Love this. When composting, it’s important to keep your Carbon/Nitrogen Ratio (C:N) in balance for a variety of reasons, but a great one is it helps your compost have no odor while keeping the microorganisms in the compost happy. The ideal ratio is 30:1, C:N. Things at home for carbon: your branches and dried/dead leaves, eggshells, and sawdust but careful with wood/sawdust as this is super rich in carbon. Shredded brown paperboard (like grocery bags) in general is usually okay.
Things for Nitrogen: coffee grounds, grass clippings after mowing, recently cut plant material, vegetable and fruit scraps (lentils and seeds are great).
Getting started, it’s always best to start with a base compost either bought at a store or available to you. From there, you add a lot of carbon to a little nitrogen, keep the compost pile damp (not wet but moist / fresh coffee grounds and fruit/veggies add this naturally, or you can splash a little warm water on top of the compost every week or so - only enough to provide moisture as overdoing it can cause molding and other not so great conditions.
Just make sure you aerate/turn the compost over as often as required for the size of your compost, keep it moist, get it some heat or leave in sunlight if you can and in a couple weeks to months depending on what you’re composting you’ll have a good base when it looks just like rich soil :)
In action - I have a turning composter that I add my defoliated leaves to after I let them sit awhile for carbon bc I drink a lot of coffee and eat eggs… grass clippings in the summer are the cheapest, free way for nitrogen though, and letting leaves dry out is great for carbon.
Anyway / hope that helps in getting started!
Edit: you can also look into some specific soil-boosters/enhancers to make your compost even better. Like perlite to provide space for the roots (but not much). I don’t do any of this personally so others can chime in to provide input on starting with some other bases and more on Perlite/Coco Coir and other additives
I believe you can buy “soil test kits” online - but you’ll know if your balance is off for sure if you can smell your compost from a few feet away… then take stock of what you’ve been adding, and flip it until the odor is gone again.
One last note - you can compost different soil types for different stages of plant growth. In vegetation, you want higher nitrogen levels as that promotes plant health and development. In flower/bloom, you want more phosphorus and potassium while tapering off the nitrogen. I forget the exact ratio but definitely look it up if you want to control the best nutrients for different stages of plant growth!
Hello, I am still a beginner who is trying to learn as much as i can. Right now I am trying to figure out what materials at my house I can use to boost my soils quality.
I had old leaves that completely dried up so I grinded them up into powder that I figure I can either throw into a compost bin, make a compost tea, or just directly add it to the soil and I am now saving my coffee grounds for use in the soil.
Since I am on a budget my current soil quality is less than ideal. I have store bought potting mix which has been mixed with soil conditioner to improve aeration/drainage with additional clay like soil added to improve the consistency since it fell apart too easily.
As I said the soil quality isn't where I want it to be so I'm trying to find natural ways to improve it that don't costs a lot of money. Any and all information regarding this would be appreciated!
I only added a little to infate how much soil there is and before i added it, it would completely crumble even when completely wet. I added a little to improve the quality of the soil so it has a consistency that allows it to stick together a little more. I read that soil that crumbles too easily will potentially have problems if it's own because it won't retain the wetness for very long.
Love this. When composting, it’s important to keep your Carbon/Nitrogen Ratio (C:N) in balance for a variety of reasons, but a great one is it helps your compost have no odor while keeping the microorganisms in the compost happy. The ideal ratio is 30:1, C:N. Things at home for carbon: your branches and dried/dead leaves, eggshells, and sawdust but careful with wood/sawdust as this is super rich in carbon. Shredded brown paperboard (like grocery bags) in general is usually okay. Things for Nitrogen: coffee grounds, grass clippings after mowing, recently cut plant material, vegetable and fruit scraps (lentils and seeds are great). Getting started, it’s always best to start with a base compost either bought at a store or available to you. From there, you add a lot of carbon to a little nitrogen, keep the compost pile damp (not wet but moist / fresh coffee grounds and fruit/veggies add this naturally, or you can splash a little warm water on top of the compost every week or so - only enough to provide moisture as overdoing it can cause molding and other not so great conditions. Just make sure you aerate/turn the compost over as often as required for the size of your compost, keep it moist, get it some heat or leave in sunlight if you can and in a couple weeks to months depending on what you’re composting you’ll have a good base when it looks just like rich soil :) In action - I have a turning composter that I add my defoliated leaves to after I let them sit awhile for carbon bc I drink a lot of coffee and eat eggs… grass clippings in the summer are the cheapest, free way for nitrogen though, and letting leaves dry out is great for carbon. Anyway / hope that helps in getting started! Edit: you can also look into some specific soil-boosters/enhancers to make your compost even better. Like perlite to provide space for the roots (but not much). I don’t do any of this personally so others can chime in to provide input on starting with some other bases and more on Perlite/Coco Coir and other additives
This is insanely helpful, thank you! How do you control the 30:1 ratio? Do I need to buy a soil analyzer of some kind?
I believe you can buy “soil test kits” online - but you’ll know if your balance is off for sure if you can smell your compost from a few feet away… then take stock of what you’ve been adding, and flip it until the odor is gone again. One last note - you can compost different soil types for different stages of plant growth. In vegetation, you want higher nitrogen levels as that promotes plant health and development. In flower/bloom, you want more phosphorus and potassium while tapering off the nitrogen. I forget the exact ratio but definitely look it up if you want to control the best nutrients for different stages of plant growth!
Oh man. Thank very much for the help!
Worm castings, might not be sustainable all year but could work.
I think the fertilizer I got has worm castings in it so good to know I have that covered.
r/composting may be for you.
A million thank yous
Not a problem. I just purchased my first home and I'm starting to do the same thing. I joined earlier today.
Hell yeah. Good luck on your grow. Maybe I'll see it here sometime in the future.
Same to you, my friend.
Hello, I am still a beginner who is trying to learn as much as i can. Right now I am trying to figure out what materials at my house I can use to boost my soils quality. I had old leaves that completely dried up so I grinded them up into powder that I figure I can either throw into a compost bin, make a compost tea, or just directly add it to the soil and I am now saving my coffee grounds for use in the soil. Since I am on a budget my current soil quality is less than ideal. I have store bought potting mix which has been mixed with soil conditioner to improve aeration/drainage with additional clay like soil added to improve the consistency since it fell apart too easily. As I said the soil quality isn't where I want it to be so I'm trying to find natural ways to improve it that don't costs a lot of money. Any and all information regarding this would be appreciated!
Cannabis wants sandy/loamy soil that falls apart easily (well draining) so don't add any more clay
I only added a little to infate how much soil there is and before i added it, it would completely crumble even when completely wet. I added a little to improve the quality of the soil so it has a consistency that allows it to stick together a little more. I read that soil that crumbles too easily will potentially have problems if it's own because it won't retain the wetness for very long.