Greasemonkey's Compost Pile

greasemonkeymann · Dec 21, 2015

I've had some fellow organic growers inquire as to what my compost "method" is...
As you'll see it's not complicated at all, very simple, and somewhat easy to do.
Provided that you do NOT make your pile at the base of a bigass redwood tree...
I had to machete and axe away about three feet of burly-ass redwood roots that grew UP into my old pile..
looked like a bunch of clown-wigs afterwards, big ole wirey tassles of roots
Pictures to follow.

greasemonkeymann · Dec 21, 2015

step one.
Nevermind the ghetto root guard.. I had a rug that got wet...

step two.

note that old cannabis leaves and mushrooms work just fine to use as a nitrogen input in between the leaf layers
Got a chunk of brickweed right there...

greasemonkeymann · Dec 21, 2015

step three.

spread it out, and add another layer of leaves

step four.
sprinkle fish meal and fish bone meals, I do these on the "lower" compost layers so they don't smell as strong, also allows me to put a layer of neem meal near the top so it keeps away critter (they hate the smell of neem meal too)

greasemonkeymann · Dec 21, 2015

then it's simply repeat that until you run out of leaves and nutrients.

I know it's a blurry pic (my camera is constantly refocusing)
but you can see how much I use, it's simply a "sprinkling"
covering the moist leaves, and then repeating over and over.
I do the "heavy" nutrients near the top, because they will settle as you turn it over an over.
Heavy nutrients would be the oyster flour, fishbone meal, greensand, rock phosphates, etc.

greasemonkeymann · Dec 21, 2015

I went leaves,
cannabis trim,
leaves,
fishmeal &fishbone meal,
leaves,
kelp meal and alfalfa meal,
leaves,
ground eggshells &comfrey leaves,
leaves,
doghair (lots) &shrimp & crab meal
leaves,
greensand/ kelp meal/ oyster flour
leaves
rock phosphates (lightly, already amended with minerals@initial soil mix) and a nice thick layer of neem meal.
Then leaves.
Presto, then cover with a tarp.

--note-- I didn't water anything down because it was fuckin raining on me the whole damn time.

You want the leaves wet, and the pile "moist" not dripping.
then cover and it'll steam up in about two or three days.

greasemonkeymann · Dec 21, 2015

You can use coffee grinds, grass clippings, nitrogen bat guano or seabird guano, fresh "feed" alfalfa for like horses, fresh bull kelp (if you can find it), fish carcasses, rabbit manure, rabbit bedding, etc.
All those will work FINE as your "green" input between the leaves.

After the thermophlic portion of the compost is done, you can add a handful of your worm castings from your wormbin if you have one.
I added a tiny ass palmful of castings with the baby white worms just hatched and like ten days later my whole damn pile was crawling with worms, waaaay more than my wormbin

DonBrennon · Dec 21, 2015

Hahaha, love your commitment, I need to get out and collect leaves, but it's not stopped raining here for the last 4 weeks, that's that fracking excuse blown.
I've no excuses tomorrow, no work & no commitments, best get the rake out rain or shine, otherwise I'm gonna lose all the best nutrient content.

Ps It's really strange being able to collect leaves this late, there's definitely something to this global warming

calliandra · Dec 21, 2015

greasemonkeymann said:
I've had some fellow organic growers inquire as to what my compost "method" is...
As you'll see it's not complicated at all, very simple, and somewhat easy to do.
Provided that you do NOT make your pile at the base of a bigass redwood tree...
I had to machete and axe away about three feet of burly-ass redwood roots that grew UP into my old pile..
looked like a bunch of clown-wigs afterwards, big ole wirey tassles of roots
Pictures to follow.

You know you're addicted to living soil when you read "Greasemonkey's Compost Pile" and think, "oh yummy" :bigjoint:

Thanks for sharing! I can almost smell those wonderful leaves!

green_machine_two9er · Dec 21, 2015

DonBrennon said:
Hahaha, love your commitment, I need to get out and collect leaves, but it's not stopped raining here for the last 4 weeks, that's that fracking excuse blown.
I've no excuses tomorrow, no work & no commitments, best get the rake out rain or shine, otherwise I'm gonna lose all the best nutrient content.

Ps It's really strange being able to collect leaves this late, there's definitely something to this global warming

Although the global warming would increase length and intensity of winters in northorn hemisphere. So just el nino. Dont let the liberal media machine brainwash! Jk who knows.

greasemonkeymann said:
I've had some fellow organic growers inquire as to what my compost "method" is...
As you'll see it's not complicated at all, very simple, and somewhat easy to do.
Provided that you do NOT make your pile at the base of a bigass redwood tree...
I had to machete and axe away about three feet of burly-ass redwood roots that grew UP into my old pile..
looked like a bunch of clown-wigs afterwards, big ole wirey tassles of roots
Pictures to follow.

Nice. Finally good stuff!

greasemonkeymann · Dec 21, 2015

calliandra said:
You know you're addicted to living soil when you read "Greasemonkey's Compost Pile" and think, "oh yummy"
Thanks for sharing! I can almost smell those wonderful leaves!

yea, my pitbull was itching to jump in the pile... she smelled the kelp and fish meals and was waaaay interested..
had to keep all the bags of leaves as a barrier for her, she was wanting to roll around in all those funky smells.
--side note-- fish meals sticks to boots when applied during the rain..
gotta scrub em now... and I smell wonderful

greasemonkeymann · Dec 21, 2015

DonBrennon said:
Hahaha, love your commitment, I need to get out and collect leaves, but it's not stopped raining here for the last 4 weeks, that's that fracking excuse blown.
I've no excuses tomorrow, no work & no commitments, best get the rake out rain or shine, otherwise I'm gonna lose all the best nutrient content.

