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There was chat in the Gardening Thread about composting, which led me to create this thread. I’m not an expert composter by any means, but I’ve been at it for quite some time and believe that I have it down pretty good. I’ll get started on this OP, with some initial detail and if the thread takes off, I’ll add more to it. I’m always happy to promote composting, which keeps biodegradable materials out of our landfills. Feel free to chime in with corrections or advice, your composting setups, tips and so on. Composting can be done at different scales, so don’t feel like you have to have some huge setup to get going. TL;DR: You need browns (cardboard, leaves) and greens (veggie trimmings, eggshells) in about a 60/40 ratio. Dump these in a pile outside, turn it a few times, wait for it to decompose, then mix it into the soil. You do have to mind the moisture and air - it can't be too dense and heavy, but has to be moist. Think of a wrung out sponge. If your compost isn't breaking down, it may be that it's too wet, not wet enough, or already broken down. You can layer it like a lasagna (brown / green / brown / green with some dry browns on top to keep it insulated) I have an auger bit that I got from the hardware store that I attach to a cordless drill and use to mix it up, but I usually mix it up with a hand fork. There is aerobic and anaerobic composting techniques. I can't speak to them in depth but will add to this OP if needed Here are a few points about composting that I’ve found based on doing it for a few years: - It helps to have a small container in your kitchen to collect scraps in before you put them on your pile. I have this one, which is a good size and has a little charcoal filter thing on the top - Some (many?) municipalities or cities have discounted compost bins for sale. I bought the Free Garden Earth Bin for $20 or so from my city. I think some cities offer the Geobin , which isn’t as nice, but it works, especially to collect and store leaves - Collect leaves in the fall and keep them over winter somewhere so you have a stock of browns to use during the dead of winter and spring - While you don’t need to have a large pile or bin, it takes a square yard of compost for a pile to get hot - A composting thermometer is useful to gauge pile temp. - Compost needs air too, and to keep critters out of the bottom, raise it off the ground with a pallet and put some wire mesh on the bottom if it's open. - You can still compost over winter, but the pile won’t get or stay hot. No worries about this, as the freeze / thaw cycle helps to break things down - The smaller your greens and browns are, the better. Chop your food up a bit and shred your browns or leaves before you put them in. I simply run my leaf piles over with a lawnmower with a bag attachment Staging: Many people do a multi stage setup. - Stage 1 is where you dump your browns and greens. After this breaks down a little, you put it to - Stage 2, where you turn it a few times here and there to have it break down more and this goes into - Stage 3, which is not turned at all, and is essentially settled, finished compost About my setup: - I started off using a small roller bin with a base but now have moved to a larger single stage compost bin - I use my old roller compost bin to house shredded browns like leaves and shredded brown takeout bags - I have a shredder in my basement that I use to shred brown paper bags and thin pieces of cardboard Here is my bin: Another picture that shows I've raised it off the ground with a pallet, and I put wheels on the bottom so I could move it out. I haven't tested this yet as the bin is very heavy right now and the wheels sunk into the damp ground. Maybe itll be easier once I collect some compost and it's not as wet out in the summer. The goal is to be able to roll it out to the middle of the yard so I can collect it onto a tarp and dry it before spreading Here's a look at the base, and note that I've zip tied some wire mesh to the bottom to let air in and keep critters out!: Here's my old roller compost bin without the base that I use to store extra browns Here’s a fun video of an off-grid hostel owner in Maine showing how the shower is heated using a compost pile! Planet X fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Feb 6, 2021 |
# ? Feb 6, 2021 15:37 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 21:57 |
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compost compost comPOST COMPOST COMPOST I don't have any good pictures and right now everything has snow on top of it but I have a pretty chonky compost setup going. I moved into the country this fall and I started a big compost for no-dig gardening. The basis of my compost is yard/kitchen waste, wood chips/sawdust, and coffee grounds from a local cafe. My neighbours give me their leaves and rotten apples and stuff in addition to what I have from my own yard, and I've done some additional scavenging of horse bedding and grass clippings (by the small truckload). My approach is to create temporary boxes out of pallets and blocks - I lay pallets on their sides, wedge boards/blocks/bricks against them to keep them upright, and fill them up. This gives air flow and lets me open things up for turning when appropriate. The coffee grounds cause the mix to heat up pretty quickly, which I like because it kills weed seeds. Right now I have four of these on the go.
