composting, ground contact or concrete pad base

Hey all. I'm on a large parcel so my main compost heap is chicken wire surrounded by pallets. The chicken wire keeps the compost (mostly) in and the pallets keeps my dog's nose (mostly) out. It's built right on the dirt which I imagine is helping in some ways because of worms but I also see rodents burrowing underneath and into it.

I'm planning on re-doing my compost heap design now that I have a better idea on the size and scale that I need and have considered putting down a small concrete pad. It would anchor the vertical members and keep a lot of the rodents out. Just curious on what others are doing. I don't think it matters but primarily I'm using the compost to cut down on trash that needs to go to the land fill, for inoculating biochar, and lastly as a soil amendment itself. I have damn near infinite wood chips so that's most of mulch.

I would always go for ground contact where possible. This will help inoculate, drain and aerate the pile (worms traveling up and down pump in air). I mostly use the Johnson Su BEAM method, which could have the edges buried to reduce rodent burrowing, but they can mostly climb. I don’t bother, as my local wild predators and my dogs and cat seem to minimize that problem. I also do not compost meat because we use scraps for broth for dogs.

I've done smaller piles on concrete and on dirt, and I think I prefer dirt (but I do move the piles around and plant trees on the site later, because why have just one function, lol). The rats will find a way if they really want in, and I'd like to make it easier for the rest of the soil life.

While I have not tried making compost on concrete, to me having ground contact the compost will decompose faster when there is ground contact.

I'm going to be following this thread and seeing what replies you get, as I wish I had concrete for mine. I want soil critters, but I'm getting bermuda grass past controlling.

I ended up with full sheet of plywood in really bad shape, put black plastic on it, and have my pile dumped on it. Not sure about this. Hoping you'll get better answers I can learn from.

:D

I just remembered, a farm i visited a few years ago had theirs on concrete, actually in a set of concrete "pits" (think 3 waist-high walls and a floor in each), but it was dug into the ground, a bit like a silage tunnel if you're familiar with that.
The farmer was doing large scale composting, lots of manure from various animals, occasional carcasses, got wicked hot. He was using a tractor to regularly turn the piles, and the concrete facilitated that (the site was hilly, clay, and had heavy rain, also strong large animal pressure, including large monkeys, goats, things that make a right mess out of a big pile). He also was able to leave the piles for a good long time (a year or more), and the wildlife eventually found their way in.
I think a big factor is whether/how you may have to turn your compost.

Tereza Okava wrote:I just remembered, a farm i visited a few years ago had theirs on concrete, actually in a set of concrete "pits" (think 3 waist-high walls and a floor in each), but it was dug into the ground, a bit like a silage tunnel if you're familiar with that.
The farmer was doing large scale composting, lots of manure from various animals, occasional carcasses, got wicked hot. He was using a tractor to regularly turn the piles, and the concrete facilitated that (the site was hilly, clay, and had heavy rain, also strong large animal pressure, including large monkeys, goats, things that make a right mess out of a big pile). He also was able to leave the piles for a good long time (a year or more), and the wildlife eventually found their way in.
I think a big factor is whether/how you may have to turn your compost.

On that last line there I have a tractor but never considered using it or the backhoe to stir things up although I guess it makes sense. But if I did use heavy equipment than I can see the benefit of concrete walls and floors because chicken/wire wood will get destroyed when a bucket tooth hits it.

Ben Zumeta wrote:Johnson Su BEAM method

That's fancy! I just have a simple heap that I throw things onto and I stir it with a flat shovel every month or so.

if rodents are in compost pile you might want to get it cooking with something to heat it up like chicken manure. when biodegradable are composting they heat up and rodents will not go into hot pile of composting material

If I was going for full ground contact, I would put the composter on soil I planned to grow in, perhaps rotating the location around the garden. The leachate that drains out does amazing things for soil fertility. It's too good to waste.

In my dry climate, I have better luck with composting if I can retain moisture in the pile and keep quackgrass from invading. I have used old tarps, for example, as a base. Currently I'm using IBC tote liners cut in half. When it rains, I collect the leachate and use it to soak biochar, moldy straw bales, and wood chips.