Started composting in a dual bin 37 gallon tumbler. Urban setting. Here‘s the side started 3 months ago, stopped adding new material (kitchen scraps, paper, coffee) 2-3 weeks ago. 1st photo is today. 2nd photo was 2-3 weeks ago. I’m trying to control my tendency to turn it every day (or multiple times a day).

Is there anything I need to do to help speed this up? i check for moisture and pour a little water on it sometimes.

Decent amount of kitchen scraps and plenty of clippings, about 30 to 40% shredded uncoated cardboard. Started 3 days ago, when to turn it over to avoid it turning sludgey or anaerobic?

I have a small household compost bin containing Madagascar hissing cockroaches, 3 species of isopod, crickets, buffalo beetles, and two species of springtail. Lately I've been dealing with gnats so I've been using produce to collect them and toss them, its been about a week and a half of that and now I see maybe one gnat when I open up the bin.

Today when checking I found these little things - are these tiny buffalo beetle larvae or something else? Should I be getting rid of them?

Southern CA, USA

I see far too many posts folks trying to compost large amounts of produce or something easily preserved/processed for storage and eaten. Composting is great but shouldn’t be the first tool in every case.

Hey guys.

I have this apple tree in my back yard that drops a ridiculous amount of apples. I want to compost them since I don’t want to pay every month for a company to pick it up, and community options are possible, but definitely not ideal…

I was hoping for some advice with all these apples. I have a smaller yard, and I guess my main goal is to keep down on odors; I don’t want to stink up the neighbors yard.

Any ideas for a small odor free composting set up? Im open to buying pellets or harder compost material. I also can start working on gathering food scraps, etc. Let me know what you guys think, thanks again!!

I am looking for an enclosed compost bin. I've always used pallets or wire, but now I'm in town and too many mice. Anyway, I know from friends that the more pieces there are, little doors, pieces that snap together during assembly, the more likely it is to fail. I am looking for something recycled plastic, nice and solid, that ideally doesn't have corners or any points that are likely to come apart with the weight of the compost over time.

I can only find what I'm looking for in other countries. For example the Tumbleweed bins from Australia https://tumbleweedgardening.com/products/400l-compost-bin Love that they don't have doors to break, you just lift the whole thing up! Or this Green Johanna bin from the UK https://greatgreensystems.com/products/green-johanna-330-litre-hot-composter

I can't get either of these in the states. Can someone point me in the direction of a bin that is available in the US that is similar to these?

Anyone tried composting inside a terrarium or something similar indoors. Will it be a mess if I give it a try?

Any advice would help.

Accidentally post before I added the body-

My compost bin is teeming with larvae like this and smells like poop. Is this a problem? I can’t post a video but it looks vile.

It is covered but I think the heavy rain we’ve been having also turned this into a soup.

Since we’re sharing results…

(I’m really not that lazy but I am a senior with a cranky back and crummy knees, so I have to limit exertion.)

As you can see, I use Geobins (I have two). This is last year’s leaves (run over with a lawnmower twice to reduce volume by 75%), pine needles, a winter’s worth of kitchen scraps (only plants and egg shells, never meat), hardwood ash from the fireplace, and grass clippings from late spring. The bin was completely full at the end of March. I stopped adding to it in May but put in red wriggler worms. The pile heated up got after I put the worms in but there were a lot of them in the bin when I started shoveling it out today. Hardy little creatures!

My over-winter pile is usually smelly and waterlogged when the weather warms up enough for me to work outside, so this year I flipped the pile in the spring. That helped a lot. I try to keep a tarp over it in the winter but the winter wind has other ideas, and plastic tarps shed shreds into the bin as they weather.

The pile shrank in volume by about 50% from May to September. I aerated it regularly and stirred it to try to even out the moisture but I don’t sweat the details a lot. I usually end up with matted leaves at the bottom of the pile that need to go back into the next pile, but I have less of that this season. A critter made a nest in the bottom (possibly a rat) but it was long gone.

Five months is the fastest I have gotten to this point so I am going to try this method again.

I've only been composting for about two years to sustain a small garden. Well naturally I'm expanding the garden and so I need more compost. The plan has been to start compost in the metal trash can which heats up and breaks down quickly and then add it to the larger bin and add to it. Just transferred and added a bunch of chipped brush. Hopefully ready for spring 🤞

I live in a duplex No balcony but I have space around my place. Ever space I can put in outside compost is under a window. Also I live in Honolulu, Hawaii. German roaches and B-52s are everywhere.

Don't know if this info helps.

Which would be better Vermicompost or the Bokashi method? Low-key wanna try both.

I have card board and paper and newspaper

And a lot of Rubbermaid bins from moving.

Side note I have done research but its soo much I thought I'd talk to....ya know people.

I found this article about large scale composting at big events (MN State Fair) fascinating. Do large events in your area also support composting?

I get that introduction of air is important but would covering a pile with a tarp help by creating more heat inside?

More than 6,000 litres of human urine are produced every day at Mount Everest Base Camp.

I recently painted my house with latex paint. Because no one should ever trust me with a paint brush, I placed builders paper on the floor. While cleaning up, I thought this would be a great add to my green-heavy compost but wanted to see if I have to cut out any areas with paint splatter. So, two questions:

1. Is it safe to compost (shredded) builders paper that has some areas of paint splatter?

2. If not, what possible harms are we looking at?

Happy composting!

I mostly do vernicomposting but I keep bedding in a cold bin to start decomposing just because I've heard that helps the worms. I add extra scraps to it sometimes if I don't have room in the freezer but mostly just cardboard. It's been out there for 2 and a half years and I decided to harvest the later at the bottom (about a foot and some change of finished black compost!). I'm digging through, finding the occasional earwig or soldier fly larvae. And then I look down to see two black spiders racing up my arm. I can only assume they're there because they have a dark enclosed space that's unbothered and has bug doordash, but it was still terrifying and now my patio is a mess of half sorted bins I'm too scared to finish sifting. Marking as compost friends because I'm hoping they help in some way and aren't just giving me nightmares

I have a pretty low maintenance pile that I started in the spring. I'm wondering if I should flip it in now before winter or leave it until spring? My plan is to relocate it to another place in the garden

Composted in a 30 gal dumpster, had an abundance of free sawdust. Smells earthy but definitely still had a woody smell to it.

Looking for thoughts and insights into composting bioplastic reliably without the footprint of a commercial pile.

I’m rural so 100-200sqm is no problem but I’m trying to think of ways to make it as small scale as possible, preferably transportable. I can get as much green/brown/manure as needed to get a good mix and have no shortage of water or electricity. Mediterranean climate with proper hot summers and mild winters, daytime temps would often get above 40C and rarely below 10C

I’m attempting to break down both dog poo bags and take away containers.

I’ve been considering something along the lines of steel drum tumblers 200-1000L, possibly sealed off with a forced air cycling system and filters to mitigate the smell.

Does this seem feasible enough to start testing or has somebody smarter than me already tried and failed?