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Commack, NY

if you took raw product (manure, leaves, grass clippings etc) and cooked it down to finished compost what would the ratio be? say 5 yards of manure to make 1 yard of finished compost? or is it more like 2 to 1? or maybe 10 to 1? i realize its not an exact science and that a multitude of factors will play a role here like moisture content, type of manure, etc., but im curious if i could get a ballpark figure, kind of like 1" of rain is approximately equivalent to 10" of snow.

thx

12/1/2012 9:20:57 AM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

I would say more like 30:1 with a good compost pile of grass clippings and leaves...Manures are already semi composted when they come out the other end so it is less for manure probably 3:1

12/1/2012 10:16:41 AM

San Antonio, tx

I think he mean if you start out with a fresh piled compost pile of one yard, when it's done how much has it reduced to? I just started a yards worth and its compacted down to 3/4. I'm gonna go with about half a yard when its done.

12/1/2012 12:49:56 PM

Mnt.pleasant ,tennessee

Place my $ on 3/1 also

12/1/2012 5:39:15 PM

South Hero, VT

I read once it takes about 4 cubic feet of material to make 1 cubic foot of finished compost. Your end results may vary, depending on what is in your pile.

12/1/2012 8:55:54 PM

Mnt.pleasant ,tennessee

Yep linus.a cubit box setlle down to 3/4 origin.even wen u ad more it will shrink.the bottom 1/3 is only very active,rest aint doing nun sept 4makn bottom1/3 work to feel a cube box if blk gold u wud need allot.i made a 50 gl turnr cpl mnths ago,i clipd a 30×30 grass.(6"tall gras),53 5gl bkts of food i blended w/ a drill& mortar mxr.wlbury load of river moss,wlbry of nure.wlbry of forst moss& blkgld.wilbry of blksawdust& wlbry load of dirt,its a3/4 full of blk gld fluffy counted 6 mice other day.$, eguipment,or a goood shovel if you want a load of black.kessler&sundrop by the way

12/1/2012 10:46:36 PM

Mnt.pleasant ,tennessee

Three 5gl buckets of food,& sorry yaw my hard to post a long comment& see what im writing.wiskey doesnt help either

12/2/2012 8:14:35 AM

Hinckley MN

It depends on what you are composting but most times your pile is reduced by 1/3 to 1/2 after each turn,. assuming you have a balanced mix of carbon to nitrogen. You should be able to get somewhere between 4:1 and 8:1 reduction in volume. Fresh grass clipping contain alot of water so they reduce down a bit more. leaves trap alot of air pockets so they reduce down more than average, too. Manure doesn't reduce as much. Think of cow manure as grass clippings that have already been reduced once.

12/2/2012 7:08:19 PM

Upa Creek, Mo

My experience over the past 2 years is probaly close to 10:1. I start with close to an area of 10'x10'x10' of mixed leaves, and add food coffee etc throughout the year. My pile is also completely shaded so it always takes until late summer to really get hot and break down. I assume if I added more manure or grass it would break down faster.

12/3/2012 12:32:49 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

I will look this up...but if you guys are increasing your pile with additional organic matters you are adding to the pile so your 10x10x10 to get 10x10x1 is more than a 10x10x10 pile.

I am saying take something like a bale of hay...compost it I bet it is recuced 30 times otherwise we would have pumpkin patches the height of a house.

12/3/2012 1:07:34 PM

Upa Creek, Mo

Didn't think of it that way. We add lots of leftover food etc from my work, so I'd agree with that.

12/3/2012 2:07:42 PM