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 16:50 |
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Planet X posted:Here are a few points about composting that I’ve found based on doing it for a few years: I don't have much to add other than do not do the above, it is gross and wastes kitchen counter space. Get a gallon ice cream bucket or a whatever bucket that clicks shut. When cooking stick the composting bits in this bucket and keep it in your freezer. When it fills up take the stuff to your compost. No smell to worry about and there isn't decomposing kitchen scraps on your counter where you prepare food that is so terrible smelling you need a charcoal filter to hide the scent. As for how I compost, I compost everything except onions, garlic, meat scraps, and dairy. I turn it maybe once a year and I use this to hold the compost: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003959G9Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Any paper that cannot be recycled I shred and compost. So napkins, sensitive documents, take out bags that get oil on them I rip out the oil parts to compost and recycle the rest. Once things open back up I want to get some coffee grounds from a local shop to get on top (I don't drink coffee so no natural coffee grounds from me). I've also read I should add amendments for how much paper I'm composting but haven't gotten around to do anything related to that yet. While I don't have any big trees I do get leaves blown onto my property by the wind. I rake those and then mulch them with the mower and put that onto the compost as well. If I get tiny sticks I'll compost those too. I have a small yard so the above seems to work just fine for now. It's honestly impressive how much stuff gets broken down in the bin. I'll fill it to the brim with shredded leaves and a month later that will be down to half full. Another lesson learned for people here. At my previous house I added a bunch of walnuts with their casing to my compost. Don't do this. Walnuts produce a natural herbicide and if you add them to your compost it takes a year for it to be useable in your garden. If you have walnuts you can compost them, but do it in a separate pile/bin and each year's walnuts keep separate from the previous years.
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 17:13 |
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I'm curious, why no onions or garlic in your compost?
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 17:39 |
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I've been trying a couple methods since we moved into our house this last fall. It came with a composting shed thing that has three compartments for what I think is for turning and eventually just storing the compost. It also came with two of those big black bins. Kinda scared to crack one open and see what's been going on in there. I also have one of them turning bins that I use for wet cardboard and whatever else I want broken down fast. It's also got red wigglers in there to assist. The last thing I've been trying out is anaerobic composting, which seems more like pickling to me, but it sure speeds everything up. I put all my kitchen scraps in a big bucket with the juices of the previous bucket in the bottom. Once the bucket is full I seal it with a little airlock thing on top and let it ferment until the next bucket is full. Pour juices into new bucket, and bury what's left in the compost pile. Doesn't take long for it to break down after that. I do it because it's an easy way to limit the amount of time animals can get the scraps. I don't want rats around but I also don't want to throw good organics away when I need good compost for the garden. Bi-la kaifa fucked around with this message at 18:06 on Feb 6, 2021 |
# ? Feb 6, 2021 17:57 |
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kedo posted:I'm curious, why no onions or garlic in your compost? Apparently they can chase away bugs you want to hang around to eat the scraps and poop. Keep in mind this is what I do because I live with a small yard in a higher density living environment. Not a day goes by even in the dead of winter that someone isn't walking by my house. I don't want animals getting into my compost and making a mess, I don't want to make it too stinky and annoy the neighbors. You get the idea. You should know there are "compost everything" believers. Just YouTube "compost everything" and there are tons of videos. One guy composts chicken carcasses and fish heads, dairy, bread, EVERYTHING. The thing is he lives in the country. If you're going to compost meat/bones, etc. you can attract animals you may not want to attract. If I lived in the country I'd compost everything, but I'd make sure to bury the things I don't want animals getting into.
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 18:19 |
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Earth posted:Apparently they can chase away bugs you want to hang around to eat the scraps and poop. Keep in mind this is what I do because I live with a small yard in a higher density living environment. Not a day goes by even in the dead of winter that someone isn't walking by my house. I don't want animals getting into my compost and making a mess, I don't want to make it too stinky and annoy the neighbors. You get the idea. Oh right that reminds me - I have a heap of beef bones that I dried out in the bbq and smashed up a bit with a sledgehammer sitting around in a pail somewhere. I should bury those in the compost next time I turn it over.
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 20:54 |
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Can we talk about vermiposting in here? I've had a 5 tray worm bin going for about 6 months now. I keep checking the bottom tray hoping that the worms have finished out there and moved on but they're still in there doing what they do. Is there a point that you just say gently caress it, looks good, then skim out the worms and grab that black gold? Also highly recommend worm bins. They're fascinating. I keep throwing different kinds of things in there to see how long it takes the worms to do their thing. Im pretty sure they will never eat a wine cork at this point.
