/r/composting

Photograph via snooOG

A place to talk about decomposing materials into compost.

Compost - organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment.

Do you have a garden and want an easy way to make fertilizer?

Wondering what to do with all those table scraps, leaves, and grass clippings?

Make compost! It is easy to start and easy to maintain.

Share your tips, stories, ideas, pictures, or questions!

Post requirements:

Setting some minimums to maintain spam:

  1. Account must be at least 30 days old.
  2. Accounts must have a combined 100 karma points.

Posting Rules

  1. Be respectful to others - this includes no hostility, racism, sexism, bigotry, etc.

  2. Submissions and comments must be composting focused.

  3. For people posting their own content, make sure to follow Reddit's rules for self promotion and spam. If you do not, your post will be removed.


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/r/composting

156,922 Subscribers

1

Compost ~and~ fertilizer?

Hi, I'm new to composting! My pile isn't ready yet so I got a Mel's mix form a local large-scale composter. Should I add fertilizer here at the start or after a set amount of time, or do I not even need to worry about it this season?

My compost should be ready april/may--would you recommend incorporating that at some point in lieu of a fertilizer?

Thanks so much!

0 Comments
2024/03/12
17:24 UTC

2

Just got given a compost bin. Eager to get started but need advice on placement please (see comments)

1 Comment
2024/03/12
16:57 UTC

3

Early Compost with Ants

I’ve recently started composting in an old compost bin to try and put my food waste to good use as our local authority doesn’t collect it. We don’t have much garden waste at the moment so it is mostly food waste as ‘green’ waste and shredded paper and cardboard for ‘brown’. I’ve struggled to reach the 25:75 green:brown ratio that most places recommend as I only own so much cardboard! but I’ve tried pretty hard to keep it at at least 50/50.

The heap is about a month old and still pretty small and I’ve just started to notice some ants. From my understanding ants often come when the mix is too dry, likely from too much brown. My brown ratio is pretty low so this surprised me. Is it likely that this is because 1) there is quite a large amount of food waste which attracts the ants and 2) the use of non natural brown waste I assume is probably dryer than leaf litter etc so has possibly dried out the compost?

It’s only a couple ants so far and when looking it up and some sites seem to say that a couple ants is fine or even good as long as it’s not a whole colony. So what I’m hoping to figure out is:

A better understanding of why I’ve ended up with ants and if I need to try to change my mix?

Should I pour some water on my compost to wet it down a bit to get rid of them?

And if some ants are okay for now, when is it a problem? How many ants is too many ants? 😂

Thank you! -a slightly confused beginner who doesn’t want to infest her landlords garden XD

3 Comments
2024/03/12
14:04 UTC

3

Compost Tea

I want to make some compost tea to soak biochar in. What's a good, simple method that will give a good product? I've never made compost tea before. I have plenty of nice, fungus-rich compost, as well as an air pump for aeration.

4 Comments
2024/03/12
13:13 UTC

1

Compost Tea

I want to make some compost tea to soak biochar in. What's a good, simple method that will give a good product? I've never made compost tea before. I have plenty of nice, fungus-rich compost, as well as an air pump for aeration.

2 Comments
2024/03/12
13:13 UTC

0

Compost Tea

I want to make some compost tea to soak biochar in. What's a good, simple method that will give a good product? I've never made compost tea before. I have plenty of nice, fungus-rich compost, as well as an air pump for aeration.

0 Comments
2024/03/12
13:12 UTC

0

Compost Tea

I want to make some compost tea to soak biochar in. What's a good, simple method that will give a good product? I've never made compost tea before. I have plenty of nice, fungus-rich compost, as well as an air pump for aeration.

0 Comments
2024/03/12
13:12 UTC

7

Inherited a neglected composting pile. How do I fix this?

Here is the photo album of the pile

In the back of my garden I found a neglected composting pile.
It was hidden behind the hedge and it's just one collection pile of all the leaves and garden waste from the garden. Nothing separated or thoughtful about it.

I opened it up from the front so I can easily access it, either with a wheelbarrow or a small digger.
My question is, how do I salvage this? Where do I start? What should I aim for to begin with?

