Compost went anaerobic: question

[epsteindrive]

I was making some compost and didn't pay attention to turning it. Went very anaerobic - bad smell. I see on many gardening forums the answer is to just turn it until the smell goes but is this good enough for my ladies. Do I have to wait a safe length of time so I know all the bad bacteria are gone; or is there some other solution ... or should I just toss it and start again, it's only a small bit but it takes a good while to make so I'd rather keep it.
Thanks

 

[bobrown14]

Was the pile covered or open and got rained on,
or was it in a closed bin with no holes for aeration??

If its in a bin with no aeration - turn it and try and find a way to dry it out.

Anaerobic conditions in soil is bad.

You can add it to peat moss and some aeration like perl-lite 1/3 - 1/3 - 1/3 and mix in some amendments with rock dust - store in a dryer place and let it come back to aerobic conditions - it wont take long.

Kelp meal
Crustacean meal
Neem cake
Karanja cake

are what I add in as amendments then rock dust and calcium:

Oyster shell flour
Gypsum

Thats the basic mix I use. It works for me. Less is more but my compost is the most important input. I work much more on making compost that growing plants.

Putting your compost straight into a container with plant - wouldn't work well.

Oxygen will kill off the anaerobic microbes - its just too wet/compacted right now.

Whats inputs did you put in your pile??

 

[epsteindrive]

The problem I really have is that I don't know if turning the compost would get rid of anything harmful to my plants that was created when it went anaerobic

 

[bobrown14]

Yes = oxygen will promote the correct bacteria and they will over whelp the baddies in short order.

Smell is the tel tail sign the arobic bacteria are winning. They don't smell like rotten eggs.

 

[epsteindrive]

thanks - glad to hear