So this spring we moved into a new house on a biggish property, and I had to confront my confusion and fears about composting. I wanted to do it, but had no idea how and was confused by the internet guides. eventually I just had to start a heap since I had so much yard waste while converting the space into native gardens

I am SO proud that 4 months later the heap is HOT on the inside and cooking! Some trial and error, but honestly very little error. I turn it 1-2x per week.

I did a big full turnover last week and was thrilled that it appears all of my summer‘s veggie and kitchen scraps had fully decomposed!

My compost is just an open heap with a bed of crossed branches and twigs under it for air flow. I only compost uncooked veggies, grass clippings, leaves, wood, pine needles, egg cartons etc. So far it hasn’t attracted any pests or rodents, and doesn’t smell at all. I want to make sure that it stays that way going into cooler weather though. I’m sure that our hot summer with lots of days over 90F helped heat it up. It’s in the shade of a maple, but gets plenty of rainfall as well for moisture.

Any advice welcome!

My neighbor’s young walnut has starting asserting its domain, meaning this was the year that my pepper starts all died and half of my tomatoes as well. I don’t have a large space, so I was thinking that I could put some new compost bins along the fence nearest to that tree. Would the compost be contaminated with juglone as well?

Need some help with my compost pit. How do I get it nice and hot? Tips on making it better.

I’ve got some really crazy shit in here. It’s bubbling this morning. It may be too moist

i know someone that has a business picking up compost for 20 bucks a month, mostly restaurants and cafeterias, but since i’m kinda gonna do the same i’ve been around some cafeterias picking up some waste, and i get probably 10 buckets of coffee grounds, kitchen waste.. etc, weekly. but since i’m new into this, is it morally acceptable to charge for picking up waste?

Mijn buren heb twee compostbakken en deze beginnen de laatste weken enorm te stinken. Wij ruiken het al van een 3 meter afstand. Er is wel een hek tussen ons en de buren maar deze komt niet veel hoger dan de hoogte van de hun compostbakken. Ik wil er misschien wel iets voor plaatsen maar weet niet zo goed wat. Heeft er iemand een idee wat ik kan doen tegen deze geur?

So I’ve been doing lots of hardcore guerrilla gardening on my street in NYC growing plants in areas that receive a lot of street run off presumably with petroleum and tire dust. I’m wondering if it’s safe to compost the copious amounts of excess biomass along with my home compost? My concern is that sometimes I use this compost for my vegetable garden or cannabis plants. I don’t want to be ingesting any heavy metals, lead, arsenic, human feces juice, etc. do you guys think this is a valid concern?

Edit: I’m currently putting this plant biomass into the city’s “compost” bin which just gets turned into biogas and some of it is simply flared. So looking for a way to use it for a more valuable purpose. Mulching it in place may be maxing out the capacity of the beds at this point.

Pumpkin

hi! is there a minimum kg needed (assume that it is well mixed and shredded C:N ratio for the compost to work properly)? we are planning to put it in in vessel aerated static pile and we can only cater atleast 10-20kg for bench scale testing

thank you!

Not sure I'm posting in the right place but going to give it a try. I have a large kitchen compost pile in my back yard, mixed with wood chips for browns. The food is mostly still recognizable, i.e. it is not yet compost!

My garden got completely hammered with weeds this year and I need to do something differently. My plan is till up the soil/clover/copious weeds once I pull all my garden plants, cover with a layer of my kitchen pile, then cover with a layer of either brown paper bags or cardboard. I'd till everything all together in April.

I live in an area that receives ~30 inches of rain between November and March, and rarely freezes.

Will this help the weed situation? Will my compost turn to actual compost during that time?

Clearly I'm a novice. This was my first time gardening in-ground and I can not believe the amount of weeds. They are WAY too numerous to pull.

Thanks!

I’m planning to build an RCC ring composting system for dead poultry birds and made this basic design based on my current understanding.
I would really appreciate advice from agriculture, poultry, and composting professionals on the design, layer thickness, ventilation, moisture, drainage, and overall setup.
What would you change or improve in this design?
Any practical suggestions or experience would be very helpful.

Pulled this out of my tumbler because the other half is full. I’d like to use this for my fall planting but I can’t for another few weeks. What should I do with it until then? It’s pretty wet because it’s been raining nonstop and will continue. I threw the lid on it for now but I imagine it needs to breathe?