There's enough room for 2-3 individual smaller piles, so I was thinking about digging it out and starting over. But damn, it's a lot to dig out.

If this was your starting pile/situation what would be your plan of action?
Thank you in advance for your time and input!

21 Comments
2024/03/12
12:28 UTC

3

How to keep my compost as Light as possible

3 Comments
2024/03/12
05:37 UTC

2

Composting/Gardening Survey

Hello everyone! Hope you all are having a nice day. I would really appreciate it if you could fill out my 5 minute survey for my design class. It's just a general survey about your experience gardening or composting whichever applies to you. I'm hoping to design some sort of kit for beginners. Thank you!

https://forms.gle/zyBRCTGMEpyudnVS6

1 Comment
2024/03/12
04:42 UTC

13

Added a nice stone to stand on

While relieving myself of course

1 Comment
2024/03/12
01:50 UTC

6

Bird in compost

Went out to throw in some kitchen scraps and there was a bird fluttering around in my bin. Must have trapped it in there when I put the lid on last time or something. That bird flew away when I opened it but there is another one (pictured). It’s breathing but wont move even when I tap on the side of the bin. Not sure if its dying or laying eggs or what. Im too squeamish to move it. Should I suck it up and move it? Or leave it there?

6 Comments
2024/03/12
00:20 UTC

7

My worms have liquified

I am very sad to write this, but the worms in one of my compost buckets have liquified. They seemed to be trying to escape from the bucket as it happened and were therefore all around the the bucket lid when I opened it :( :( :(

This happened once before when I had my ratios wrong and the compost turned to sludge that reeked of methane, which I assume is what killed the worms. This time, however, the compost doesn't really smell, and although it's a little wetter than normal, it's not sludge.

Any thoughts on why the worms liquified? And does it mean the compost is off? I added more dirt to it today to try to save it, but any additional advice would be greatly appreciated!

5 Comments
2024/03/11
23:15 UTC

9

Finally started getting larva in my compost.

I’ve always lived in apartments and had to be very particular about how I kept my compost, so it’s never been tended in an ideal manner, and in the past I’ve always had issues with wet compost and not enough browns. This bin here has been going for several years and I finally got to a place where I can compost outside on the ground floor.

Now to the point of my post with that backstory out of the way; I intend to build or get a proper composter that’s easier to turn and aerate, but I was adding some browns over top this morning and noticed it was filled with larvae. I was pretty excited since I know that they’re excellent for breaking down the pile, but I was wondering what type of larvae these might be since they don’t look like BSFL, fruit fly, or house fly larvae. So I was simply wondering if you good people had an inkling so I can reassure my wife that they aren’t mosquito larvae. Thanks!

4 Comments
2024/03/11
20:27 UTC

1

Temperature sensor & data logger

As I'm making alot of woodchip, manure and coffee ground compost ( fungal dominated ) I'm looking for a data logger to record temperature.

Something like this ;

ThermElc TE-04 ET Temperature Data Logger with External Sensor, PDF & EXCEL Report, USB Data Logger Big Screen, LED Alarm, 35000 Readings, Waterproof, Calibrated for Lab/Clinic/Refridge https://amzn.eu/d/br0zQzk

Ideally I'd want something easier too download data onto phone via Bluetooth . Any advice any1 on products

7 Comments
2024/03/11
18:14 UTC

2

Small White Worms?

Hi,

I started my very first Tumbler compost about a month ago, one side is full and I am getting started with the second side.

I have noticed many flies and tried to add more browns, more liquid, still seeing many small flies..

Last week we had a day of heavy rain and the next day I found these little worms on the top of the tumbler. I have not added any worms to my compost bin, but I would not be surprised if any of them are forming on their own. I'm still curious if these kinds of worms are expected? Is a sign of good progress or should I be doing something different?

All inputs are appreciated!

https://preview.redd.it/tx6oz9kmwqnc1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2ceb9c9c2fb25ab3366490c57a3da07faa8e60e

3 Comments
2024/03/11
18:06 UTC

9

Really old weed/comfrey tea - safe to use?

Is there any freaky biology that takes over after it sits around a while? I made about 5 gallons in July and only used a little of it. It's been outside in a closed pickle bucket since.