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 21:09 |
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Earth posted:I don't have much to add other than do not do the above, it is gross and wastes kitchen counter space. Get a gallon ice cream bucket or a whatever bucket that clicks shut. When cooking stick the composting bits in this bucket and keep it in your freezer. When it fills up take the stuff to your compost. No smell to worry about and there isn't decomposing kitchen scraps on your counter where you prepare food that is so terrible smelling you need a charcoal filter to hide the scent. I appreciate your perspective, but let me clarify a bit. The green flip top pail is not necessary, and leaving the kitchen bin on the countertop can use precious counter space. The green bin, IIRC, was an impulse buy by my wife when I started composting as she likes things a bit neat and tidy. However, the green bin ended up working well for me and here's why: - It fits perfectly under the right side of my sink - The flip top allows me to open the cabinet, flip the top open and empty coffee grounds or throw a banana peel in there without unsecuring a lid - I didn't realize how convenient it would be until my wife bought it, but not having to deal with a separate lid is really nice, especially since we eat a lot of veggies and have tea and coffee during the week - The "carbon" filter is really just a piece of foam rubber, so I don't believe it truly filters out funky smells. However, since we eat a lot of veggies and such, the bin gets (half) full quickly and it's easy for me to just grab by the handle and take out - since I take it out weekly, it never really stinks. It's an easy rinse in the sink with a brush and a dollop of soap every once in a while. Whatever works for folks. The freezer idea is a good one Earth posted:Once things open back up I want to get some coffee grounds from a local shop to get on top (I don't drink coffee so no natural coffee grounds from me). I've also read I should add amendments for how much paper I'm composting but haven't gotten around to do anything related to that yet. I was at our local coffee roaster getting some coffee a few weeks ago, and they had a large free bag of coffee bean husk - which is a byproduct of roasting - available to take for free for composting, so I did. Next time you're in the coffee shop, maybe ask if they keep the husks around, as they're super light and fluffy and make for great compost filler. silicone thrills posted:Can we talk about vermiposting in here? Absolutely, I just forgot to add it to the OP. I've done this before, although my success has been limited, but that's likely my doing and I'll talk more about that later. Planet X fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Feb 6, 2021 |
# ? Feb 6, 2021 23:13 |
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Also thanks for the replies, the thread is off to a good start. Bi-la kaifa posted:I've been trying a couple methods since we moved into our house this last fall. It came with a composting shed thing that has three compartments for what I think is for turning and eventually just storing the compost. It also came with two of those big black bins. Kinda scared to crack one open and see what's been going on in there. Wow, this has a lot of potential. How do the red wigglers survive over winter, or are you in a warmer zone?
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 23:15 |
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I'm in 8b, so it's more of a late fall sliding in to an early spring. Worms aren't very active through the colder months but they're still there! It's kind of dumb though because I can't imagine ever getting a useable amount of substrate out of those tumblers
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# ? Feb 7, 2021 01:37 |
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Ah, sweet. I'm in 7a and started gardening last spring. At some point the 5 gallon bucket I kept by my back door to dump fruit and veggie scraps in didn't seem sufficient, so I went to my nearest grocery store and asked to get an empty watermelon box. At some point I started getting a lot of fly and maggot activity, even though I wasn't putting in meat or bones. Once the fall came around and I pulled up most of the remains of my garden I decided to cobble together something a little bit more permanent. The front bit isn't fully attached, so I can just pull it off to turn it. (this was right after I built it and transferred everything over) Most of the leaves from my yard made it in and it's pretty thoroughly broken down. I figure I'll start a smaller secondary pile in the next few weeks and use the older batch to start my garden beds in a couple months. I'll snap a picture of the current status in the next couple day
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# ? Feb 7, 2021 02:36 |
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Veritek83 posted:At some point I started getting a lot of fly and maggot activity, even though I wasn't putting in meat or bones. If they're large, they may be solider fly larvae, which are completely natural and common in compost, from what I understand. If they're tiny housefly maggots, I'd be surprised, I've never seen those in my compost. The large soldier fly larvae definitely freaked me out the first time I started composting. Lots of dried up ones in mine.