Ps It's really strange being able to collect leaves this late, there's definitely something to this global warming

yup, fresh leaves have a NPK % higher than manures do, lb for lb.
When I read that, it totally made sense as to why the compost worked so well.

FamMan · Dec 21, 2015

Great read Grease! Thanx man.

DonPetro · Dec 21, 2015

Compost is awesome!

Jumfrey13 · Dec 21, 2015

greasemonkeymann said:
I went leaves,
cannabis trim,
leaves,
fishmeal &fishbone meal,
leaves,
kelp meal and alfalfa meal,
leaves,
ground eggshells &comfrey leaves,
leaves,
doghair (lots) &shrimp & crab meal
leaves,
greensand/ kelp meal/ oyster flour
leaves
rock phosphates (lightly, already amended with minerals@initial soil mix) and a nice thick layer of neem meal.
Then leaves.
Presto, then cover with a tarp.

--note-- I didn't water anything down because it was fuckin raining on me the whole damn time.

You want the leaves wet, and the pile "moist" not dripping.
then cover and it'll steam up in about two or three days.

Dude you must have the kindest herb imaginable!

greasemonkeymann · Dec 22, 2015

Jumfrey13 said:
Dude you must have the kindest herb imaginable!

It does the job for sure!
But more credit due to the genetics.
And really, that compost method, is the easiest damn thing ever, the hardest is done, and I just need to turn it every week or so.
Hard for me to even take credit, after the pile is done, I mix it with my aeration, and water.
That's it. SO really after the soil is done, anyone could grow it well

I've been pheno hunting for what seems like forever, but I have some good genetics, I just need to find a cheese strain, and an oldschool roadkill skunk.
Right now i'm going through a Bodhi "phase".. that guy is the man.
I do miss the days where I was cranking out the numbers though, going monocrop and pulling 2 lbs per harvey.
But the selection I have is veeeerry nice at the moment

greasemonkeymann · Dec 22, 2015

right now I have in flowering
madberry (3) -dynasty
double dream (3) - dhn clone
pineapple hashplant 3 diff pheno - Bodhi--- (one damn yummy pheno that smells strongly of jack herer)
Tranquil elephantiser v2 three females indistinct- Bodhi
last GSC (AKA lil bitch plant) dhn
all about 14 days in
I'm going to get a new camera, and will take pics of them near harvest time

As far as my vege room?
ugh.. cluster fuck in there...
Like ten more strains, and three sets of seedlings that haven't been sexed yet...

Joe Blows Trees · Dec 22, 2015

Thanks for this post! Will compost cook in lower temps? Right now, the temp is in the mid 60's but will be dropping back to low 50's and 40's soon. I semi started one and thanks to your thread, I now know how to layer it for better results. I'm looking into making a quick organic soil mix until I can get an official living soil going for both of my gardens. I picked up some blood meal, bone meal, kelp meal, azomite, oyster shells, and greensand. Gotta find somewhere to get alfalfa meal, neem meal, and worm castings.

greasemonkeymann · Dec 22, 2015

Joe Blows Trees said:
Thanks for this post! Will compost cook in lower temps? Right now, the temp is in the mid 60's but will be dropping back to low 50's and 40's soon. I semi started one and thanks to your thread, I now know how to layer it for better results. I'm looking into making a quick organic soil mix until I can get an official living soil going for both of my gardens. I picked up some blood meal, bone meal, kelp meal, azomite, oyster shells, and greensand. Gotta find somewhere to get alfalfa meal, neem meal, and worm castings.

If you layer it with any of those listed amendments I mentioned earlier for the thermophilic portion, the pile will heat itself, I've had 25 - 30 deg mornings and the pile is steaming like a sauna.
i'm not a fan of slaughterhouse amendments, but they'll work, the bone meal in particular.
Done correctly though the compost will be fine in cold weather. Remember leaves break down on their own, even in the snow.
Careful using azomite in a compost pile, the humic acids created by the compost procedure can/will breakdown the aluminum in the azomite.
if you can find/grow comfrey, that stuff is awesome.
and eaaaaasy as hell to grow

Joe Blows Trees · Dec 22, 2015

Thanks for the tip on the azomite and I'll look in to growing comfrey. I'm trying to find a good substitute for the blood and bone meal in my area. I think I'll have to go to the feed store this weekend and see what they have. I don't have a worm bin yet so I was going to try adding epsoma organic potting soil mix which states it has alot of microbial life in it.

greasemonkeymann · Dec 22, 2015

Joe Blows Trees said:
Thanks for the tip on the azomite and I'll look in to growing comfrey. I'm trying to find a good substitute for the blood and bone meal in my area. I think I'll have to go to the feed store this weekend and see what they have. I don't have a worm bin yet so I was going to try adding epsoma organic potting soil mix which states it has alot of microbial life in it.

a good sub for blood meal is mix of alfalfa and fish meal.
one for bone meal is fish bone meal.
If you can find rabbit manure, that can replace both, just supplement with kelp meal

Greasemonkey's Compost Pile

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