Title says it all. As we turn towards fall and winter in the northern hemisphere, we need to bolster some of our indoor plants and I have a pile of finished black gold that needs to be used. Thought I could mix it with other ingredients (perlite, coir, etc) to make potting soil.

But the ratios seem a bit all over the place from Googling recipes. Does anyone here have a recipe/ratio that you like and has worked for you?

Hey guys! So I got quail about 6 weeks ago and have been building a poop pile with no real knowledge of composting. Finally doing my research and I'm wondering if you guys have any advice. I'm thinking I'm gonna use lawn clippings (which I've also just been piling for years and not intentionally composting) and the wood shavings from the poop trays I think count as "browns?" Or should I still add cardboard. Basically what I'm asking is so I need anything other then poop. Grass. And wood shavings? I was told compost was hard but if that's all it is it doesn't sound very hard so I'm afraid I'm missing something lol

Up until now i've been happily using an old container with holes in it but i decided to buy a tumbler composter just for the convenience and a more cohesive setup. The thing is, while transferring my compost to my new bin i saw loads of healthy worms and after tumbling it for the first time noticed many of them looked pretty beaten up.

My question is, do worms and beneficial insects survive the tumbler bin, does this affect the finished compost, and should i spin it more carefully to prevent killing them?

So many BSFL they literally rain down from the sides when I open my bin. We’ve had some hurricane rains recently so there haven’t been many dry browns to mix in. … anyone have a hungry chicken??

Just started composting this summer. Made a huge green dump today so had to restock the browns. 4-5 gallons of fresh cardboard!!

But want to quit because of this 🤢 Midwest, USA. Do I need to move now?

I have found a ton of ancient tea when my parents used to drink it back in the day. I got caffeinated non caffeinated all sorts of sh#t and also am wondering if that counts as a green or brown.

Whenever it rains I find them dead in the little divots on the outside of my compost bin. When I rinse off the outside of the tumbler with water, I can watch them crawl out of the vent holes and try to find dry land. Anyone else have this? Frankly it’s a little horrifying, and when I spin my tumbler I have to watch my hand placement carefully to make sure I’m not grabbing maggots. I literally cannot find mention of this anywhere and I just need to know that it’s semi-normal lmao

hi all! i wanted to get a general consensus of how everybody here turns their compost into soil. i know that plants like to grow in soil, ie a mix of organic matter, clay, sand, etc.

what do yall use to make you soil after composting? do you buy bags of the above ingredients? do you find this stuff yourself in your area? do you buy soil and then mix your own compost into it?

i’m not really looking for one specific “correct” answer here, more that i wanted to open up the discussion and see how everybody does it differently!

i made this mistake of planting some indoors plants of mine in JUST compost, which i’ve since learned is the wrong way to do it. luckily i haven’t had too many issues other than the compost just drying out very quickly.

I had to leave for two months and just came back to find my compost looking completely “dead.” I wasn’t too surprised, but now I’m trying to figure out how to get it going again.

One of the bins is mushy and smells fine, and with hundreds of earthworms still in there, I’m wondering if it might be finished. The other bin, however, clearly needs help. Any advice on how to restart it? (I’m in Southern California by the way.)

I forgot apples and peanut butter in my bag yesterday. Can I throw them in compost or should I wash off PB?

Or just toss?

Hi there! I currently live in an apartment with a small balcony so I can’t compost in my home. However, I found the app Sharewaste and am bringing compost to a neighbor. I’ve been moving the compost from a small kitchen bin to a regular 5 gallon bucket on the balcony. However, it takes me a few weeks to fill up the bucket and it’s hot where I live, so last time when I went to drop off compost which is a 10 minute drive, my car reeked and it took days of airing out and baking soda to get the smell out. I know I could drop it off more often, but does anyone have recommendations for larger volume smell proof compost containers?

I remember when my grandpa always used to keep any carp we caught. He would say he was going to put them in the garden. Would he have just buried them in a hole, or did he compost them first?

What do people do with carp they take?

I've got an abundance of browns, and really need more greens. If I decompose browns in water (along with the occasional green plant that survives our dry winter), would they become greens to add to my pile? Otherwise, I'm trying to get coffee grounds from the local coffee shop...

I have a 70lb outdoor bin (covered) that composts food scraps and yard debris.

I heard that you should turn your compost. I have tried to use a shovel and porch fork but it’s very heavy. Any advice how to make sure it’s turned? What happens if I skip this?

TIA

I'm about to start growing my own mushrooms, and I'm trying to figure out if I'm better off putting the unwanted mushroom substrate into my compost pile of if I'm better off feeding it to my worms. Worms will probably think it's early Christmas since it's a giant block of soft plant like nutrients, but I've also been told it can supercharge a batch of compost. Anyone have experience with this conundrum/more information about which way I should compost mushroom substrate?

Do you still throw them in the pile or try to keep them out of the pile? Is there a size limit?

I have a few questions about what I can compost but I feel like it will probably be simpler to just tell you what's in my compost pile. A month ago I started a compost pile in an old plastic trash can. It has a couple gallon bags worth of expired herbs, spices, and seasonings, about the same amount of wood pellets (now saw dust) that my cats have peed in, a bunch of cardboard, some of which is full color but not glossy, like soda can boxes, a bunch of food scraps from stuff like fruits, vegetables, egg shells, and coffee grains. I'm trying to hot compost all of this, outside, in central Georgia. I figured if I get it hot enough the cat pee would be sanitized and I wasn't sure about the cardboard because every video I saw about composing said to avoid colorful AND glossy cardboard. I've tossed it about once a week and I've added water a could times too. The contents feel a little warm compared to the outside air but I'm not sure how hot it is getting because I don't think my meat temperature gauges are working. I have a bunch of food scraps and mostly brown cardboard I am waiting to add but I'm not sure if I should add to it or to it out.

What should I do with this compost? Can I salvage it?

Sorry if this is annoying! My partner and I are wanting to start composting at our home. We don't own our place so we need some kind of outdoor bin. We were looking at the spinning bins, and wondered if anyone had any suggestions/outdoor receptacles that they liked. Thank you!