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# ? Feb 7, 2021 14:32 |
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Charles Dowding has a new video on composting posted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s71f18ila1c If you have access to horse manure you should probably be aware of the problem he mentions of aminopyralid weed killer in horse hay. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7vr-GlzuZs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D1idnMNKng This might explain some problems we've had with lack of germination and stunting in certain beds. Need to do some more testing to be sure but whatever, a hearty to Dow Chemicals.
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# ? Feb 8, 2021 07:24 |
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An airgap with mesh is good but you might benefit from adding red/tiger worms (I think you can get them from bait shops) to the heap as they are powerful composters and the primary ingredient in worm bins. They do not live in soil but travel on ground looking for decomposing matter. They may make it in up and over a pallet in wet weather but they are worth adding and can be mixed back in to new bins by adding handfuls of old compost. Edit- And regarding manure, I was taught to be very wary unless you know what's going on at the farm. kicks forts fucked around with this message at 08:23 on Feb 8, 2021 |
# ? Feb 8, 2021 08:17 |
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Our aerobic composter is kinda poo poo, it's basically frozen now in winter, insulation is not as good as it needs to be. I think a rotary one would be best, so you rotate it on occasion to aerate it. We empty it and toss it in a heap behind the house where it can compost further.
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# ? Feb 8, 2021 10:30 |
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Here's a quick summary of a cool and productive method I've used for getting rid of cat and dog poo poo in a small, urban garden. We live with three cats and one dog - the dog is a big dog who does big shits, and one of the cats refuses to leave the house (she was an 'indoor cat' previously, before she lived with us). The litter we use is made out of old recycled newspapers, so it's biodegradable. Obviously this is all highly dangerous and toxic stuff, so we don't apply it directly. Instead, I've built a poogelkultur bed. Hugelkultur is definitely something it would be interesting to discuss here, but basically I don't have enough space or enough wood to do it on a larger scale. What we did have, however, was a large composting bin full of rotting cat and dog poo poo that needed emptying, and the desire to do it in a way that contributed something. As it happened, my neighbour had a load of old wood piled up behind his shed, mostly just scraps of cut branches etc. that had sat there for some time. The process was super-stinky but also super-fun. It was a bit like building a wall, because I was alternating between layers of piled up wood, filling in the gaps with this stodgy, well-rotted, worm-filled cat/dog poo. I patted this all in with the spade and then repeated, finally covering over with enough soil that the wood was buried and it didn't stink. After a few initial waterings, I just put some spare chard plants in (not to eat, we just happened to have them spare and it's easy to spot whether they are healthy and growing) and they flourished without watering or any input from me. If I were to expand this experiment I'd use it for as many non-edible features of the garden as possible. Like all hugelkultur it seems to have good potential for locking up stuff underground but also producing fertile, self-watering beds. It could potentially make really good flowerbeds for attracting beneficial bugs. Mostly, though, it was just a good way to get rid of an unwanted and potentially dangerous by-product.
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# ? Feb 8, 2021 11:13 |
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I'm currently listening to this podcast episode on Bokashi composting: https://www.thepermaculturepodcast.com/2020/reducing-food-waste-an-introduction-to-bokashi-matt-arthur/ It sounds interesting and maybe more suitable for a small, homescale system of composting. It's anaerobic composting that takes place in an airtight composting bin. Does anyone have any experience with this? In the episode he also explains some of the issues with aerobic compost (most relevant for me was that he says for it to get 'hot', you need 1 cubic yard of waste which is difficult to achieve on a smaller scale).
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# ? Feb 23, 2021 09:09 |
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Just so everyone knows if you’re going to compost sweet potato vines you might want to chop them up in a mower before putting them in. My vines are why I’m not using any of my compost this year. Going to wait till next year to put it in my beds.
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# ? Mar 6, 2021 15:47 |
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In other news, you're going to have a bumper sweet potato crop this year...
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# ? Mar 6, 2021 16:19 |
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Earth posted:Just so everyone knows if you’re going to compost sweet potato vines you might want to chop them up in a mower before putting them in. My vines are why I’m not using any of my compost this year. Going to wait till next year to put it in my beds. Good call, that goes with a few different plants if you aren't able to get your compost really hot. I often have tomato and squash seeds germinating in my compost.
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# ? Mar 6, 2021 19:27 |
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I'm going to set up a three bin composting area in my yard with pallets this year. Plus a separate wire bin for leaves that I'll collect at the end of the year. I do have a small green belt behind my house that I just might get what will mostly be leaf mold to get things kick started with my old composting set up, one of those black bin jobs.
