My dad for some reason grabbed his tractor and added 2 big scoops of sand into it. The compost was almost ready and was woodchip and food scrap based. I was planning to use the wood chips for my already sandy dry soil outside. Why add sand and debris?? And now when I water it, it’s muddy because of the sand. I’m so pissed
by hubchie
10 Comments
Basically yes
Why did he do that?
If you were going to add it to a garden bed with lots of clay, then it’s a good thing😃
Compost is rarely ruined. It’s just good or less good.
sift the sand out with a fine screen?
You were going to use it to amend sandy soil. So where you’re planning to put it, it’s already sandy.
It’s just slightly pre-amended. It’s fine.
I’d say just top dress and don’t stress. It’s frustrating for sure, and probably worth explaining to him why you don’t add dirt into compost pile to prevent it from happening again. The good news is you’ve got a tractor for turning your pile! You must be able to do some pretty large scale composting. Sandy soil is tough, are you amending with anything else besides compost like biochar?
Nothing wrong with that. It will drain well, which is a good thing.
No. If anything he improved it. While adding sand isn’t the same as adding clay in terms of its functions, it won’t hurt it. If anything it just increases your volume of material but “dilutes” the compost part. I routinely add clay to my compost to add grit and improve electrical conductivity of the compost I’m making, it also gives water solvable nutrients that may be washed out of the compost something to electrochemically bind to. While adding sand won’t do this, if there was some clay content you’ll get that benefit, and sand will improve the overall drainage structure. Additionally there are micro bacteria and fungi that need a mineral based soil to live in/with and cannot exist in pure compost. Don’t even worry about it, he didn’t ruin it lol
It’s fine