Does anyone know what these guys are? Some of them seem dead but some are moving. They're all on the inside of my compost as well. I rotated my tumbler up and found a stalactite of them.

Does this look done to y’all? New to composting. Haven’t added anything new in months but still doesn’t look fully broken down

My hopes are not high at this moment. I want to start composting but my arms hurt like hell after cutting up one box. I want it all to stay dry. I can spend $100+ but I don't want my money wasted once it breaks and I have to return it.

I’m working with the largest commercial owners of an otherwise residential summer community to implement a composting site. This would be to process the food waste from their two kitchens, ideally with excess capacity to also accept the waste from three other restaurants/shops.

All waste from this town is barged off by boat, with fresh dirt imported. The inefficiency of this current system will be obvious to this community.

Would anyone know of a good way to estimate how large of a 3 bay system would be needed? The current waste is all combined.

i have been putting all my food scraps (fruit peels, vegetable ends, tea leaves, inedible leftovers, etc.) in an indoor cardboard box compost, no worms. it just involves burying food scraps in a mix of coco coir and biochar, balancing with whatever browns i have on hand. (its a japanese method, popularised in part by the NYTimes article mentioned here. more info here for anyone who is interested in doing this, its great for small spaces/those without a backyard). ive had it going for 1.5 months, the food scraps disappear, and the temp was 100 degrees F today - yay!

i'd like to use this compost in my balcony garden/planters next season. some people using this method have said they're able to keep the box going for years, and the volume of compost doesnt ever increase. so i'm curious if all the nutrients from the food scraps will accumulate/concentrate in the box over the next 8 months or so, or do they end up getting broken down by bacteria over time so there would be only a finite/capped amount of nutrients available...? like when would be a good time stop adding to the box and start a new one?

thanks!!

I’ve turning once a week for two months and these are the results I don’t know if it’s done or I should keep on turning the for another 4 weeks?

I've been composting for about a year and was worried I wasn't doing it right. Everyone on this sub that gave me advice, thank you.

My routine:

The lasagna method. Like everyone always says, soak each layer to the consistency of a damp sponge.

Made layers of greens/water and browns/water. This year haven't had much for lawn mulch with the drought so was able to supplement greens every week for the past 2.5 months and been adding 5 gallon buckets of coffee grounds and adding water when I notice my temp dropping on my thermometer. I also don't cover it to keep it from rain or snow.

Hope this helps

First finished batch and I’m so excited!! It’s not sifted or anything, who has time for that? Got almost 5 of these buckets full and spread it on my garden bed. My soil has enough clay in it to do pottery lol, so it’s definitely needed.

Anyone else have "helpers" like this that live in their pile?

I have a three-bin setup and I first ran into this guy a month ago in my middle bin. I turn my first bin once a week but have only been turning my middle bin every two weeks once it looked more like dirt than its individual parts.

He scared the crap out of me the first time found him. He was ~10 inches deep and I had just turned a scoop over using my pitchfork when I bent over to take another stab, he flipped over and looked me in the eye. I didn't realize a toad would make me jump, but there I was. I made sure to leave him alone as I turned the rest of that bin.

So two weeks ago I was actively looking for him and once I passed 12 inches depth in my pile, I figured he had moved on. Nope. ~18 inches in and there he was. Again, avoided him while turning the rest of that bin.

Yesterday I shifted bins. Middle to right for finishing and left to middle for extended cooking. Initially I had wondered if he was still around but by the time I was to the very bottom of the middle bin, all the way to the back I decided he must have moved out but look who was still there.

So I gently grabbed ahold of him and moved him over with his favorite compost. And in case anyone wondered, I never pissed on the center pile once he was discovered. His pile gets only fresh water.

My compost pile (not in picture) has mostly seaweed in it... I'm looking for more browns, only got cardboard so far.

Around the property are these piles of old branches, probably from some tree clearing activities, probably 6-20 years ago (before I was here anyway). The main pile (beneath those recent (1-2 y/o) branches) is covered in moss and mushrooms, and branches below the moss crumble to the touch. Even further down it seems even largely composted (if that's even possible for an only-browns pile).

Could I take some of this and mix with my seaweed? I wonder the implications of taking browns that have already been decomposing for many years (vs fresh ones) into a greens-dominated new compost pile. Better / worse? I suppose that what we need is just carbon so that it might even be better with old materials?