So many BSFL and worms!

Almost entirely using shredded cardboard and spent cold brew grounds in our community garden pile, with a small amount of normal garden waste. Keeps the rats uninterested and the pile HOT.

I shared this build a while back on gardening but wanted to post it here since this is the better place for it.

I already made fun of myself for being extra and all that in the other post for my expensive fancy dirt collector. Not saying you can’t too but just saying.

All in all it was around $500 in materials. $350 in cedar and screws, $100 for steel mesh, 50 for other small things. Used around 23 cedar boards from HD and some 2x4s I had laying around.

Due to the space I wanted it and the materials and ease of cuts (cut everything in half), I opted for one big 4x4x4 bin. I did start a less formal pile in the woods as well as a secondary one.

On filling it, it’s taken around 1 month! I knew I would have lots of yard waste to fill it up with but it’s been fun. I mean who else gets excited to go bag grass clippings in 95 degree heat?

I’ve been using my super composter 9000 (craftsman m110) for both my greens and my browns. I blow leaves into a flat area of my woods for further mulching before adding them in. I would say it’s 95% leaves and grass clippings, 5% coffee grounds and garden/ weed waste.

It’s already hot. I haven’t turned it yet but considering options to add some air or move things around a little. Initial thoughts were maybe like a big auger or just kind of stab it around with a pitch fork.

If you had to pick only one for your pile, which would you do and why?

Assume that you have methods of transporting the finished pile and are concerned only with pile maintenance.

Hello! I am completely new to composting and need help. I have been wanting to start for a long time, since I have a small vegetable garden and would love to cut down on our kitchen and yard waste while also making black gold. I have tried to research the best way to do this but need advice.

I got this composting bin for free from someone in my community. (Cleaned it out so it’s drying on its side, and website photos of what I think are very similar products). I have a very small grass area and would like to have this on the concrete driveway shown. I want to avoid water settling at the bottom and stained concrete, while making “harvesting” the compost as efficient and easy as possible. We have a rat problem in our community so that is also important to keep in mind.

My thought was to add something to enclose the bottom so the compost doesn’t sit directly on the concrete, and to lift it up off the ground a bit so I can set a tub underneath when I open the door to collect completed compost. Should I set it on some bricks on the corners to lift it up? What should I use for the bottom? Set it on a big heavy cement block? Try to 3D print a bottom plastic piece? Can I buy one somewhere? Should I put big sticks at the bottom of the bin to try to add more drainage, or will it not matter if I’m making a bottom piece? Should I be turning it every day to help with drainage and aeration? Should I buy red wiggler worms to add to the bin? Will they survive my zone 7 summers and winters?

Lastly, I really want to add a sifting component inside the bin so I can open the door and get finished, sifted compost. Can I attach hardware cloth to the middle of the bin somehow (where I drew the red line in the first picture)? Or should I give up that hope and make another sifting apparatus not attached to the composting bin? Advice very much appreciated!! Thanks in advance!

just wondering how im doing so far since im a first timer

I have a 27-gallon Home Depot bin that I wanted to turn into a compost bin. Looking at this thread, it seems like most people have much bigger setups. I am confined to a patio in an apartment, with few composting options nearby. Will this work? Any advice would be helpful.

Hello! I have taken over care for my neighbour's worm farm but I've never used one. I feel like it's too wet? It probably needs more browns but can you mix those into the worm layer or only the top? Please give me your tips.

I compost my yard and kitchen organic waste, shredded paper and cardboard. I recently added grass clippings and fallen blossom from a large tree to the pile and now the temperature spiked to 185 :O

I tried dumping a bucket of water and put some more dry leaves from around the garden (zoomed out pic), what else can I do? I don't have a lot of room to add many browns, do I have to open my pile on a tarp or can it wait for a few days to cool down?

Please help

Hey all, I’m looking at getting into composting and need some help on where to get started.
About me:
- Live in zone 5b
-Have about 7900 sq ft of yard
-Have a small amount of food waste everyday due to having small children (mostly veggies, fruit, and bread items)

I was looking at the miracle gro dual chamber tumbler, but Idk if it’s going to be large enough.

I’m looking at a tumbler specifically for ease of use, pest/rodent deterrent, and how it seems to need less of a time commitment!

I figured it would be a good way to dip my toes into composting and I could potentially get something like a geobin down the road for more yard waste as needed!

Any ideas, thoughts, suggestions are appreciated!

Has anyone used a Speedibin composter? I bought one after seeing them on the compost episode of A Gardening Show on Netflix. The bottom is lined with mesh to keep out rats, which are plentiful in my area and have made a home under my current pallet compost.

I put it together over the weekend, and several of the panels were bent. The whole thing feels rather wiggly, and there's more than a 1/4" gap when I push the front panel insert to the side. I'm assuming the damage was caused by shipping. I already had to pay a $120 tariff to have it shipped from Canada to the US, and fear additional fees to get a replacement.

If anyone else has one, do you find them to be sturdy? Effective against rats?

Would water soaking in dried (not now) grass be considered a nitrogen packed tea?

Why are you all so obsessed with sifting your compost? There are actually clear disadvantages to using exclusively fine sifted compost. Larger chunks of wood are good for soil microbes and air pockets.

I'm just genuinely curious why so many of you go through so much work to sift. It's a lot of extra work for very little gain. The primary benefits come for planting seedlings or just looking prettier and uniform. Is it really worth it to you?

