Why is there much more liquid draining from compost?

Question

I moved my whole composting site to another place of my garden. Before the place was on a mild slope, now it's much more level. The shading is similar, maybe a bit more shady now. The inputs didn't change radically. I mostly compost grass clippings with added torn cardboard to improve the C/N ratio. It seems the degradation process is still OK.

But I've noticed much more liquid is produced from the compost. Is it only weather caused (this summer was rather rainy in Europe) or is there some problem with the process of composting? There surely must be some liquid coming from the compost but I hadn't noticed the amount of it before.

I've thought about putting some gravel below the composting bin and digging some drain canal filled with gravel to let the waste water to drain more easily. Would it be a good and lasting solution?

Answer 1

Part of it may be the stage in composting. In moving the pile, you had to aerate it well which would speed things up.

Remember that much plant material is cellulose and lignan. Cellulose has the same molar forumula as sugar -- it's really just thousands of sugar molecules chained together, so in essence it's CHO. The net reaction is

4 CHO + 3 O2 => 4 CO2 + 2H2O

This does not count water as free water in the plant tissue that you put on the pile.

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The liquid that comes out is full of good things, but may also be full of plant pathogens. Google "compost tea" You may want to divert it to a kids wading pool where it can sit in the sun for a day or three, then use it for watering your garden.

Me, I wouldn't worry about it, unless it's unsightly or smelly.