I tried turning the compost today, but didn’t notice much progress on the bottom layer.

I’m in Tasmania and there are lots of eucalyptus trees shedding their bark.

I wouldn’t remove this from forest areas, but there’s plenty to be found around the streets from roadside trees or trees in people’s front yards.

Im wondering: do these count as browns?

And does anyone know if it’s going to have any adverse affects on my pile? (allelopathic compounds or anything like that?) I can’t find anything online about bark—only the leaves.

They crunch up nicely. So I was going to get a load in a bucket. Smash them up and then add them as my browns source for a while.

Hello, I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to add diseased or infected plants into compost. I’m a gardener so I bring home a ton of scraps from other gardens. Some scraps I bring home have disease or aphid infestations. I’m in Texas so the compost gets pretty hot and I figured the heat would take care of it. So I guess my questions are

1: will heated compost kill any diseases that are on plant scraps? 2: is there anything I can add to my already made compost that will help it fight off disease or infections or bad funguses. 3: should I stop adding these infected scraps if I want healthy compost

Would love to hear yalls opinions. Thanks

"A lot of gardeners are concerned about using cardboard in the garden - and well they should consider it carefully! There's little doubt that a double layer of corrugated cardboard, overlapping about 6 inches and placed over weeds that have been mowed, then covered with compost, good organic garden soil, organic matter that will rot in place, or mulch is an excellent way to get rid of weeds. But are we introducing chemicals into the garden that we don't want in our organic gardens?One older claim is that warehouse boxes (particularly those from Amazon) are sprayed with pesticides. However, I can find no evidence that it's true. In fact, USA TODAY says Amazon told them they do not spray their boxes "for any reason," nor are their boxes pre-treated for anything.

Further, after speaking with representatives from some of the nation's top cardboard box manufacturers, including Georgia-Pacific, International Paper, and Fiber Box Association, the newspaper found these boxes were not treated with pesticides, either.More recently, claims that cardboard boxes contain "forever chemicals" (i.e. per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS) have made the rounds.

However, PFAS are only found in grease- and water-resistant cardboard, like that seen in boxes used for takeout or fast food, which are not the type of cardboard recommended for gardening. ***That said, it is POSSIBLE for PFAS to potentially appear in small amounts in boxes that are made from recycled materials.***The good news is, there's an easy way to test cardboard for PFAS contamination. Since PFAS cardboard is designed to repel oil, water, and other liquids, all you have to do is put a drop of cooking oil on the cardboard. If it beads, the cardboard probably has PFAS. If the oil soaks in, it's safe to say the cardboard is PFAS-free.

Be sure to test both sides of the cardboard.And what about the chemicals used to glue cardboard boxes together? It turns out, these are made from plant starches (corn, rice, wheat, and potatoes). And the ink used on some boxes? Black ink is vegetable-based. Colored inks MAY have small amounts of metals in them, which can build up in the soil, which is why I don't recommend using them.According to The ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture Program's research, which looked into the chemicals used in cardboard ink, glue, and coatings, brown corrugated cardboard is benign in the garden."

I bought a cheap meat thermometer from family dollar just to see how hot my compost is getting. But being a cheap one, the probe is only like six inches long. The pile is definitely active and is staying warm even in the cold weather but the thermometer reads around 110. Should I be taking readings deeper in the pile (roughly a cubic yard of material)?

I get not putting a pound of fat in your compost, but when I flip my pile it's FULL of bugs and they are all popping, having sex, and dying in there. Anyone who doesn't want a bit of meat in their pile better not look closely at how much meat crawls into their pile!

My compost pile a decade ago was carefully curated and was fine but didn't break down fast and was mostly browns. For the past 10 years I'll throw most anything in there that is mostly plant based and it dies so much better. A container of leftover spaghetti, fried eggs, buttered rice, etc. It all breaks down perfectly.

Does anyone else save their egg shells in a 5 gallon bucket?

We are in an area without deciduous trees so I can't get leaves. Technically it is our spring here, but practically that just means the wet season. We are getting slammed after about a 5 month drought. My piles are slimy and way too wet, mostly filled with horse and chicken manure. I need large quantities of browns. Ideas on where I could maybe score? And what (besides fallen leaves, boxes, and paper) would count as browns?

Do you think this can be composted? Seems shiny to me. Went on storopack website but couldn't find anything

I use the patented yip-and-tear system to shred my browns, what do y’all use?

I returned home to find a VERY chunky squirrel eating my porch pumpkins. He had the nerve to keep going as my dog hooted and howled from behind our glass door- full view!

Is it unwise to compost trimmings with this very common fungal infection?

What did you do wrong? How’d you fix it?

I have a compost bin on a site I manage that is in too cold a space, barely breaks down even over summer. On its first turn over going to move it to a better space.

Hey compost experts... Are coffee grounds considered more carbon rich versus nitrogen rich for the compost pile? I'm trying to start a batch inside to be put outside come spring. Been adding lots of grounds thinking they will add the browns portion of compost.

Hey! I've been collecting some rotting vegetables for a week and putting them in a closed vase to make it anaerobic, my question is: should i add some compost from the bin or "browns" to it? Its all gooey and saturated with the liquids from the vegetables.

https://preview.redd.it/knj2uden00ce1.jpg?width=698&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6569bb8de591a44a6e2a908a88a88305d0280779

So, I've bene making compost for some years now, but in a quite lazy way. I basically just put in the compostable kitchen scraps and add some brown time to time, when - and if - I randommly remember to. Whit the same frequency and precision I sometime give it a rought stir, but since I'm lazy, just to the reachable upper part. So I only properly stir it when the composter is full and I have to sift it all. Then I procede to mix what is left whit some browns, add some water and put everything back in the composter. Lurking on this beautifull sub for a while I've noticed that you guys proudly share pics of thermometer measureing how hot your compost gets. So, when I found a very cheap thermometer while shopping for Christmas, I decided to invest 2€ out of my economic capital to discover how hot my compost is, whit a very low expectation.

This was quite unexpected to me :)

OK - my family thinks I’m nuts because I now have three separate receptacles for kitchen waste: garden compost, municipal compost and chicken scraps.

Help me not feel so alone…

Hi, I’ve been keeping my bokashi bucket for 12 days, and I’ve noticed the sour smell is becoming increasingly strong. I know the recommended fermentation time is 2 weeks, but I find the smell unpleasant. Is it okay to bury the contents now? Thanks

Hi everyone. I'm a newbie to composting. I was away for a few weeks and only starting adding to it a few days ago. I suddenly have a lot of fluid and worms (not earthworms) in it. Is it normal? Should I throw out the fluid?

Bottom is pretty good. Haven't touched it since I put my mulched leaves in it. I have added green on top.

Can I just fill my bin with browns/dry... And just slowly add greens/blue/per over time instead of trying to match everything?

Theoretically, I'll end up with too much green eventually, but when I get there can I just overload browns again, right?

It'll start dry, but I'll never end up with a stinky methane mess this way, right?

good haul for me, i guess.

1 would adding certain fungi help a hot compost or other types by breakong things down or would the microbes just break down fungi too

2 whats difference between bokashi microbes and hot compost microbes and can you use bokashi inoculation on regular hot compost

and I guess the reason why I try in my own little ways to lessen my impact, to painstakingly separate every grain, every bit to compost, where it sometimes almost feels maddening, troublesome, mentally exhausting, is that I hope I am tending and giving back to this Earth that has provided so much, that is so full of beauty and wonder, that we have overstressed and taken for granted, that even though I am guilty of so many things and so imperfect, I hope and pray that these little gestures and offerings and returnings will somehow someday forgive us for what we’ve done.