Composting!
Share with us your composting setups and any tips or tricks you have!
I'll be putting mine together next year I think in spring and ideas are welcome. I was thinking a hot composter probably in a barrel style would be better to get usable compost faster. |
I have a plastic compost bin that I bought. It's full but not doing much. I almost never turn it and I need to add moisture too it. I looked into a compost tumbler but they were too expensive. Our city now gives away compost bins for free. They take old plastic garbage cans cut off the bottoms and add holes.
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My set-up is a 4-pallet bin with a hinged mesh top. The front slides out and then I fork out the compost to turn it or use it. I would go with something cheap, simple and at least 1 cubic yard of volume. Here is my setup - Composting in the High Desert | EcoDaddyo.com.
The secret to fast composting is to turn it often and keep a good balance of greens and browns (nitrogen and carbon-heavy stuff). There's not much to it than that unless you're a microbiologist or greatly interested in soil critters. Tim |
That looks like a nice setup Tim. How long does it take to churn out good compost?
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I pull out 2-3 wheelbarrow loads of compost about twice a year. I'm pretty lazy about turning my compost and that usually happens about 4 times a year. So, I could have more compost if I put a little more effort into it.
Unfortunately, we had wasps build a nest in the compost this summer and I haven't turned it in a while! I'm waiting for the wasps to go dormant this winter and then I will forcibly evict them. After I get rid of the wasps I'll have to write up the whole saga. Tim |
Nice! I like it.
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We have foreclosed on the wasps (insects, not white anglo-saxon protestants)! It was a pain in the rear for months, but the wasp nest is gone.
Here's the saga - Foreclosing on the Wasps | EcoDaddyo.com "Social" insects? My @$$! Tim |
I would like to do a 4 pallet system as well, our current pile is a piece of wire fence made in to a ring to keep the pile more pile like and it's over flowing already after only 5 months, I would like something that will keep it hotter and be easier to work with but a cube, or maybe even two cubes seem like a good plan for now.
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I made a bin using two walls of cinder blocks (scavenged from a junk pile), one sheet of corrugated steel (leftover) and a pallet in the middle as a divider. I haven't put a front on it yet. Size is about 3ft tall by about 5 feet wide by whatever a pallet is deep (about 3 feet?). I stacked the cinder block so that they are staggered, which allows some air to get in. I should perforate the steel, but haven't yet.
As it gets full I'll find a solution for the front, but so far it isn't giving me much trouble and allows me to turn the pile more easily. I just leave a fork out there and when I add kitchen scraps every day or two, I turn the pile a little bit. It breaks things down FAST... |
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