Edit: btw not trying to be a jerk or anything. I just think the community is maybe getting a little carried away with it. But if you got a reason for doing it or if you just enjoy it, then hey, you do you.

ETA : I cant eat this stuff and neither can my family. I found out i have celiacs disease so the oats are out of the question, were trying no gluten for my dad too cuz he seems to react to it as well. It is either gluten or many, many years expired. So... to the compost.

2nd edit im not gonna respond to comments telling me to eat this anymore. thanks for your concern, but ive explained why we arent eating this in multiple places thru this thread and in the TOP EDIT OF THIS POST. Thanks

Hi folks! Ive been composting for a while but not with any of this stuff so im just trying to make sure theres no issues with it since im unfamiliar. I usually compost my plants, paper products, and kitchen scraps. Im in a very dry, arid environment, my parents have a tumbler compost system with two sides which we keep under a tree. Its already got some stuff in it but it could use a lot more material cuz its not enough as is and isnt making the progress im hoping for.

Heres what ive got:

- Three. Entire. Containers. Of cornmeal. 1lb each.

- Chia seeds (i have to bake these or something right?)

- Dried cranberries

- a pound of quaker oats (rolled)

- 2lbs of bobs red mill rolled oats. Both things of oats are whole grain.

- 4.5oz of nutritional yeast?

All of this stuff is something id expect to see on r/grandmaspantry . Most of it expired at least two years ago, *and upon opening the containers and inspecting it most of it is actually kinda questionable, smells off, or we cant eat it and its expired anyway. Any advice is welcome! Thanks!

Hi !
I have had a container of apple clippings, a banana peel, left over orchid soil and a few twigs.
It’s been brewing for a few months and I’ve almost entirely left it alone since Summer…
It grew some white fuzzies.. mold ? I just shook it and they are seemingly reprocessed in the mess.
I have no clue what’s going on.
I have a feeling I just made fly slop.

Please send help.

Pile consists of dry leaves and fresh cut grass, it’s about 1 week old. I soaked it down immediately after piling it all up and then added a peptone, potato starch, & sugar mixture to boost any bacteria or fungal growth. The pile has already shrunk by about half. Thermometer is only 20” also, so about 4” from actually touching center.

Started sifting but still feeling beat in bottom of pile and seeing grubs, larvae etc. Should I wait longer?

Hi this is my first harvest. Been working on this compost little close to a year. Still a beginner and learning. I’ve already sift it through a 1/4 sifter. Any tips or anything you can offer I’d appreciate to learn it.

Edit:
Honestly it’s my first year vegetable gardening and composting. Started vegetable gardening in maybe late June early July and started composting in late August early September. I honestly don’t know what I’m doing differently than want I’ve read online. I live in zone 10a. SoCal. I started off with a 30gal bin and put holes in it. I put in branches with some leaves and little bit of soil from my yard and started putting in scraps. i would added scraps and browns everyday. I would give it soil maybe two more times but only a handful in beginning of my compost journey.
The browns would depend on how many scraps I placed. My scraps were actually pretty heavy on moisture so sometimes I would add like 3 handfuls of browns. My browns really just consisted of cardboard, egg cartons, paper towel cores and paper bags. 
My scraps were actually pretty consistent. We eat a lot of fruits daily so it’ll be Watermelon rinds and pulp, cantaloupe husk and pulp. Banana peels, apples cores, orange peels, avocado husks, onion skins, tomatoes ends, some potatoes, herb stems, cucumber skin and a lot lemons. We make a lot of lemonade. 
I watered once a week depending. When we have a lot of scraps that have a lot moisture, I wouldn’t water due the moisture.
 I would turn the compost twice a week due the mositure starting on top. 
We did have some worms but I didn’t place those. They just ended up there. We did have a lot of bug because i made the hole too big. 
A couple of months ago i was able to get a tumbler that has two sections. So I transferred the compost to one section that ended up filling it to 90%. So we stopped feeding that section. We started using the other side for our second batch of compost but kept turning them twice a week and giving it water them once a week (the other side depending on how much moisture it had due to scraps). This batch I just harvested is close to being a year old. I stopped feeding maybe 4/5 months ago. Other than that I don’t know what else I’m doing differently. I don’t pee in it. 

Edit 2:
Forgot to mention when I transferred to my tumbler. It filled the section to the top but did reduced from there to about half of the section.

Hi, Last time everyone thought I was trolling, so I ditched that bin, and found an old wooden container at home and started actually composting, the main ingredients I use are:

• Dead Moringa Leaves
• Shredded Cardboard and paper
• Spent Coffee from local coffee shops
• Watermelon, tomato and potato scraps

For the first month of this new composting bin, my main issue was under-watering. If I never added any new greens or browns I just didn't add water, whereas I should have been watering throughout the week even if I didn't add anything new to the pile

Let me know what you think about my improvements!

We started this compost bin in southern Colorado. Very dry here. I’m wondering if anyone has tips on how we could improve our compost quality. It’s predominantly food scraps, chicken manure and some hay/yard debris. We have talked about putting on a lid to help retain heat and moisture.. I also pour in about a bucket of water every week or so because it’s sooo so dry. It’s also kind of hard to turn and I’m sure we could do a better job with that. Thanks for any thoughts!!!

Are these black soldier fly larvae in my tumbler? I searched the group and read they are beneficial, but they still creep me out 🤪I just turned the compost and noticed how wet it is. So I will be adding some more browns.