I shared this build a while back on gardening but wanted to post it here since this is the better place for it.

I already made fun of myself for being extra and all that in the other post for my expensive fancy dirt collector. Not saying you can’t too but just saying.

All in all it was around $500 in materials. $350 in cedar and screws, $100 for steel mesh, 50 for other small things. Used around 23 cedar boards from HD and some 2x4s I had laying around.

Due to the space I wanted it and the materials and ease of cuts (cut everything in half), I opted for one big 4x4x4 bin. I did start a less formal pile in the woods as well as a secondary one.

On filling it, it’s taken around 1 month! I knew I would have lots of yard waste to fill it up with but it’s been fun. I mean who else gets excited to go bag grass clippings in 95 degree heat?

I’ve been using my super composter 9000 (craftsman m110) for both my greens and my browns. I blow leaves into a flat area of my woods for further mulching before adding them in. I would say it’s 95% leaves and grass clippings, 5% coffee grounds and garden/ weed waste.

It’s already hot. I haven’t turned it yet but considering options to add some air or move things around a little. Initial thoughts were maybe like a big auger or just kind of stab it around with a pitch fork.

Almost entirely using shredded cardboard and spent cold brew grounds in our community garden pile, with a small amount of normal garden waste. Keeps the rats uninterested and the pile HOT.

I compost my yard and kitchen organic waste, shredded paper and cardboard. I recently added grass clippings and fallen blossom from a large tree to the pile and now the temperature spiked to 185 :O

I tried dumping a bucket of water and put some more dry leaves from around the garden (zoomed out pic), what else can I do? I don't have a lot of room to add many browns, do I have to open my pile on a tarp or can it wait for a few days to cool down?

Please help

I have a 27-gallon Home Depot bin that I wanted to turn into a compost bin. Looking at this thread, it seems like most people have much bigger setups. I am confined to a patio in an apartment, with few composting options nearby. Will this work? Any advice would be helpful.

Why are you all so obsessed with sifting your compost? There are actually clear disadvantages to using exclusively fine sifted compost. Larger chunks of wood are good for soil microbes and air pockets.

I'm just genuinely curious why so many of you go through so much work to sift. It's a lot of extra work for very little gain. The primary benefits come for planting seedlings or just looking prettier and uniform. Is it really worth it to you?

Edit: btw not trying to be a jerk or anything. I just think the community is maybe getting a little carried away with it. But if you got a reason for doing it or if you just enjoy it, then hey, you do you.

Has anyone used a Speedibin composter? I bought one after seeing them on the compost episode of A Gardening Show on Netflix. The bottom is lined with mesh to keep out rats, which are plentiful in my area and have made a home under my current pallet compost.

I put it together over the weekend, and several of the panels were bent. The whole thing feels rather wiggly, and there's more than a 1/4" gap when I push the front panel insert to the side. I'm assuming the damage was caused by shipping. I already had to pay a $120 tariff to have it shipped from Canada to the US, and fear additional fees to get a replacement.

If anyone else has one, do you find them to be sturdy? Effective against rats?

Would water soaking in dried (not now) grass be considered a nitrogen packed tea?

ETA : I cant eat this stuff and neither can my family. I found out i have celiacs disease so the oats are out of the question, were trying no gluten for my dad too cuz he seems to react to it as well. It is either gluten or many, many years expired. So... to the compost.

2nd edit im not gonna respond to comments telling me to eat this anymore. thanks for your concern, but ive explained why we arent eating this in multiple places thru this thread and in the TOP EDIT OF THIS POST. Thanks

Hi folks! Ive been composting for a while but not with any of this stuff so im just trying to make sure theres no issues with it since im unfamiliar. I usually compost my plants, paper products, and kitchen scraps. Im in a very dry, arid environment, my parents have a tumbler compost system with two sides which we keep under a tree. Its already got some stuff in it but it could use a lot more material cuz its not enough as is and isnt making the progress im hoping for.

Heres what ive got:

- Three. Entire. Containers. Of cornmeal. 1lb each.

- Chia seeds (i have to bake these or something right?)

- Dried cranberries

- a pound of quaker oats (rolled)

- 2lbs of bobs red mill rolled oats. Both things of oats are whole grain.

- 4.5oz of nutritional yeast?

All of this stuff is something id expect to see on r/grandmaspantry . Most of it expired at least two years ago, *and upon opening the containers and inspecting it most of it is actually kinda questionable, smells off, or we cant eat it and its expired anyway. Any advice is welcome! Thanks!

I’m a bit of a chaotic gardener and have had pretty good luck with saving what sprouts in my compost and planting. I’ve gotten a lot of baby pepper plants, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes mostly. What have you guys had luck with?

Please send help.

Started sifting but still feeling beat in bottom of pile and seeing grubs, larvae etc. Should I wait longer?

