You'll be amazed just how quickly weeds can grow in compost. Weed seeds or roots that have been left near the surface of the pile will germinate and start to grow. Invasive plant species have adapted over millennia to grow in the harshest conditions.
Weeds have many nutrients so they are a great addition to the compost pile, but you do not want compost filled with viable weed seeds. The best time to take care of weeds is when they are small and have not established deep roots or seed heads (easier to pull, too, especially if ground is still moist).
Grass clippings should not be the only compost material. As with mulches, a thick layer of grass clippings in a compost pile will lead to bad odors from anaerobic decomposition. Mix them with dry materials such as leaves or straw.
Compost can be used as a soil amendment or as a mulch. As a soil amendment, mix in two to four inches of compost to the top six to nine inches of your soil. As a mulch, loosen the top two to three inches of soil and add a three-inch layer of compost on the surface, a few inches away from plant stems and tree trunks.
Grass clippings are a great source of nitrogen, making them an ideal component of a compost pile or bin.
Banana peels are a great ingredient for your compost or worm farm, adding lots of nutrients to the organic recycling process.
You should definitely cover finished compost. Otherwise, if it's exposed to the elements, the compost will break down further and lose nutrients as they leach into the surrounding soil.
Composting Don'ts
Don't add fish, meat, dairy products, bones, baked goods, fatty foods or grease to your compost pile. These food scraps do not easily decompose and may attract animals. Don't use diseased plants or plants that are toxic to other plants.
Compost shouldn't be kept wet; it should be kept damp. The recommended moisture content of about 50% reflects the idea that compost should not be too wet or too dry.
One rule of thumb: the more green material (cut grass, weeds, leaves) you put in, the less water you'll need to add. In fact, if you need to add dry ingredients such as straw or hay, soak the material first in water so it won't dry out your compost pile. In general your compost should be moist, but not sopping wet.
The grass clipping mulch holds back weeds by denying the weed seed light and oxygen, but the heat from fresh clippings can also burn down small existing weeds.
Add dry grass that hasn't been treated in the last 14 days to your compost pile. For the correct 30:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio, mix about 50% grass clippings and 50% brown material, like brown leaves, branches or newspaper.
Cardboard in the compost heap
Roughly torn into pieces cardboard will rot down well in the compost heap so long as it is mixed in with greens and not layered. Corrugated cardboard works even better because the corrugations hold it open until they decompose.
If you want to keep weed seeds from sprouting and flourishing in your flower beds or garden, you'll need to ensure your compost gets really warm. With the proper temperature, the volume is reduced, odors dissipate and those pesky weed seeds die.
A: You can hot compost them to kill off weed seeds and roots. Q: Can you put weeds into a compost pile? A: You can, but you'll have to wait for the weeds to break down to use the compost. This can take up to two years for some weeds in a cool compost heap.
As a rule of thumb, actively decomposing materials should be turned every three to four days. Materials with slowed microbial activity can be turned less often. In tumblers, turning two times a week resulted in higher temperature and faster decomposition than turning once a week or once every other week (Figure 1).
It will lose much of its value if materials are left to decompose too long. The more time compost is left to sit around, the more “colloidal” it becomes. In other words, it becomes more and more compact as the composting microbes continue to feed on the waste materials.
Let's just start out by saying: putting egg shells in your compost is okay; they are a rich source of calcium and other essential nutrients that plants need.
Citrus fruit, tomato products and pickled food products can do harm to your compost. High acidity can actually kill the good bacteria that helps break down the material in your compost pile.
Composting works in sun or shade Piles in sunny spots will decompose quicker but also dry out faster and may need supplemental watering during hot dry weather. Those located in a shadier spot will stay moist longer but decompose slower.
Apply 1 to 2 1/2 inches of compost to surface and till well into the top 6 inches of soil. Then apply seed and rake into surface. To get a 5 percent mix of compost to soil, you use your measuring container and mix 19 containers of soil to one container of compost.
After the pile reaches around 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit, you want to stop adding greens and limit the amount of browns so that the compost can cure. Keep turning the piles regularly to add oxygen.