Hello all,
I am just opening up a subject that was asked about way back in 2010 and that is about the ration of brown to green products when making your own compost.
Essentially you are making compost to suit your needs of enriching your soils in your garden and pots and the ratio of browns to greens is really like asking that question "how long is a piece of string?" It will depend on all sorts of things not the least of which in importance is how much of each ingredient you use or add. Some ingredients break down more slowly than others for one and this, knowing which ones, will come with practice.
Well brown compost is organic matter usually high in carbon that provides the goggos that consume and breakdown the contents of your compost pile with energy and vuma (African speak for enthusiasm!)
Now so called green compost materials which are high in nitrogen supplies these same goggos with the protein they need to maintain and sustain the breakdown of your compost into compost.
Brown ingredients include paper products (not plasticised milk cartons etc); straw, wood bark mulch; woody plant prunings, pine needles, dry leaves and sawdust. It is obvious please that you do not used diseased cuttings - these must be burnt.
Green ingredients include wet waste like kitchen scraps, peelings, crushed egg shells, over ripe fruit etc. (avoid onion, meat or fatty cooked waste); dead houseplants; coffee grounds and filter bags; tea bags; green leafy cuttings; grass; feathers; fur; hair and animal manure (horse, chicken etc.)
Essentially do not add anything to your compost heap that is not biodegradable. It must be chemical free too.
In another post I admitted to you all that I have given up trying to make my own compost - I just go out and buy it and thank heavens I am living in an era that allows this.
Good luck to you all if you are making your own compost and let me know if I can assist in any way.
Cheers now
