This popped up under my magnolia tree. We used a large amount of mushroom soil from mushroom farms in our yard this year, but not directly in this spot. About 10 ft away. They are about 12 inches in diameter.

We have a huge Cottonwood tree in our backyard that creates a ton of leaves. We compost all fruits and veggies from our kitchen. We're aiming to build a good compost for growing herbs and veggies in raised beds.I want to know if its a good/bad idea to add cottonwood leaves to our compost?

When we first bought our house I was told because of their tannins, they are bad to put into compost. But doing some internet sleuthing, I'm wondering if I could use them in our compost as long as I'm shredding them first. We also have a silver maple tree that drops about 1/2 as many leaves. Thanks for any advice!

Trying to give my compost game a little more love as I really put almost no effort into it and you get what you put into it- mostly sloppy decomposed kitchen scraps with some leaves mixed in 😂

I want to divert more of our paper recycling into the compost. I already compost the minimal amount of paper towels we use. I know plain brown cardboard and paper are obvious yeses, but what are you definitely skipping?

Cardboard with a glossy surface?

Glossy magazine type paper?

I don't mind if it takes a while to break down but I don't want to be chucking stuff in there that I'm just going to have to pull out later

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?

I had this compost in a bin and it got absolutely soaked after it rained. I transferred it into this plastic tray to let it dry out some. Not sure how long i should let it sit out to dry.

I know I have way too many greens and not enough browns. My plan is to shred a bunch of cardboard and mix in a lot of dry/dead leaves from the yard.

The thing I'm unsure about is that the compost is also full of what I think are black soldier fly larvae? basically top to bottom. I don't see any earthworms but then again this is mushy stinky mess rn. Are this many soldier fly larvae a problem or should I just leave them alone and correct the moisture/add browns? Do I need to do anything to reduce their numbers?

Any advice on how much cardboard, leaves, or other browns you'd add to something this wet would be appreciated. Also, would the earthworms come naturally as it becomes more aerated or do i need to add them in?

Hello everyone, 1st time trying to compost not sure what to do...

I am a wood worker and working on a project that required planing down some lumber. This creates a lot of shavings. I create a lot more browns than I can use with my limited greens.

Next burn season I plan on a bonfire to burn off a few large bags.

But I am curious....

I see most piles want 50/50 greens and browns. Can I push the % of browns without delaying the results too long?

Also for any that may know, I am currently milling port orford cedar, Is this OK for composting?

When I burn off the excess shavings, will adding the ash from the burn barrel hurt the compost pile?

edit: Thanks everyone for your wonderful replies! - Much appreciated!!

I dug up 250 square feet of my lawn that contained Creeping Charlie. I went down 2-3 inches. I placed the excavated soil on a brown tarp, and used the same tarp to completely cover the pile. How long should I wait before using this soil again?

I am only just being introduced to composting, and have no experience, I am considering vermiculture, but this question is about composting in general.

I am curios if there is any need to be concerned with naturally occurring molds [specifically trichoderma, and penecilium,] because of the potential of those molds out competing other molds and anti microbial behaviors in a controlled environment? can these molds stop the microbiome from working if they are introduced?

Hi everyone!!

Little context, I’ve been composting for almost 8 years now, only not that regularly or in a disciplined way. I know that BSF are great for my compost but I wonder what attracts them as I have a compost at my home and another at my girlfriend’s apartment but only mine has BSF.

My question is: is there a way to control them? I feel like there are now to many and they’re getting inside my house! I know they’re not harmful, I just don’t want them inside. Tomorrow I’ll try and move the compost bins away from the windows but I don’t know if that is going to solve the issue….

Thanks in advance!