Compost Help

[Jim Dandy]

Started a compost pile about this time last year. Contained in a chicken wire cylinder about 5 feet in diameter and piled ended up about 4 1/2 feet tall. Mixture of old leaves, old pig poo aged a couple years under cover, weed trimmings, fresh grass clippings, kitchen scraps, some dirt. Layered it all in scrounging things like dead grass or leaves when adding green grass to keep layers under a couple inches thick tryong to keep them @ 1-2 inches. About 2-3 parts "brown" to 1 part grass clippings and fresh weeds, kitchen scraps Pile shrank by about 1/2. Didn't turn it, watered it during dry spells. Partially protected from direct sun light. After breaking it down it is full of these big ole fat grayish grubs, smells earthy and has a good portion of left over grass stalks, small twigs and stems. Going onto a veggie garden. Grubs are whitish gray, c shaped, brownish head probably 2-3" long if straightened. Now the questions . . .

1: are the grubs more than likely pests?
2: should I add fresh grass at about 2-3 parts compost to 1 part fresh grass and recompost with lots of turning? Or just top dress the garden? Its manageable to turn at this size.

Ill be making another massive pile to sit that will have corn stalks ran over with a mower, grass clippings, kitchens scraps, some more aged pig poo. I mow about 3 acres of grass and have corn stalks out the ass. Ill but stuff to add to the compost. The garden is over 350 sq ft now getting expanded by 100 sq ft a year or so till I dont have to buy veggies, salsa or spaghetti sauce so I need lots of compost!

Any and all tips, tricks, ideas taken. I cant turn the pile constantly so I just give it a year.

 

[Jim Dandy]

As a side dish ive been thinking of starting a "synthetic" compost pile with all the old papers, junk mail, pizza boxes, boxes in general and maybe Urea for nitrogen. Add organic amendments after the cooking and let sit for a little while.

 

[Jim Dandy]

Im going to use a majortiy of the old compost to mulch around veggies and save about 5 gal bucket to use as a compost starter for the next pile. Googling the grubs appear to be green fruit beetles and are an ally and eat dead organic material and rotting fruit.

New piles getting started today. A layer of branches and a several inch thick layer of whole corn stalks for drainage and some air flow from chimney effect.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Jim Dandy,

Kudos to you for having the patience to wait a full year on your compost and a fine job on layering the inputs!

The grubs are probably the instar larval stage of the Japanese Beetle.

I tried to insert an image and link for you to gain some more insight on the Instar larva and J. Beetle but am unable to do so.

Just search using 'Japanese beetle grub' and you should pull up plenty of information.

Hope this helped in even the most minute manner.

 

[Jim Dandy]

Yeah I think you're right. Googling for "grubs in compost" didnt give those pests much attention. They have become a plague here. Ive witnessed 20' trees stripped of leaves in a week. They will go for miles to a food plant to breed. They attacked my pole beans and got dealth with!

I can be patient, but the compost sits because I can also be lazy! Haha I read gardening books a lot and one thing seemed to always pop up . . . Layers! Ive read turning, no need to turn, no till and till down 2 feet in the beds. Two things always remained the same. Layer compost and give back to the soil in the form of organic materials!

Maybe Ill see if those grubs are good fish bait.

 

[Jim Dandy]

Totally unrelated to my compost but I found out the town I live by gives compost, firewood and wood mulch away free! I will be filling up some totes depending on how it looks tomorrow!

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Haha! Drown those grubs.

One thing to keep in mind when picking up compost from the city works is that you don't know the origin. Any of a number of things could have been sprayed or dumped on the original inputs.

Best of luck.