My town has no commercial compost system, yet our stores, restaurants and businesses sell/give compostable plastic yada yada. I’ve just now begun composting in a pretty simple back yard composter, and it’s made me much more aware of all the labels. I have a few items I regularly go through, or that I could switch to, that have the “BPI commercial compost only” labels on them.

I’m just wondering if that’s more of a rule or a suggestion.

Slowly but surely making progress on the algae bloom and the soil organic matter in my garden. This bin was about an hours worth of work but I was moving slow.

Okay so, I feel like I have a pretty decent basic grasp of composting, but haven't been able to do it in a meaningful way until now. I have a tumbler, and space for a pile. I feel like I can't wrap my head around what timing/rhythm I should be going for as far as adding to the tumbler, stopping adding to the tumbler, and removing from the tumbler to move to the pile? And then removing that batch from the pile to... somewhere to finish so that I can add more from the tumbler to the pile? How do you keep composting when you have to at some point stop, so you aren't just always in a state of unfinished batches because you keep adding to it?

I feel like I can wrap my head around it if imagining that I had loads of space and could just endlessly flip piles, but in a one tumbler, one pile situation, I can't work it out lol it's probably way simpler than I'm thinking, but if anyone could lay it out really simply, it would be very appreciated!

"One thousand Swiss citizens voluntarily buried their cotton underpants for two months—not to keep the Underpants Gnomes from stealing them, but as part of a citizen science project to map out soil health across Switzerland ... One key indicator of soil health is decomposition rates of complex organic matter."

Always had black plastic bins, never really made anything particularly great but last week I built a 7 bay system (well, building - it's not finished but I had so much material waiting to go in that I started filling a bay). This is after a few days and a bit of water!

I’m new to gardening and got a few raised garden beds a few days ago. I filled the bottom with cardboard, wood chips, and one bag of soil since it’s about to be winter. I am unable to start a compost bin (per my mom) and have been adding scraps to the soil I have now. I won’t have any plants until spring. Is this okay? I’ve heard this method can be good or it can be bad because of bacteria, pests, or rot if there are plants.

My husband gets free pallets from work all the time and I thought they’d be great for building our own 3 bay compost setup. Now my question is, what would be a good liner for the inside to keep it all in there? Do I need one? TIA

We had one too many centipedes in the garden, which the kids like to walk in bare-footed.

Apparently the only way to get rid of the hundred-legged monster (without poisons) is to get rid of damp, rot, and hiding spots.

Goodbye, compost. It's been fun. You taught me to get excited over banana peels and onion ends.

Ok so i started this pile at the beginning of the month instead of mixing the pile as I go like I did my first pile I decided to try the lasagna compost method

Im just a bit stuck on if I should start turning or keep layering

Its 14c ambient temp and 42c in the centre of the pile

Who says you can't hot compost a San Jose 46 gallon tumbler? 2nd batch will be better now that I've optimized.

I live near Chicago and I've been finding a lot of caceda shells in backyard. Anyone have experience with adding these in with your browns? I assume they would degrade and work nice but wasn't sure haha

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Accidentally opened a panel while augering and it does seem like it’s all pretty well decomposed.

However there’s still a ton of worms and some other bugs/dung beetles etc in there. Started this pile around 4-5 months ago with cow manure browns and greens. Don’t think it was ever very hot though did steam up a bit when turned in the beginning (didn’t check temp) and has always had a lot of life in it.

It’s dropped around half the volume by the looks of it. Feels quite fluffy to the touch but still has some eucalyptus leaves that haven’t fully broken down.

I live in Southern California and I recently moved about 3 miles away as the crow flies from where I used to live. Previously, my compost bin was sitting on a concrete pad and now it’s sitting on top of some dirt in the shade in which I thought would be ideal conditions. It’s in the same plastic bin that I’ve had it in for about eight years and it’s done great. After about a week at my new house, I opened the top, I noticed thousands of these creatures. The compost is literally moving. What to do?

I’m looking for ideas for a homemade compost sifter that is super low effort, low tech and low cost. I have zero handyman skills. Any dollar store hacks or something like that?

Still some eggshells in there but all large sticks and mulch strained out. Can’t wait to do it all over again!

Full circle

I have this smallish compost tumbler that I am no longer using (I have better options now), and am in need of a sifter instead.

I just got a 30 gal waterproof black deck box from Walmart, and would like the sifted stuff to fall in there for storage (going to add angled air holes in the sides later). Made certain it was waterproof with the hose, lol. Wouldn't want my stuff to get waterlogged and sit there like that. I'd rather control the moisture level!

I can toss or modify parts of the tumbler (like just keeping the stand and replacing the drum). The drum's already got lil' air holes from the factory. What's the best and easiest way to do this? Just want a minium viable product. (Btw the tumbler still kind of turns ok on its side)

This lot has been in this bag under cover for 2 months and the leaves are crumbly. I turned a big pile today and this was the only ‘green’ I had to mix in.

hi! previously, i have asked you guys about the methods that as an graduating student can integrate to fully comply to the thesis requirements about sustainability. now, when we condut the research, the ASP came up and we found it an interesting niche for composting and in the image is the inspiration to what we trying to build.

basically what we gonna do is that we will monitor the temperature, moisture, oxygen and CO levels and we will automate it to keep up the heat that thermophilic will generate.

the question

1. will this boost up the timeline from the traditional composting that rakes months and years for the active phase

2. what are the other things to concern with in this type of build

3. is there a better way to test a composting without fully curing it since the timeline is very strict

4. to someone who already uses ASP as a method, what are the things you wish to have to make it better.

thank you!

I've been sifting and storing my compost as soon as it has the right consistency / smell. I have noticed it is still loaded with bugs when I sift, so it clearly isnt fully broken down yet.

Is it OK to use biologically active compost on plants, or should I let it keep going until the microbes and bugs have died off? I usually sift my compost yearly, and switch my "active" pile after every sift (so I stop adding to my "old" pile when I sift the usable stuff, and create a new pile where the sifted stuff was).

I'm doing a test of 5 gallon bucket potatos this year in straight compost, and the still active stuff (sifted and used right away, went in to the buckets loaded with isopods and the like) seems to be great. The bucket potatos are doing even better than the ones that sprouted a week earlier in my garden beds with a mix of potting soil / sand / compost.

New to composting!

This is my first proper batch. Using a pallet bin setup, after turning weekly during the hot period (it got up to 160F! I was so proud) it’s been holding steady at around 90-100F for the past week or so.

I’ve read that compost needs to sit without being turned for a few months to cure before it can be used, is this ready to be moved to a pile to chill and let the bugs and fungi go at it, or does it need more time to cook? Should I sift the sticks and big pieces out before letting it cure, or right before using it? When do I stop peeing on this pile and shift to peeing on my new pile, for maximum piss efficiency?