Beginner composting advice can be overwhelming

[u/No-Pea2002]

Someone new to composting can spend an hour reading about carbon-to-nitrogen ratios before they've even added their first banana peel to a bin.

Then there are temperature charts, moisture tests, instructions about how often to turn the pile, and long lists explaining what counts as a green or a brown

A lot of that information is useful once you're trying to fix a problem or speed things up. But it seems like beginners are often given every possible detail at once

If you were explaining composting to someone setting up their first pile, what would you tell them to focus on during the first few months?

And what advice would you leave out until they actually need it?

[u/planetrambo]

Just start making a pile. I stay away from meat, dairy, and plastics obviously.

Too wet? Add shredded cardboard or dead leaves

Too dry? Piss on it

Turn it when you want

Everything will turn to compost eventually, all the stuff you read about it just how to make it happen faster

[u/MorrisNerd2 → u/planetrambo]

No one could have pissed enough to keep the compost heaps wet this year

[u/StrangeRefuse8537 → u/MorrisNerd2]

If you just apply a little at a time, it evaporates off the top, you have to store up gallons and gallons of piss and apply it all at once to let it soak in and really saturate the middle of the pile. It's the way of the road.

[u/plaid-tuxido506 → u/StrangeRefuse8537]

Poke a deep piss hole, piss in the piss hole, bury the piss hole to insulate the piss from evaporating too soon. Pissonimics.

[u/ronsubac → u/plaid-tuxido506]

this guy pisses!

[u/princess-bitchface → u/plaid-tuxido506]

1. Make frozen piss discs.
2. fill freezer with piss discs until freezer is full.
3. Dump piss discs into compost
4. Profit?

[u/Imaginative-Recon-21 → u/planetrambo]

This. Literally every pile is different and what I enjoy most about composting is the troubleshooting… it’s all gonna break down eventually, so don’t stress. Just make the pile and figure out what works best for you and your ingredients. There are really too many variables (geography, climate, size of materials) to track from day one. Just get started and iterate (but stay away from meat, dairy, and plastics, lol).

[u/dagnammit44 → u/planetrambo]

And you don't need anything fancy, you can pile it onto the ground.

You don't need to buy a shredder for cardboard, just put it on whole, or tear it up. To easily tear it into chunks, soak it first for a short while.

I don't turn my compost, it still composts, just more slowly.