I have access to about 2-3 square metres of halfburned wood chips that are discarded after the smoking process at a butcher shop. the chips are about 5mm x 2mm x 4mm so smallish but most likely would still take a while to break down. would you suggest it could still just be added to my compost, or would that take too long. Should i maybe start a new compost, and add loads of lime and horse manure, and be willing to wait longer? Is lime the way to go with charcoal/ash? or is that counterproductive, charcoal is acidic yes? Also, in general it is seen as best not to put meats etc in your compost, but have heard on here some people do use it.. I have access obviously to loads of the stuff, but wouldnt the fats and oils effect the soil negatively even when buried?
when I get as far as killing my own meat, I intend to put the offal and waste into a pit (deep enough to be away from rats etc.. say a 800mm hole so that it is all at least 600mm deep) above the vegie garden in the hope that it'll eventally rot and give us some of it's goodness. anyone done this, then dug it back up after, say, 12 months? I suspect it might end up sinking down, leaving some pretty good soil conditioner / fertiliser after the worms etc have done their thing..?
I bury meat occasionally and have had great results.The main problem seems to be animals getting at it so I ensure that it is buried deep enough to stop it smelling.I have not encountered any problem with fats or oils the soil organisms seem to do their job well .I've read that fungi breaks down crude oil so a bit of animal fat is just gonna give them a feed I reckon.of course there would be a limit .small animals make a good starter for compost ,again I have not had any trouble but I ensure that it goes in the middle and don't use too much.Last compost was one big round bale of cane mulch to ten bags of chook poo and one large possum .I think that is the largest animal I would use for that situation.
Could you use the chips for mulch, or on paths, steve? Or do you need the extra compost? I was just reading this here about using them in swales https://onestraw.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/2010-spud-season-begins-new-technique/ They'd still break down over time, but they'd be useful while they did. I rember rading someone on here talking about using swadust and wood pieces in compost, and putting urine on it to make it compost faster - it the using urine thread, perhaps?
usually old chooks or fish frames about twenty cm to a foot of soil on top for a year should do it .I've got clay soil so it is quite impervious to smells, loose soil would require deeper burying or covering with something else perhaps a sheet of ply or some fencing.
I buried a placenta directly under a fruit tree. I think I killed the tree - probably N draw down. When I dug its bones out to plant a replacement about 6 months later there was no sign of the placenta.
Wood chips would be fine in compost. I usually seive compost if there's heaps of coarse stuff in it and put that into the next batch. there will surely be something taking up residence in the chips that will feed on the wood and the next batch of compost. Hang on 5mm x 4 mm x 2mm you say? Nah, just compost once should be fine , they're small enough. Charred wood is good in soil and/ or compost. Woodash will have pH higher than 7, but when you compost it (with other greenwaste) the microbes will set the pH right anyway, so no worries there. as for meat.... I love Black Soldier Fly larvae! a bin full of these guys makes worm farms look like a waste of time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetia_illucens Don't get me wrong, compost worms are good, they're actually complimentary to each other in succesion. BSF larvae handle the high nutrient loads and high temps and partially anaerobic conditions in the primary decomposition stages that the worms cant handle. These guys are made for dealing with meat and stuff that'll go stinky in a worm farm. they quickly convert it (24% bioefficiency) to live source of food (40% protein 30% fat dry weight ) for chooks or fish. The compost worms can come in and use the compost after the Soldier fly larvae have finished with it. It's what normally happens in a Gedye type closed compost bin anyway. Here's a video of them eating a couple of fish in 24hrs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-zAbzRx29I and ... The Biopod https://www.thebiopod.com/ a bit pricey , but I'm sure you can improvise. convert your wormfarm to a maggot farm ;-) Soldier Flies are naturally occuring and active most of the year around Brisbane. They'd be quite happy to live in the charred wood chips and meat scraps with some added vege food scraps from the kitchen. Here's the link to the Australian distributor , in Brisbane
Australian distributor is in Brisbane you might be able to go and see them (BSF in Biopod) in action. https://www.circle3.com/
thanks for that speedy.. looks awesome.. although unfortunately can't have chooks at my place so not sure what to do with the larvae.. will look into it though, for the sustainability centre we are building in Carindale, plenty of heritage chooks there.