Penticton Landfill Compost

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hooterman
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Joined: Feb 13th, 2011, 10:56 pm

Penticton Landfill Compost

Post by hooterman »

Hi Folks!

I am wanting to get some feedback on the compost that they make and sell at the Campbell Mtn Landfill. I have heard a story that some people have tried using it as an organic top dressing for their lawns but that it "burnt" them after a couple years, to the point that they have had to re-seed or re-sod their lawns to get them back into shape. I realize that this stuff is fairly rich but has it been this much trouble? I cannot see how, as long as it is not used excessively, this could happen? Any thoughts/ideas on this?
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fluffy
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Re: Penticton Landfill Compost

Post by fluffy »

I bought some for a raised bed garden. I tilled it in with the soil and had mixed results. Some things didn't grow very well in it and other things grew like crazy. I suppose that means it's pretty rich in something but I don't have a clue what. It calmed down the second year and just about anything would grow in it. They have a recipe of ground up yard waste, ground up wood waste, and sludge from the septic plant to make it. I guess the trick would be to find out what the chemical makeup of it is and find plants that thrive in that sort of soil. Tomatoes love it.

Check out this link for Ogogrow that they make in Kelowna, it gives you some recommended dilution ratios, how much earth to mix it with for different applications.

http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page3421.aspx
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twobits
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Re: Penticton Landfill Compost

Post by twobits »

To call that stuff from the landfill compost is a stretch. A better description would be mulch and that is how they should honestly market it. It is probably at least 50% hogged wood waste (probably more) from everything from pallets to tree branches and stumps. Their screening plant has a very generous mesh size as well so if you really look at the stuff, it is large sliver chunks of wood. Therein lays the problem in calling it compost.
For wood to "compost" it takes huge amounts of nitrogen, moisture, and oxygen. There is simply not enough nitrogen present in the sewage sludge they add to compost the massive amount of wood they try to get rid of. The stuff looks good to the lay eye but it contains little if any nitrogen. Mix that stuff into your garden soil and any plants that are high nitrogen consumers are going to suffer because all the available nitrogen will be consumed by the wood chunks being broken down. That is why Fluff had a better experience in year 2. If you are going use it as a soil enhancer to get organics into a poor clay or silt soil, be sure to till it in with a generous amount of high nitrogen fertilizer to mitigate what the wood bits will suck out of the soil. Add extra in yr 2 and 3 as well.
Do not top dress your lawn with it unless you are prepared to pour lots of fertilizer on it as well. Grass needs large amounts of nitrogen. The OP's description of "burnt" lawn was more likely nitrogen starved grass that turned yellow from lack of nitrogen.

Edit to add- I also know of a large number of people that top dressed their lawns with this stuff and then had a huge mushroom and fairy ring problem. Both fungi. I would suspect that is from infected grass clipping brought to the landfill and inadequate compost temperatures to kill the fungi.
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