RedHill Compost Pile

RedHill Compost Pile is an adaptation of hot compost pile by Dr. Elaine Ingham using the waste product of Copra cooking.  It uses coconut husks in place of  chicken wire and coconut shells at its base to promote aeration of the compost material.  The compost material is made up of  coconut husks, cut grasses and weeds, cow and carabao manure (whenever available) following the brown-green-brown-green piling order.  This adaptation do not do the "turning-over" of the compost pile on a regular basis as it is impractical in a farm without machinery.

Materials Needed:

• Coconut husks - brown material
  
• Coconut shell - brown material
  
• Freshly cut grasses and weeds - green material
• Dried grasses, banana leaves, paper - brown material
  
• Cow and carabao manure (whenever available) - green material
  

Procedure:

1. Use coconut husks to make a circular shell of the compost pile.  The radius of the circular pile is approximately 4 feet or a circumference of 25 feet.
   
   
   
   
2. Place coconut shells at the base in order to provide aeration to the compost pile from the bottom.  The height of the coconut shells to act as base is approximately 1 ft.
3. Place green compost material after the base material.  These are the freshly cut grasses and weeds, and cow and carabao (water buffalo) manure.  The height of the green compost material is approximately 1.5 ft to 2 ft.
4. Place the brown compost material.  These are the dried grasses, dried banana leaves, paper, coconut husks, coconut shells, tree trimmings and the like.  The height of the grown material is approximately 1.5 ft to 2 ft.
5. Repeat the process in No. 3 and 4 until the pile reaches a height of around 4 to 5 ft.  The preferred top material to use is coconut husks (brown material) in order for the pile to look beautiful and not appear to be an open waste pile.  This is intended for neighbors not to use the pile as their waste disposal site. 
   
   
   
6. Before capping the compost pile material with coconut husks, sprinkler the material with Jadam Microorganism Solution (JMS) or Effective Microorganism Activated Solution (EMAS).  Around 10 liters of JMS or EMAS maybe used.
   
   
   
   
7. Leave the pile for 4 to 6 months until the inner material is fully decomposed.
8. Afterwards, harvest the decomposed material for use as replacement for vermicast in nursery, or as compost material to be mix with soil on the farm plots, or as compost slurry (concentrated compost tea) for hydroponics solution B (complete fertilizer, trace elements, humic acids).
   
   
   

Caution:  

DO NOT construct the compost pile near farm sheds and houses due to risk of fire.