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# ? Mar 6, 2021 20:49 |
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Everything has thawed enough that I was able to go break apart, stir, and aerate my compost heaps for the first time since freezeover. I'm hoping that the hundreds of pounds of spent coffee grounds kickstart some hot composting and keep everything moving from here on out.
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# ? Mar 6, 2021 21:51 |
We have an 18-gallon tumbler for making compost on our balcony (we garden in a tent in a condo; I periodically gush about it in the gardening thread). We fill the tumbler with a combination of kitchen fruit/veggie scraps, egg shells, spent determinate plants, cardboard shipping boxes, and trash bags of dry leaves that the groundskeepers saved for us last (they're staying bone dry on the balcony, with ventilation holes poked in the bag). While 18 gallons probably isn't enough volume to produce a ton of its own heat, we happen to live in Las Vegas, so it works rapidly once it's 100 degrees out, even if we progressively add material instead of doing a whole batch at once. That said, we did have an interloper problem, with hundreds of pepper seeds surviving in some otherwise "done-looking" compost, and they popped up left and right in the garden. I was weeding a dozen of them everyday for weeks (weeding an indoor container garden felt silly), and it was neat to see how long some of them had to grow before they emerged, with up to 5 inches of stem pushing its way upward from tiny roots before finally emerging. I kinda felt bad pulling those ones; they worked so hard!! We transplanted one of the interlopers and it grew into a cute little pepper bush, which we keep on the balcony.
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# ? Mar 6, 2021 23:17 |
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It was warmer and sunny this weekend (7a) and I was really happy to pop open the compost bin, get a puff of steam when I turned over the top, and there be a (hottest) temp reading of 105. That's not bad as chilly as it's been still. I want to invest in a small electric yard mulcher / grinder so I don't have to sift so much by hand. I was thinking to dry it out and run it through a mulcher before I spread it so I don't have seeds and chunks and stuff. I always seem to get avocado pits, corn cobs and pumpkin seeds in my finished stuff.
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# ? Mar 14, 2021 21:39 |
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You'd definitely need to dry it out first, small shredders will choke on a shovelful of wet material. or green tomato or corn stalks. Squash seeds need to be roasted in the oven before going into the compost. I deeply regret having to learn this lesson.
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# ? Mar 15, 2021 03:44 |
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It's warming up! I took my auger tool and aerated the pile. It had some thick, moist layers that needed to be brought up to the top and mixed in. Threw in a handful of Espoma starter, and I'm at an active temp now.
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# ? Apr 7, 2021 22:05 |
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Planet X posted:It's warming up! I took my auger tool and aerated the pile. It had some thick, moist layers that needed to be brought up to the top and mixed in. Threw in a handful of Espoma starter, and I'm at an active temp now. How much material do you have? I've put my 5 pallets together to get two bins (going to use my old black round one for storage when it's don) and I've got a way to go till I get the yard square they say you need to really get it going, but I'm getting there. I should get one of those thermometers.
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# ? Apr 7, 2021 22:43 |
Now that it's heating up, our little spinner should work quickly once more. It breaks down our little batches within a couple weeks when it's 100+ outside.
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# ? Apr 7, 2021 22:57 |
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SpannerX posted:How much material do you have? I've put my 5 pallets together to get two bins (going to use my old black round one for storage when it's don) and I've got a way to go till I get the yard square they say you need to really get it going, but I'm getting there. I should get one of those thermometers. I definitely do not have anywhere close to a square yard. I've got roughly a 32 gallon trash can's worth, I'd say, in a standard city-issue bin. Notice that the temp of my pile is "active", not "hot". Like you, I'm also under the impression that one must have roughly a square yard of material for it to get hot, but with some attention, you should be able to get it to active The thermometer helps for sure and is a long-stemmed composting thermometer that was well worth the $25 or so. I think the compost activator enzyme helped get it to where it is. It's not necessary, but I wanted to see if I could kickstart my compost with that and a good aeration, and it seemed to work. Helped, of course, that it's warming up (Zone 7) here. One thing I do is shred all of my brown paper so it's nice and fluffy and has plenty of surface area to mix in the greens to break them down. I too am going to use my old round bin for storing finished compost. Shine posted:Now that it's heating up, our little spinner should work quickly once more. It breaks down our little batches within a couple weeks when it's 100+ outside. Nice. I'd be surprised if you get more seedlings out of it with it getting that hot, but you never know!
