It's no hard and fast rule, but you shouldn't really add any new stuff to your already partly matured mix.
Which is why mine rarely get hot - but I have no other option but to add new to old. Still get fairly decent stuff tho..just takes a bit longer.
Ah ... ok. I'm still learning .... but having fun in the process. I've previously adopted the long, slow & easy method and, like @Chris-P-Bacon, I've produced pretty good stuff.
I added the new material to the old because a) I'm trying to keep the volume large, and b) retain the other bay for turning into rather than starting a new secondary heap. If I put my new bits (and at this time of year it will only be small amounts) into the empty bay I'll never get the volume needed for hot composting. Having said all that, I don't need the finished compost until next spring so maybe one hot heap & one slow one is the way to go.
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Personally I add new gear to my heaps as I turn it and incorporate the new stuff, at 5ft deep it takes loads of gear to fill the bins up till they stop sinking and are properly full. I can't get the layering system to work for me as I add too much grass and it goes manky. Remember that it's what works for you and every system is a little different
It's not like making wine or whatever, if you bugger that up that's it. Compost will all work in the end, that's for sure.
What I mean is that you have an end date when it will be ready. We don't know when this is, but lets say 6 months and you start it off on 1st September, so your end date is 1st Feb. If you then add more a month in it has to start again rotting that down so the end date goes to 1st March. We all have different methods and like to try different things out though!
The content of N,P and K in most animal manure, is actually very low, about 1,1,1, so maybe not as good a feed as you think, but never let science spoil a good story. And yes I do add lots of it to my soil.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
What's the oddest thing you add to your heaps? As I dumped my vacuum dirt out onto mine, as well as a dustpan full of hair after giving haircuts, I realized I'm dangerously close to losing the plot.
@SYinUSA I don't add my hoover contents as our carpets have plastic fibres other than that it's almost anything goes. All my food waste (which isn't very much) cooked or not, chicken carcass, lots of cardboard. I have very few boundaries as I manage mine as hot heaps almost 12months a year the breakdown rate is very fast (I've also failed miserably at not turning my heaps too often which also helps maintain the heat). I follow a guy on YouTube from Ireland, @Fire recommended him (name eludes me now) who runs a community compost system who's Moto is "anything recently alive" which I quite like.
Don’t try to bully me, @MikeOxgreen. I am a great fan of composting and manures, as I have regularly stated. However, it seems a shame not to be honest about what we are doing, and why we are doing it.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
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Ah ... ok. I'm still learning .... but having fun in the process. I've previously adopted the long, slow & easy method and, like @Chris-P-Bacon, I've produced pretty good stuff.
I added the new material to the old because a) I'm trying to keep the volume large, and b) retain the other bay for turning into rather than starting a new secondary heap. If I put my new bits (and at this time of year it will only be small amounts) into the empty bay I'll never get the volume needed for hot composting. Having said all that, I don't need the finished compost until next spring so maybe one hot heap & one slow one is the way to go.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
What I mean is that you have an end date when it will be ready. We don't know when this is, but lets say 6 months and you start it off on 1st September, so your end date is 1st Feb.
If you then add more a month in it has to start again rotting that down so the end date goes to 1st March.
We all have different methods and like to try different things out though!
And yes I do add lots of it to my soil.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
https://www.youtube.com/c/REDGardens
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border