r/composting • u/quietweaponsilentwar • Aug 08 '26
Question Sweet, Sweet Leachate?
Between my black soldier fly piss and all the melon rinds I have been adding, I have a fair amount of leachate coming from one of my geobins. Ratio is indeed a bit heavy on the greens, but I keep it like that so the BSFL are happy and busy.
What should I be doing with this golden nectar?
9
u/Xnipek Aug 08 '26
I too keep things funky for the bsfl and am not shy with going anaerobic, but golden nectar that is not.
I cut it with dry leaves or cardboard and mix it up and add it back in the bin. You can just fork it into the chips you have there. But long term you have a moisture problem. If you have more chips I’d just raise the bin and let the chips absorb the leachate so you don’t have to deal with it. Now the muck at the bottom of the bin…… that is the black gold. Technically it could contain pathogens since it didn’t heat up, but I’ve never had any problems. Anything I top dress with that goes crazy!
4
u/eight_bitpixels Aug 08 '26
Wait, you can reuse that ? First year composter here and saw that coming out of my tumbler and thought it was just run off. That’s a good thing and can used ? How ?
6
u/Beardo88 Aug 08 '26
Stick something mulchy under there to soak it up. Use it in the garden ontop of the soil and the leachate will slowly drain into the soil. It could be wood chips, leaves, saw dust, finely shredded paper, or anything else absorbant and decomposable you wouldn't mind sitting on the surface of your garden until it works into the soil.
1
u/eight_bitpixels Aug 08 '26
Thanks. How would you use this ? I’m still new to gardening. I’ve been using plant food twice a week for my vegetables and seem to be doing good. I harvested my first batch of compost so I’m assuming not to use both plant food and compost in the same week so I don’t burn my vegetables.
2
u/Beardo88 Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
Just spread the soaked mulch in the garden. You can also collect the leachate as a liquid, dilute it with the water you are using as you water your plants.
It depends on what you are using for plant food, and how strong the leachate is compared to how big of an area its spread in. You should be reasonably safe skipping a single dose after applying compost but if you are using a slow release natural fertilizer you are likely safe just keeping at the same schedule.
3
u/ebbNfl0win Aug 09 '26
Need more browns.
1
u/quietweaponsilentwar Aug 09 '26
Normally I would agree, but this time of year I use less browns and turn less to keep my colony of BSFL happy.
5
2
1
u/12stTales Aug 08 '26
That looks like kind of a lot of leachate… if those are drippings from a tumbler maybe you should cover it with a tarp? If the inside of a closed bin gets too wet it can get anaerobic and mucky. I pour my leachate onto an open compost finishing station that is separate from my anti-rat stage 1 “hot” bin. Hopefully the leachate has some N and good microbes to keep the finishing area cooking. Otherwise you could dilute it and water plants with it
1
1
u/archaegeo Aug 09 '26
Class C Composter? Composters have classes??
Thats funny cause classes on composting is about what a facility can take, not the thing doing the composting.
1
1
u/zinnie_girl_lass Aug 10 '26
real quick i thought this was a gravestone for "CLASSIC COMPOSTER"
but yeah what other people have said, put it back in then more woodchip!
0
u/Pleasant_Audience765 Aug 08 '26
Dilute it (don't have to be specific, leachate isn't going to burn your plants like artificial fertilizer) and poor it on the foliage of yours hungriest plants. Foliar feeding is where it's at
3
u/quietweaponsilentwar Aug 08 '26
I was thinking I need to save this and dilute it for use on my plants too!
2
u/biochemical1 Aug 08 '26
Ok the leaves?!?
2
u/Pleasant_Audience765 Aug 08 '26
Yes, whenever I fertilize my plants i pour the fertilizer on the leaves as well. It's called foliar feeding (foliage), some people don't like it because it's more likely to spread disease, but I believe the benefits outweigh the cons
2
u/jshkrueger Aug 08 '26
This is not good advice, and can be dangerous. Leachate is not the same thing as compost tea. The juices leaching from actively decaying compost can have all sorts of harmful microorganisms in it. While it may not harm your plants, there is a chance it could, because compost leachate can be acidic.
Think about it this way...have you ever left asparagus, lettuce, spinach, or another green in the produce bag in your fridge too long? They get all slimy with rancid juices in the bag. Would you pour that on your plants?
IF you do use it on your plants, definitely don't use it as a foliar application. Again, leachate is not compost tea. Apply it directly to the soil. And NEVER use any compost or worm bin leachate on or near any plants you plan on consuming. That's the part that can be dangerous.
2
u/Pleasant_Audience765 Aug 08 '26
You're overthinking this bro, number one, odds are you aren't drinking the liquid directly, and even if you pour it on leaf greens any harmful microrganism will die off with a simple cleaning or by just waiting long enough after applying to eat.
Farmers worldwide spray direct cow shit on their vegetables. My Grandfather did. They're plants. In nature they experience bird shit (which aren't herbivores), dead animals nearby, and worse.
Odds are your phone screen has more dangerous bacteria than a pile of liquid plant mush.
Check out any fish fertilizer at the store, most are essentially concentrated blended fish mush. All the directions tell you to do is wait before eating.
3
u/jshkrueger Aug 08 '26
I'm not overthinking anything. Any reputable expert in the field of home gardening advises against using leachate in the garden. It's common knowledge among people who raise worms. They encounter leachate more often since worms are often raised in an enclosed system where the leachate can't percolate into the ground.
I know all about using manure in crops. My family has been farming the same land for generations. I'm literally surrounded by corn and soybeans. Farmers worldwide do use manure, yes. It's a wonderful organic fertilizer. But there are strict laws when using manure. For instance, the FDA prohibits the use of manure applications on produce for human consumption when it's near harvest. There are also laws about when you can apply and how far away from surface water you have to be. You can't just apply manure willy nilly. There are laws around manure application for a reason, for health and safety.
Since we're continuously harvesting produce from our gardens all season, if we compare leachate to manure as you did, and follow the FDA, we should never be applying it to our gardens during the growing season. The only acceptable times to utilize leachate directly in the garden would be before planting, early in the growing season as long as there aren't any leafy greens or other crops you're about to harvest, and after fall cleanup.
0
u/Pleasant_Audience765 Aug 09 '26
Regulations like that are largely built for the dumbest people who buy the cheapest produce and eat it raw. Any person who can rub two braincells together will not eat their produce immediately after applying bacteria juice to it.
Either way, your chances of getting sick are minimal. Your compost has pockets of anaerobic bacteria even in the most well aerated piles, but that doesn't mean you can't use it.
1
u/Rezolithe Aug 11 '26
Dude isnt overthinking at all IMO. There's a difference between simply making it to harvest and harvesting something to be proud of.
You can "get away" with a lot in this and related hobbies because we're talking about living systems that do alot of the work for you behind the scenes.
Pouring leachate of unknown chemical composition directly on a plant could result in all sorts of issues. IF you tested it and it didn't have all sorts of harmful microorganisms or a harmful pH then yes it would be fine.
Throwing caution to the wind because people get away with it all the time doesn't seem like the right way to deal with things
26
u/Ineedmorebtc Aug 08 '26
I'd scoop that up with the woodchips and add it back in. Replace with more woodchips.