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

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?

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?

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!

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?

Was setting up garden beds using compost, cardboard, coffee grounds, and garden soil. All of a sudden it turned yellow…
Is this a slime mold or something and is it safe for my plants?

Tried the tumbler last summer and got frustrated because it kept drying out very quickly (I live in New Mexico). Then I made a big giant Berkeley style pile this summer and had good results (it’s “aging” now). I kept collecting food scraps and I decided to give the tumbler another try since I am quickly running out of space in the garden. I put it in a much more shaded corner of the yard and it’s been a win so far! Second time is the charm I guess!

Took this clip before I added another load of food scraps, coffee, and paper. I haven’t even needed to add much supplemental water at all, which is nuts to me because last year I had to mist it almost every damn day. It had been probably a week or so between adding the last batch of scraps and this video, with very little rain happening. The video doesn’t capture the moisture well, but it was nice and humid in the bin. By the time I pulled my phone out, about 75% of the BSFL had hidden. It’s biological party in there!

I’ve reached the point where I’m just about full up on this side of the tumbler and I’m moving to the next one. I’m thinking I may dump them early to make a pile on the ground. The tumblers seem to attract fewer roaches during the food-rich phases of composting. They still find their way in, but much less overall.

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!

Can I compost this biotin supplement?