Liquid in soil factory
Nicki Casley Staff asked 7 years ago
We’re now at the stage of adding a 2nd batch of pre-compost to our soil factory, but as we added it, realized we had failed to drain the liquid! So it all went sloshing in, and my question is what’s our best move now? Will the liquid (which has sat for weeks) ruin the soil factory? Do we need to start again? Or will it be okay composting in soggy soil? Or some other idea?
Nicki Casley Staff answered 7 years ago
Thanks for your question. Too much liquid can be a problem for a soil factory; it can kill the life living in the soil so that the pre-compost can’t break down properly.
I had something similar happen to me recently. There was a crack in the lid of my soil factory and rain water got in. I didn’t notice until I came to add the next bucket of pre-compost by which time the worms and other life had drowned.
But don’t despair there are a few options for you:
1. If your soil factory is on permeable ground, then drill a few small holes in the bottom to let the liquids drain out (obviously, you don’t want to do this if your soil factory is stood on a balcony as the liquid won’t have anywhere to drain).
2. Try adding some dry material to the soil factory to soak up the excess liquid. Shredded newspaper should work well.
3. If there isn’t much liquid you could just add a bit more (relatively dry) soil to the soil factory.
4. If there is a lot of liquid (like in mine) you could bury the contents into your garden and start again. This is what I did with mine and it has now broken down nicely.
I hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions.