Composting for Beginners

Composting for Beginners

I bought a compost container last weekend and have started filling it with yard waste and kitchen scraps. I’m clear on the fundamental concept (basically vegetable matter, except for eggshells, but no other animal products like meat, bone, fat or cheese).

What is less clear to me is how to maintain a proper ratio of nitrogen- and carbon-heavy materials in the pile. Nitrogen is easy, and we’ll have a lot of that in the yard waste and kitchen scraps. Carbon is going to be the tough one: I had some of last autumn’s leaves in my bushes, so I was able to lay down a six-inch layer of them, and then cover (as directed) with a few inches of soil from my garden (crawling, I was delighted to see, with worms and beetles). On top of that, I started putting some weeds I cleared from the garden and the usual medley of banana peels, carrot scrapings, old lettuce leaves, etc.

So, a beginner’s question: is there any way to make sure my compost pile is getting enough carbon? Or is this not really something I need to be that concerned about?

I have a Garden Gourmet compost box, which I've had for about 4 years now. The little instruction book provided does dictate that you should alternate layers of food scraps, green/nitrogen (lawn clippings for example), brown/carbon (dried leaves) and soil to always go on top to prevent stinky/bugs/etc. Unfortunately I moved last fall and am starting from scratch without my old back yard and lawn. So I've just been dropping food scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc into it and then adding "plant scraps" like when I trim my tomato plants or dead-head flowers. We don't have any lawn or dried leaves for that matter so I am curious to see what will happen as it gets warmer...

I didn't realize that composting was anything other than toss stuff into a bin and wait for it to rot, but some googling turned up this link, which I found interesting. There's a chart at the bottom of the page that talks about what materials offer what to your mix.

I feel I've wasted a year or two with a sit-on-the-ground compost container. It made me feel better about what I did with kitchen scraps, but I got practically nothing out of it. I've decided to switch to a composter that I can rotate rotisserie-style, as soon as I see one I can afford.

Katie wrote:I feel I've wasted a year or two with a sit-on-the-ground compost container. It made me feel better about what I did with kitchen scraps, but I got practically nothing out of it. I've decided to switch to a composter that I can rotate rotisserie-style, as soon as I see one I can afford.

I was drawn to the rotisserie-style, but I feel there may be some problems with regular aeration. My gut sense is that you want the stuff to...fester...without agitation, for a while, with oxygen present but without anything like stirring more than once a week. I'm in the market for a compost stirrer, which I'd probably use once a week; I believe you can get a rotisserie model for around $250.

you might be able to find a bale of straw somewhere..maybe some landscaping place. plenty of carbon there.

Myself, I liked the suggestion in the link of dryer lint. Now there's something I'd never have found a use for!

Hi,

My relatives in Germany had a very simple and effective mulching pile. They staked a circle, then wrapped wide spaced chicken wire. They would put stuff on the top and collect mulch on the bottom with a hand shovel between the wires.

My Dad has a black plastic bottomless mulcher outside our kitchen porch that looks like Darth Vader. It was around $50 via a Lake County government initiative. He has a 10-gallon trash can that he collects our kitchen waste. When it is full, then it goes into the mulcher with some dried leaves and a bucket of water. Every once in a while he opens the bottom drawer to collect mulch. I have friends who bought the same, who just tossed stuff in willy-nilly and were very dis-satisfied with the experience.

I will mention the laundry room lint to him, which I usually throw into the paper recycling bin.

Regards,

I've been composting pretty successfully, albeit somewhat slowly, for several years, with minimal effort. What I did was ask a local paint store (Paulson's in Forest Park FYI) for five of the pallets that they just throw away behind the store. I lashed them together to create two side-by-side compartments that are entirely open on one side. In the spring I use the compost from one side, then that becomes my active side that I feed with material through the end of the season in the fall. In the spring I turn it and then it becomes the inactive side that sits and decomposes for the rest of the year, while the other side becomes the active side. I just go back and forth from year to year and don't worry about ratios; whatever material I have goes on the active pile. I do also have a small tumbler that I bought for a hundred bucks several years ago. I haven't used it much but this year have gotten serious about tossing my food scraps only in there, along with some plant material; I'm tired of coming out of the garage at night and surprising the possums feeding on my main piles! The tumbler smells earthy and good right now, so it seems to be in balance.

We recently got out of the make your own dirt biz after two years. We had a city of Chicago supplied composter that worked quite well with the pine needles from the tree in our back yard mixed in. Last week while raking around the base of the unit I noticed 3 or 4 large holes that had been chewed through the thing by vermin of some sort.
It didn't take long to realize that having a rat feeding station under my deck didn't make much sense.

My wife is just ga-ga these days over composting, and we have our own festering container now in our yard. I have a few questions:

- I have some wet charcoal, can that go in. I thought so, but She wants me to ask.

- Some of the food has gotten moldy, is that an issue?

- I'm a bit concerned that we'll have a JSM problem as we have a good amount of critters running back and fourth around us. Should we maybe put it on a palate or something?

Vital Information wrote:My wife is just ga-ga these days over composting, and we have our own festering container now in our yard. I have a few questions:

- I have some wet charcoal, can that go in. I thought so, but She wants me to ask.

- Some of the food has gotten moldy, is that an issue?

- I'm a bit concerned that we'll have a JSM problem as we have a good amount of critters running back and fourth around us. Should we maybe put it on a palate or something?

My answers:

I don't think you should put charcoal in and mold shouldn't be a problem.

About elevating the composter, I believe that will make it harder for good critters (worms, etc.) to get in and help the process along. (I know you added some worms from the "live bait" store nearby, but I think it's beneficial to have your composter in contact with the earth).

You should have the composter on the ground. When the compost heats up, the worms will evacuate until it's finished cooking. Then they come back in. Mine has been humming along at 120-125 degrees for a month or more.

We have a double bin model that Himself made that we use for storing brown material (left side) like last year's leaves, etc. and then we layer in the right side. When that fills up (it's currently 90% full because of all the pea pods, weeds, etc. we've been generating) we'll offload into a purchased plastic bin, water so it's moist, and let it do a final composting to be ready for fall or spring. Then we start re-layering in the right hand bin. I'm on schedule to finish up the last of the fall leaves pretty soon.

Mold isn't a problem, although it's irritating to me when my neighbors throw whole cantaloupe rinds, etc. on top of the pile and don't cover. It gets moldy, attracts bees and fruit flies, and doesn't decompose as fast. If you cut your stuff up into one inch pieces it will cook down a lot quicker. Which means you can use your compost sooner.

VI, as an aside, we tried vermicomposting last year and after a successful month or so, lost all our worms to our resident opossum. He wasn't attracted by the compost, but ready access to tasty red wigglers was more than he could take. I like the idea of vermicomposting, especially considering our small space, and if I had an appropriate indoor area and easy access to an old blender, I'd try again.

Has anybody tried theAutomatic Indoor Composter? I'd love to have one of these, but $300 seems a bit much...

Three months ago I got a worm composting bucket. Overall, I've been pretty happy with my worms! They're low maintanence-- all you do is shred re-used paper (I use the card board from paper towles/ toilet paper) for a dry layer on top, and then pile compostable material underneath that. The worms eat up the veggies/ egg shells/ the paper and make rich, dark, plant-perfect poop. The only problem, and I'm sure you'll all have this too, is they don't eat as fast as I produce things to compost because of the amount that I cook. Supposedly, they'll catch up to me as they reproduce, and get bigger and hungrier.

But, they're pretty neat because of the low-maintanence and cleanliness. Also, I love it when people walk into the kitchen and point to the huge grey bucket and ask "what's that?", and I say "Oh, my worms!".

http://www.cityfarmer.org/wormcomp61.html

dippy-do-da-egg wrote:But, they're pretty neat because of the low-maintanence and cleanliness. Also, I love it when people walk into the kitchen and point to the huge grey bucket and ask "what's that?", and I say "Oh, my worms!".

I must admit I enjoy looking in my big Darth Vader compost stack and watching worms, roaches, flies, and all the creatures of decomposition at work. They do, finally, rule.

Is there anything I should be doing to encourage worms? If I find them out after a rain I drop them in, but wonder if I'm just killing the worms? Do they find their way down to the more broken down stuff?

roaches? i would freak out and pour gasoline on it and light it on fire.

teatpuller wrote:roaches? i would freak out and pour gasoline on it and light it on fire.

They were roach-like creatures, but they didn't look like the common kitchen variety. My point: there's a lot of life in that mound of junk.

Leftover fruit from infusions?

I have some leftover mushroom compost. Would it be inadvisable to add it to the earth machine, it having been animal in origin?

m'th'su wrote:I have some leftover mushroom compost. Would it be inadvisable to add it to the earth machine, it having been animal in origin?

I guess some types of mushroom compost do use manure into the mix, and there are differing schools of thought on this, but I avoid putting poop in the dirt maker.

David Hammond wrote:

m'th'su wrote:I have some leftover mushroom compost. Would it be inadvisable to add it to the earth machine, it having been animal in origin?

I guess some types of mushroom compost do use manure into the mix, and there are differing schools of thought on this, but I avoid putting poop in the dirt maker.

?? I thought this was crucial for adding organisms - meaning, obviously, herbivore-poop (pet poop I understand as a no-no) Not that I can compost, and I'm mighty jealous of those of you who can...

Mhays wrote:

David Hammond wrote:

m'th'su wrote:I have some leftover mushroom compost. Would it be inadvisable to add it to the earth machine, it having been animal in origin?

I guess some types of mushroom compost do use manure into the mix, and there are differing schools of thought on this, but I avoid putting poop in the dirt maker.

?? I thought this was crucial for adding organisms - meaning, obviously, herbivore-poop (pet poop I understand as a no-no) Not that I can compost, and I'm mighty jealous of those of you who can...

I don't believe it's crucial or essential, though I guess the main prohibition is against pet (and, of course, human) shit in the compost heap.

The proscription is carnivore manure because of potential gastrointestinal-dwelling parasites. Herbivore manure is generally composted in one way or another before being applied to cropland. With horse manure composting is essential to digest the weed seeds that pass though horses' inefficient digestive tracts. In any case domestic animals' manure is a great source of nitrogen to speed aerobic decomposition.

NPR had a thing on the radio yesterday afternoon about using leftovers from municipal waste treatment plants on crops. It had been treated, but still, they had to work it into the soil pretty quickly or it would be too stinky.

Typically most people have problems trying to find the requisite amount of nitrogen, not carbon, for their compost pile. There is often an abundance of brown material from yard waste (leaves and dead stuff). Some people will insist that one should not put grass clippings into compost because of the accompanying ammonia smell if done regularly. I have found that when I am short on nitrogen adding grass clippings works out great. As long as weeds are not flowering you can add them as well (Even when flowing some people add weeds. If done correctly the temp in the compost should kill the seeds). There really is nothing wrong with adding already composted "fertilizer" to your bin. If you are short carbon, you might want to volunteer to rake all your neighbor's lawns in the fall.

Although there is nothing "wrong" with it, one should think twice about adding meats and processed grains (i.e. bread) into the bin. They attract vermin. I used to have field mice when I just had a compost pile. One also should stay away from woody sticks they just take forever to decompose. Also those wonderful new disposable cups and dishes that are made with corn based products that are "green". Last time I looked into it (about a year ago) those needed special microbes to decompose which the typical homeowner will not have on hand.

As has been mentioned before it is generally advised to stay away from placing carnivore manure in your compost (there is a minority dissenting opinion on this though). One should not add ash from the bbq to your compost for a number of reasons. 1) If its a pressed charcoal, such as Kingsford, there are all sorts of by products in that. 2) If its even the best lump hardwood charcoal adding ash will tend to make the compost acidic if I remember. BTW plywood had been found in some "lump" charcoal.

The City of Chicago's Park District has classes on composting that are good for the beginner. Sorry if this went on too long. I hoped I could lurk a little while longer before my first post, but fertilizing is something I know a little about. Not sure what that says about me.

ChillyWilly wrote:Typically most people have problems trying to find the requisite amount of nitrogen, not carbon, for their compost pile. There is often an abundance of brown material from yard waste (leaves and dead stuff). Some people will insist that one should not put grass clippings into compost because of the accompanying ammonia smell if done regularly. I have found that when I am short on nitrogen adding grass clippings works out great. As long as weeds are not flowering you can add them as well (Even when flowing some people add weeds. If done correctly the temp in the compost should kill the seeds). There really is nothing wrong with adding already composted "fertilizer" to your bin. If you are short carbon, you might want to volunteer to rake all your neighbor's lawns in the fall.

Our compost pile, like many, is heavy on kitchen scraps (no meat, just veg peelings, watermelon rind, etc.) which adds nitrogen to the mix. The only carbon in the pile comes from leaves and some mulch I shovel in every now and again. My understanding is that you need a lot more carbon than nitrogen (some estimate 30:1 -- http://www.howtocompost.org/info/info_c ... g.asp#C:N_

Wood ashes are basic or alkaline, not acid. Small quantities are fine when you are composting dry leaves in the fall as leaves tend be acid in the early stages of decomposition. This acidity is why some garden books recommend adding ground limestone when composting leaves. With the neutral to slightly alkaline soils in much of the Chicago area, adding the more persistent limestone is not a good idea.

Cook County Extension offers Chicago home composting advice. You can ask questions through the web site, or you, too, can become a Master Composter.