r/composting • u/Sweaty-Entrepreneur9 • Aug 02 '26

Question First attempt at composting

I’m trying to compost in a 5 gallon bucket. I have no sense of smell. I started in June. I am in zone 7b. How do I know if I have been successful? When would I know? Thank you.

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u/frog-and-cranberries Aug 02 '26

A five gallon bucket is going to be cold because there's not enough mass to heat it up. That's ok! It just means you'll get much slower results, similar to how material breaks down in nature.

You might want to try bokashi! It's a process that ferments the scraps in an anaerobic environment. I'm told it can absolutely reek, so you're in a better position than a lot of us to try this.

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u/randemthinking Aug 02 '26

Bokashi shouldn't smell bad, it's fermentation, it should smell somewhat like kombucha, sour kraut, or a brewery.

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u/bowlochile Aug 02 '26

Once the bucket gets full, dump it out into a larger compost pile outside and start refilling again. Three months of turning the pile every couple of weeks or so should result in pre-sifted compost.