Dear readers,
I can find a lot on the internet about making compost in the Netherlands. There are all kinds of techniques. But in Thailand the climate is very different. It can get much hotter and drier or wetter there. So I think there are very different 'rules' there.
Explanation: I want to spend the winter in Surin in the coming years and there is fallow land on which I can start gardening. I would like to eat unsprayed fruit and vegetables in Thailand.
By the way, I have never done this in the Netherlands, but I am now retired and will definitely spend the winter in Thailand. So I'm looking for a new hobby.
I think it would be a good idea to start with a compost pile. But on the basis of biological or minimally unsprayed material. So I would like to have experiences about making a compost pile.
And I'd also like to know if I can just walk out into the field and collect unsprayed leaves and stuff. So in public space. Or in the woods, just pick everything and throw it on the compost heap.
Then next year I will have enough good unsprayed basic material to really start with the vegetable garden.
Thank you in advance.
Bob
We had a farm in Suriname, which has a climate similar to Thailand. We threw the manure mixed with the straw from the stable on a large heap and after a few months it had turned into greasy black soil. Dry leaves were also thrown into piles and often burned, but the piles that were not burned naturally turned into a pile of compost. In my opinion, you can make compost exactly as you would in the Netherlands, but in Thailand it is much faster.
suc6
We have a large garden, and I have been making compost for a very long time. Making compost here is very fast due to the somewhat higher temperature.
However, I quickly got tired of the daily shoveling. I have made a rotating compost bin, and it works very well. When I just made it there was little to find about it, if you search now you read a lot about it. However, most projects are very small.
This works especially well if you do it large. My tank has a capacity of 3.500 liters. When I empty it, between 600 and 1.000 kilos of compost comes out. I fill it with about 2.000 to 2.500 kilos of material between two emptyings. Because it is a rotating compost bin, anything goes in it, including cooked food scraps, meat, and even dead animals.
The thing is definitely not picky, but how many different things, the better it works. A few hours after filling, the temperature rises to about 68 degrees Celsius.
Here are two videos from when he just finished. Some improvements have been made, including in the bearing, the door, and the drive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBsYsQ-D77k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LIgOI2XWZc&t=4s
Arjen.
Have in Uttaradit three types of garden and food waste and therefore also 3 different heaps.
1. Food remains and garden waste such as dead plants (tomatoes, beans, cabbage, banana leaf and other leaves.
Because food leftovers contain a lot of moisture, digestion is super fast. I also leave this wet from the rain. Never reverse it. Doesn't have to be 100% right for me either. Business also digests underground.
I work the soil to two stitches deep with Groningen clay spa and Drenthe bats. Yes garden tools brought from the Netherlands. spa and bats in the case. The stems in hand like a kind of walking stick 🙂
When digging two stitches deep, I usually throw the second layer of soil under from this heap after the first stitch and over it. Then the bottom layer also retains the moisture better and the soil remains loose. In Uttaradit, it is on heavy river clay. Good for bildstar and privateers.
2. Pruning wood and lumber. Quite a lot of prunings. This takes about two years to be digested or turned into dust by termites. Much of this is used by mother-in-law as 'cooking wood'. Larger pieces are also sold for making charcoal. Loose leftovers and smaller items go through 1 and 3.
3. Unnamed waste usually that which no longer generates money. Paper, plastic bottles, etc. are usually sold. but items that remain or are not salable go into a large pit (dug hole of 1,5 to 2 by 1,5 to 2 meters and 1.5 to 2 meters deep) and are burned. Then covered with two or three stitches of soil and fruit trees grow on it like the proverbial cabbage.
This soil is very loose and the trees immediately take deep roots and when it rains, the water collects here in the depths.
A compost heap (anywhere in the world) requires maintenance, it must not become too dry, if necessary it must be undisturbed (or transferred from one bin to another). builds up and then you are no longer there for six months. Supervision is also necessary: no food waste, bones, fish holes, for example, may be thrown on it.
In addition, taking all kinds of waste out of the woods just seems like a questionable idea to me. Many plants/waste are toxic or simply not suitable for composting.
Oh sorry but it is often wet enough in Thailand. sometimes too wet. We don't know so-called winters either.
I come from a VERY old family of farmers in Groningen. The manure heap (manure hump) was just outside behind the farm. It was also used as a rubbish heap all year round. Fertilized all fall and winter. Depending on whether it was on the potato or wheat land, it was spread over the land before plowing (not injected).
The manure heap was never turned over and everything went on it. Then there were no green bins.
Don't get anything from the woods but everything around the house.
Oh, mangoes, durian, jackfruit, pineapple, rambutan, longong, papaya, mangosteen, dragonfruit, guava, sweet potatoes, white, red, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, and potatoes grow here.
All leaves and leaves from around the house in 1 heap. Record is 5 meters round and 2,5 meters high.
That is after harvesting the bananas. Contains a lot of moisture and it rots like a man possessed.
I wonder why fish bones, bones and food scraps are not allowed on a compost heap? Shit is/are also leftover food right?
I also wonder why no food scraps are allowed on it?
Here in Belgium, everything that is digestible goes on it. And digesting it does, one a bit faster than the other.
Have often suggested doing this in Thailand, but according to Thai wife too dangerous for attracting snails and other vermin.
I think the main reason for this is that it can attract rats (and cats and dogs). Even when we had a compost heap, there were few animals to be found. Rats apparently can find better food.
A big problem with good compost is that it attracts the "coconut beetle" (I don't know the English name) to lay its eggs. This beast produces very large white larvae, which then eat all the roots in its vicinity. If the larvae later become beetles, they are capable of destroying coconut trees. Good compost should therefore be stored in tightly sealed bags, and if you use it, you should use it in thin layers.
Arjen.
By the way, here is an article about the coconut beetle: http://www.pestnet.org/fact_sheets/coconut_rhinoceros_beetle__oryctes_108.htm
"Coconut Rhinocerus Beetle" is its proper English name. With this article also a picture of the larva.
Arjen.
Here you will find some explanation about what is allowed on the compost heap.
http://natuurlijkemoestuin.be/gratis-artikels/composteren/wat-mag-allemaal-op-de-composthoop/
But especially read the VLACO (Flemish Compost Organization) composting brochure with more details about what can be put on the compost heap and why, what should not be done and why and what does not belong and why.
You can download the brochure via the article above or directly via
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3nAJqpi2NvRNXFKZDg1V1V4MVk/view
Because of a greater risk of vermin, I would not sit in it with my hands, but with a rick, for example.
No, not at all if it contains 100 legs or takap
Bit painful. Just a 4 prong manure fork in it.