When should I expect my compost to be ready for use?

I’ve heard of some solid results from 3 week old compost. Let the feeding frenzy begin!

@auhsojsa Really? Very interesting. were did you hear of this?

The best answer: It depends. It could be as little as two weeks to as much as two years. The balance of ingredients varies largely between gardeners.

You’ll know it’s ready when you can no longer recognize pieces of matter in it. It should smell earthy. Once it’s dark brown or black, you can start using it around your garden or as compost tea

You can use it anytime. Just remember fresh plant material will require a little more nitrogen in the soil for it to be broken down and fertilize accordingly. I don’t even use a compost pile at times and bury the green material in the garden.

@Anatelostaxus Aside from my basic research of worm composting and understanding how organic materials break down in nature over a short amount of time especially in moisturized environment I got that particular source from a person who composts themselves. Some go 2 weeks with more worms, some go 4 weeks with raw eggs it’s just like @SpatzieLover has mentioned it really just depends.

My family’s took about a month or so to prepare. But, the month went by quickly because we used our neighbors. Be sure to prepare correctly because we did ours wrong and it just ended up being a smelly pile of crap. Yikes.

@blueberry_kid If it was smelly, then it wasn’t ready yet. It should smell like earth and not be foul. Patience is key in composting….that & turning the pile over.