Search...
Home Subscribe
Pie
Home Subscribe
Recent topics Flagged topics Hot topics Best topics
Search...
Search within composting Search permies
Advance search Google search
Register / Login
gift
How To Preserve Eggs by Leigh Tate
will be released to subscribers in: soon!
click here for details
  • Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
Master Gardener Program Full online Permaculture Design course and Appropriate Technology Course video Rocket Mass Heaters Build your own pizza oven! permaculture bootcamp sketch with tools WDG garden
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • John F Dean
  • Timothy Norton
  • Nancy Reading
  • r ranson
  • Jay Angler
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • paul wheaton
  • Tereza Okava
  • Andrés Bernal
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
gardeners:
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • M Ljin
  • Matt McSpadden

compost pile smells too strong

 
Gilbert Fritz
pollinator
Posts: 1762
Location: Denver, CO
128
posted 8 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
It is not the usual bad compost smell, like hydrogen sulfide or ammonia. Instead, it is the woody forest floor smell that a good pile is supposed to have, but so strong it can be smelled 200 feet away quite well, and we have to keep the windows shut. The pile is made of weeds and dead plants, not kitchen scraps or manure, with some soil, a bit of blood meal, and some gypsum added. It is maybe three cubic yards or less.

https://happyareyoupoor.com

 
James Freyr
steward
Posts: 4837
Location: West Tennessee
2445
I like...
cattle cat purity fungi trees books chicken food preservation cooking building homestead
posted 8 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
If it doesn't smell like putrefaction I wouldn't worry about it. Does it smell earthy like this all the time or was the pile just turned?

"Study books and observe nature; if they do not agree, throw away the books." ~ William A. Albrecht

 
Bryant RedHawk
gardener
Posts: 6829
Location: Arkansas - Zone 7B/8A stoney, sandy loam soil pH 6.5
1690
I like...
hugelkultur dog forest garden duck fish fungi hunting books chicken writing homestead
posted 8 years ago
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Sounds like you have a super compost rich in humic acid going there.

You are fortunate indeed. You could start using some of that golden compost and thus disperse the odor, if it is that bothersome.

If you just turned the heap, then it is telling you it is ready for use.

Redhawk

List of Bryant RedHawk's Epic Soil Series Threads We love visitors, that's why we live in a secluded cabin deep in the woods. "Buzzard's Roost (Asnikiye Heca) Farm." Promoting permaculture to save our planet.

 
Gilbert Fritz
pollinator
Posts: 1762
Location: Denver, CO
128
posted 8 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
It smells like it all the time, but even stronger after turning.

I agree, it seems to be a sign that it is heating nicely.

I think I might have solved the "problem" by turning it and covering it with a thin layer of earth; the smell is still present but not overpowering. As expected, the core of the pile had lots of fungal type growth in it.

https://happyareyoupoor.com

 
Shannon Simmons
Posts: 12
posted 8 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Sounds like you have a high fungal pile where most of the time when piles get out of balance it is more to the bacteria side. Would be great to spread around any trees you want to give a boost to, I would think.
 
Marco Banks
gardener
Posts: 1774
Location: Los Angeles, CA
568
I like...
hugelkultur forest garden books urban chicken food preservation
posted 8 years ago
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Perhaps add a significant amount of high carbon browns as you turn it and see if that reduces the problem.  Got any dried leaves or shredded paper from the office you could turn into you pile?

"The rule of no realm is mine.  But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands, these are my care.  And for my part, I shall not wholly fail in my task if anything that passes through this night can still grow fairer or bear fruit and flower again in days to come.  For I too am a steward.  Did you not know?"    Gandolf

 
Burra Maluca
out to pasture
Posts: 12781
Location: Portugal
3780
I like...
goat dog duck forest garden books wofati bee solar rocket stoves greening the desert
posted 8 years ago
  • Likes 2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
If the problem is that you can smell it, rather than the smell itself, maybe just cover it with a tarp or a layer of dry straw to keep the smell in the pile.

How permies.com works
What is a Mother Tree ?

 
Harry Soloman
pollinator
Posts: 138
Location: Pennsylvania, Dauphin County
15
posted 8 years ago
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
    Send
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
have you considered sprayingLAB or Lactic acid bacteria.

IMO4 will help with that too but its largely the lactic acid working the same benefit but IMO4 adds very strong bio life if made correct.

Add biochar, so many reasons for that but smell is a bit one but will also help you much for a great many reason.

The lab and biochar I have seen personally take the stink out of a pig farm.

Living free starts with understanding ones own emotions and emotion affects and controls us.

 
Are you here to take over the surface world? Because this tiny ad will stop you!
Learn Permaculture through a little hard work
https://wheaton-labs.com/bootcamp
reply
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
Boost this thread!
Similar Threads
More...