I have a composting question.

[SerScot]

I'm attempting to compost the remnents of a couple of ground up pine stumps. It's been going very well up till now. I'm putting a fair amount of water on the piles and adding organic matter (food garbage) to the piles to decompose. In the last week a racoon or possum has discovered I'm burying food garbage in my piles and insists upon digging it out and eating it.

I know I can build an animal proof pen for my compost but I'm not terribly handy so I was hoping there is some substance I can put into the pile that will not ruin the pile but will keep out the critters, any ideas?

[Vader]

Burry a hungry bull terrier in the compost pile. When that critter comes digging again it will suddenly find itself at the other end of the food chain.

[Harbinger]

Get a plastic bucket or drum with lid and put the compost matter inside. Roll the bucket over every couple of days. It will really speed things up.

[Menolly]

Pine isn't usable as compost, is it?
Or is that only for edible plants?

[Vader]

Pine isn't usable as compost, is it?
Or is that only for edible plants?

I use pine mulch for some of my flower beds, especially for the roses. I also use it in the outdoor enclosure for the guinea pigs. Contrary to ordinary bark mulch it neither gets moldy nor rots away. There are also hardly any insects or such in it. Apparently it's hard to compost it.

[SerScot]

I knew that pine was hard to compost. There's lots of resin in pine that help's prevent it from decomposing. However, it's doing very nicely right now, assuming I can keep the critters out.

[Vraith]

lots of green stuff [grass and such] will help pine break down faster, I'm told.

I don't know your situation/set up, but sometimes predator poop nearby will help [ferret poo keeps rabbits away from gardens pretty well...dog will sometimes keep racoons away, but it almost completely depends on location...racoons in even small towns are acclimated to dog-crap, so they just snicker behind their little masks and walk around it.]