I just opened it and it doesn't look or smell scary and there's no visible mold, but I want to be sure. Thanks.

8 Comments
2024/03/11
17:30 UTC

15

First Haul

This is my first batch, started October last year. Kitchen scraps and cardboard mostly at 2:1 ratio. Seemed wet so I mixed in dry grass 8 and 4 weeks ago once the weather warmed up. I laid it out on a tarp over our future garden location to take a look. Netted about 10 gallons.

I can clump it into muddy balls easily, but it smells very earthy. No rotting smell. The most recognizable thing in there are eggshells (brown and white) and other than the recent grass and leaves I added, nothing super recognizable to me.

How am I doing? I think this is usable, but will it gain any additional benefits if I leave it out to dry for a while? I am debating adding more dry grass or cardboard as well. Located in central Texas so it is pretty dry here. We're excited to get our starters planted and then use this up!

9 Comments
2024/03/11
16:37 UTC

226

House came with a compost bin

How do I care for something this large? There are two more sections the same size.

40 Comments
2024/03/11
13:57 UTC

1

Can leaves break down without moisture? Question about composting in chicken dustbath.

Hi. I am wondering if my idea will work.

I was thinking of getting one of those tall 30" raised garden beds to use as a dust bath for my chickens. The dust bath will be under a canopy so it wouldn't get directly rained on. The bottom of the bed is open to the ground and will have direct contact with the earth. I was thinking of filling the bottom 2/3 with leaves and then the rest with soil for the chickens to use for their bath. My idea is that the leaves will break down over time and I would have nice compost in the bottom. However I don't know if this will happen since the bath will be covered and won't be getting rained on. We do get heavy rains in my area so there will be times when some moisture comes through the ground but I don't know that it would ever be fully saturated.

Would this method result in compost/leaf mold or am I just trapping dry leaves under dirt?

Thanks so much for any input.

6 Comments
2024/03/11
13:12 UTC

7

Want to build three bin system in a yard that floods easily… strategies?

Hi there,

I’m planning on building a 3-bin compost system, and need help mitigating the level of rain we get here in coastal SC.

I want my bin to have ground contact to encourage worms coming in, but at the same time I’m afraid of excess water ruining my compost. A tarp will keep the water from pouring on top, but the standing water surrounding the bin will still swamp any design I can think of that will still maintain ground contact.

What kind of solutions are available for people in my position?

6 Comments
2024/03/11
03:36 UTC

3

Horse Manure Pile Question

Follow up to my original post.

So I did cover it as everyone suggested. Its been sitting out there for 6 days. We dropped to 30F this morning but I checked the pile in multiple spots and it was 110F. It mostly consists of horse manure but it does have a small amount of hay mixed in. Age of the mix is both newer and older from a huge pile where I got it.

Question 1: Do I have too much nitrogen as the pile is predominantly manure? I have a new wood chipper, should I add wood chips to balance more carbon? How do I know?

Question 2: Do I need to get it to 130F to kill weed seeds? Does that mean it needs more nitrogen? Or could the lack of carbon be a limiting factor?

Please educate me as this is my first pile. Thanks in advance!

5 Comments
2024/03/11
01:48 UTC

42

I got worms! (A thank you to the community)

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of my pile wondering if I was doing anything wrong and was assured I was doing everything right and just needed to trust the process. I just moved my pile into a big cardboard box with holes in (it’s been pretty windy so I did that to help it from blowing around) and I saw worms found their way through the thick clay soil into my pile! Thanks everyone for the reassurance!

1 Comment
2024/03/10
21:31 UTC

7

Interested in getting started but question about raccoons

I live in the suburbs in the woods and have been informed it is not environmentally friendly (I thought it was oops) to throw food scraps off the back porch into the woods, so I’m interested in getting a compost bin instead. My one big question is, does the compost bin need to be raccoon proof/ is there a feasible way to make it raccoon proof? There are a lot of raccoons in our neighborhood/ woods (neighbors feed them intentionally….) and, since they can climb basically anything, and have hands, I didn’t know if it’s even possible to have a raccoon proof bin, or if it’s just a moot point.

Thanks in advance. I’m still doing research into compost bins but I’m leaning towards

24 Comments
2024/03/10
20:22 UTC

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