Hopes this helps. Open to more ideas on what others are doing to get their trees to produce fruit.

Don’t have any animal manure but I’m growing some gold fish with the plans to use their manure to fertilize my bananas trees.

To answer your questions will composting kill weed seeds yes if it gets hot enough put the composter in the sun and it will cook them. I add back in some compost when filling up a new can but don’t know if it makes any difference because of the length of time it takes to get the compost from my cans. When they are full of worms then I start using it in the garden (6-12 months).

[phoenixtropicals]

Wow. Thanks for all the great info. "More potassium equals sweeter fruit" hmmm. I think I will keep that in mind because my peaches were pretty bland this year. Next year I'll go bigger on the potassium fish emulsion.

[Dauntless]

Well, mine isn't that fancy. Some of those things cost a fortune. We got mine working now. So far, so good. It was a real nightmare to assemble though. We would have been better off without the direction

I hope that it doesn't take as long to get compost though. I need a lot and it would be nice to supplement that with free stuff.

The whole potassium info is interesting. Who doesn't want sweeter fruit.

You have me convinced that I need wood chips. This year I added composted mulch but I will top it off with chips.

[Bkaus]

Glad you got the composter put together. Let us know how fast it works. It’s takes 6 month in the city of phoenix compost bins/trash cans to break down for me.

Yes making sweeter fruit is always a GOAL! The growing your green guy said that rock dust makes his greens really sweet. I got some green sand and trying it on some Chard and Kale. That remind me I need to add it to my trees.

The wood chip that are the best are small branches with the twigs and leaves in the mulch. Would need to add some nitrogen if no green leaves.

[Dauntless]

It looks like I need a chipper/shredder. We have several good sized desert type trees on our property along with around 50 or so various fruit and nut trees so I have a good source of things to use.
I was going to get the free stuff from landscapers but I worry as to what's in there. With my horses being right next to my little orchard area, I don't want to chance any toxic plant matter like oleanders getting to them.

Where did you get green sand?

I will keep you updated on the compost. I just started putting things in it last week.

[Bkaus]

The sand came from GrowOrganic.com I had got some other things so shipping was already paid for.

I was looking into getting Elemite. It might be available in the valley. Save shipping cost. I'm still debating if we really need rock dust because of your good clay soil. At least the clay soil in my yard is great just add a little organic matter and things grow really well. I think Gypsum is really import here in the valley because of the salt in the water/soil. I don't know if salt is in the soil until it's watered because it's in the water (I think). I need a really good soil test to find out what missing or out of balance but so far things are growing well with just adding some organics and fish emulsion. But each plant has it own needs to grow best.

http://www.elemite.com/distributors.html

[Bkaus]

Well got some Elemite off Ebay 37# for $43 shipped. Started adding to the plants last night mixing it with some fish fertilizer. I noticed that the gypsum worked right away if it was added with some nitrogen.

[Dauntless]

Is Azomite and Elemite about the same thing?
I found some YouTube videos about the Azomite but will have to look for some on the Elemite.

As for the composter, so far so good. Things are breaking down fairly fast. The old hay seems to be the stuff that takes the longest.
My husband was keeping it too wet so we had to let it dry out a while but are back to adding scraps etc again.

[Bkaus]

From what I can tell Azomite and Elemite are very similar.

Having read about making "true compost" it's an art form. What happens in my yard "the composters" call it mulch Put it in a trash can and come back in 6 months or a year

[Dauntless]

We just put the first batch of compost on a tree. It took about 1 month to make it. It could not have been easier.
It is so cool to turn what would be garbage into something that I usually have to pay for. We are thinking about getting another composter.

[phoenixtropicals]

Great. I don't think you'll be disappointed with the results. My trees have doubled in size since I started covering the soil with a couple of inches of mulch. Compost should benefit you faster than mulch, although it is more labor intensive.

[Dauntless]

I took your and a friend's advice and put compost on the orchard trees earlier this Spring and then covered that with mulch. I can really see the difference in my trees this summer. They are holding up to the heat so much better.

[Bkaus]

That's great! When looking at my plants and the ones with the most compost/mulch on them are doing the best. I got alpine strawberries all through June after putting leaf compost on them earlier.

[Dauntless]

I just bought some Alpine Strawberry seeds. When did you plant them? So glad to hear about someone growing them here and getting fruit.

I have some regular strawberry plants (everbearing) that I bought as plants earlier this Spring. They are still producing. Granted, they are new plants and don't get many berries yet but I will take what I can get.