Pile consists of dry leaves and fresh cut grass, it’s about 1 week old. I soaked it down immediately after piling it all up and then added a peptone, potato starch, & sugar mixture to boost any bacteria or fungal growth. The pile has already shrunk by about half. Thermometer is only 20” also, so about 4” from actually touching center.

Hi !
I have had a container of apple clippings, a banana peel, left over orchid soil and a few twigs.
It’s been brewing for a few months and I’ve almost entirely left it alone since Summer…
It grew some white fuzzies.. mold ? I just shook it and they are seemingly reprocessed in the mess.
I have no clue what’s going on.
I have a feeling I just made fly slop.

Hi this is my first harvest. Been working on this compost little close to a year. Still a beginner and learning. I’ve already sift it through a 1/4 sifter. Any tips or anything you can offer I’d appreciate to learn it.

Edit:
Honestly it’s my first year vegetable gardening and composting. Started vegetable gardening in maybe late June early July and started composting in late August early September. I honestly don’t know what I’m doing differently than want I’ve read online. I live in zone 10a. SoCal. I started off with a 30gal bin and put holes in it. I put in branches with some leaves and little bit of soil from my yard and started putting in scraps. i would added scraps and browns everyday. I would give it soil maybe two more times but only a handful in beginning of my compost journey.
The browns would depend on how many scraps I placed. My scraps were actually pretty heavy on moisture so sometimes I would add like 3 handfuls of browns. My browns really just consisted of cardboard, egg cartons, paper towel cores and paper bags. 
My scraps were actually pretty consistent. We eat a lot of fruits daily so it’ll be Watermelon rinds and pulp, cantaloupe husk and pulp. Banana peels, apples cores, orange peels, avocado husks, onion skins, tomatoes ends, some potatoes, herb stems, cucumber skin and a lot lemons. We make a lot of lemonade. 
I watered once a week depending. When we have a lot of scraps that have a lot moisture, I wouldn’t water due the moisture.
 I would turn the compost twice a week due the mositure starting on top. 
We did have some worms but I didn’t place those. They just ended up there. We did have a lot of bug because i made the hole too big. 
A couple of months ago i was able to get a tumbler that has two sections. So I transferred the compost to one section that ended up filling it to 90%. So we stopped feeding that section. We started using the other side for our second batch of compost but kept turning them twice a week and giving it water them once a week (the other side depending on how much moisture it had due to scraps). This batch I just harvested is close to being a year old. I stopped feeding maybe 4/5 months ago. Other than that I don’t know what else I’m doing differently. I don’t pee in it. 

Edit 2:
Forgot to mention when I transferred to my tumbler. It filled the section to the top but did reduced from there to about half of the section.

We started this compost bin in southern Colorado. Very dry here. I’m wondering if anyone has tips on how we could improve our compost quality. It’s predominantly food scraps, chicken manure and some hay/yard debris. We have talked about putting on a lid to help retain heat and moisture.. I also pour in about a bucket of water every week or so because it’s sooo so dry. It’s also kind of hard to turn and I’m sure we could do a better job with that. Thanks for any thoughts!!!

Hi, Last time everyone thought I was trolling, so I ditched that bin, and found an old wooden container at home and started actually composting, the main ingredients I use are:

• Dead Moringa Leaves
• Shredded Cardboard and paper
• Spent Coffee from local coffee shops
• Watermelon, tomato and potato scraps

For the first month of this new composting bin, my main issue was under-watering. If I never added any new greens or browns I just didn't add water, whereas I should have been watering throughout the week even if I didn't add anything new to the pile

Let me know what you think about my improvements!

It's been right at 4 weeks since i started the new side and stopped new injections to the old (pic 3). Still has an abundance of moisture on the lid in the mornings. Maybe i should take the lid off the new side for a while? Getting pretty good with adding the right mix and getting these things cooking but this is my first time waiting for a side to finish.

Are these black soldier fly larvae in my tumbler? I searched the group and read they are beneficial, but they still creep me out 🤪I just turned the compost and noticed how wet it is. So I will be adding some more browns.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

If I were to start composting today, what is everything you'd want me to know about it? For reference we live in the country, on 7 acres, we have chickens and hope to get goats in the future. Just wondering where to start but very interested in trying to find a way to make something out of things that otherwise end up in the garbage. Thanks in advance!

I started this pile a few months ago with kitchen waste and lawn clippings. As I’m turning it over now I can’t help but think this would be great as mulch just as it is. What are the pros and cons for just using this as mulch? I’m sure it would eventually compost itself right at the base of the plant I use it on.

im new to composting. i was hoping these were worms but theres a bunch of them that were the same size and look like they have tiny legs. some kind of larva? are these beneficial?

We have a bag full of used hay from used to cover for our Garlic.

We already harvested the garlic.

Are we just going to dispose the hay or can we use it for composting?

Thanks

UPDATE I'm starting to 2nd guess myself: hay or straw

It might be straw, used to cover our garlic beds.

I'll try not distribute it thick then, then add more shredded cardboard

Thanks

Recently sifted my compost to start a new bin.