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# ? Apr 8, 2021 01:39 |
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Also I would love to see pictures of goon composting setups
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# ? Apr 8, 2021 01:41 |
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Planet X posted:Also I would love to see pictures of goon composting setups Mine 8s pretty ugly, it's just scavenged pallets slapped together, but I'm going to hunt down more for a more permanent set up over the course 9f the next year or so. One of the pallets is super heavy duty hard wood, the rest are crap, but it'll work for a while.
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# ? Apr 8, 2021 12:15 |
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I turned mine a little while ago and it always amazes me how big those worms get. Big, meaty bastards. Truly blessed. I left a couple shovel fulls of the older stuff in the "in" bin so they can go after the new stuff without too much trouble. I've decided to let the old stuff sit under some straw over the summer before I put it in the "out' spot
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# ? Apr 8, 2021 15:41 |
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crazyvanman posted:I'm currently listening to this podcast episode on Bokashi composting: https://www.thepermaculturepodcast.com/2020/reducing-food-waste-an-introduction-to-bokashi-matt-arthur/ Reviving this thread, but I've been bokashi composting for a few weeks this season. I made a diy bokashi bucket, and I think it's been going pretty well. My first bucket is almost full. I haven't gotten much bokashi tea out of it, which is fine because I was worried I would have to empty often. I have thrown meat and dairy in there, and it hasn't seemed to be a problem. Most recently, I threw a bunch of awful chicken wings in there, bones and meat. If I had to guess, I'd say at least two pounds worth. I think that will be the real test to see if I can truly bokashi compost anything.
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# ? Aug 1, 2021 16:51 |
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I think the big chicken wings layer worked out ok. I have like a whole chicken carcass, minus the drumsticks and wings and most of the meat, that I could try next. I think if you use enough inoculated bran, you could probably compost anything. I do seem to have finally built up some bokashi tea to drain. Not much tho. I could probably get away with not draining it with the way I set up my buckets. I did find this article about bokashi tea as a fertilizer. It's a short read, but the guy says that there isn't a lot of nitrogen in the tea, and it doesn't have much of other micronutrients. It does have good levels of phosphorous and potassium. It also has a lot of sodium. I think I'm going to stick to store bought fertilizer for now, and use the tea as a weed killer. I have read of people using bokashi tea as a drain cleaner, but I think most people would find the smell of concentrated bokashi tea to be too offensive to bring inside the house.
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# ? Aug 10, 2021 20:39 |
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Compost bins were too expensive, so I bought a 43-gallon tub from Walmart, drilled some holes in it, and have been mixing in greens and browns for weeks now. A few too many greens, even though I've been adding plenty of shredded paper, because it's on the wet and smelly side. I'll keep at it. It's amazing how much this stuff breaks down in volume.
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# ? Aug 20, 2021 02:22 |
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Hell yeah get you some on the cheap
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# ? Aug 20, 2021 03:14 |
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Lawn clippings just go away so fast. And paper, gone! Worms are working my compost. I should screen it and get in the bed I'm putting my garlic in for next year. I'm debating putting the paper mulch down for the garlic, then straw.
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# ? Aug 20, 2021 11:13 |
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Planet X posted:Hell yeah get you some on the cheap I turned it again with my pitchfork and it's looking promising. Those giant tubs hold so much more material than many of those compost containers. If I didn't live in an HOA subdivision and had more land I would have one of those big cinder block cubes for mass composting. One day...
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# ? Aug 21, 2021 21:58 |
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# ? Jun 3, 2024 21:57 |
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Sorry not sorry for reviving this thread, but I'm finally settled into my new house and have a yard, so I can actually start composting! My neighborhood is really particular about compost bins and being sure they are as pest-proof as you can, so after reading bunches of reviews online, I sort of splurged and went with this one: The majority of that greenery behind it is weeds or grass, so I'll be able to pull all that up and toss it into the tumbler! I've been sitting on a couple of weeks worth of newspapers too, so those will go in the bin after I shred them. I also started a bokashi indoor composter! It's been going strong for a while now, maybe half full, and soon I need to see if any tea has been made. Once I get a good base on the outdoor tumbler, I can throw the stuff from the bokashi into it instead of burying it. I'm trying to start small-ish because I have grand plans to add in some veggie garden beds into the back. So we're starting with various composters! I will take any and all advice on this journey!
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# ? Aug 30, 2022 14:58 |