[JohnE]

Any Monkeys actively compost? We are trying to redcue our footprint, and have inherited a composter, and are llooking to start actively composting kitchen waste and other organic matter. Mostly for fertilization of plants and flowers, but eventually (On purchase of our own home...) onto food crops.

Any tips/thoughts/ideas?

 

[stevew]

crack whore babies take awhile....

 

[johnbryanpeters]

4 x 4 bins, four pallets will work, or use fencing, or garden stores carry knock-down versions. Don't bother with rotating bins, etc.

Add stuff to bin until full. Don't bother turning, watering or any of the other religious activity. Start the second bin. By the time it's full, the first has turned to useful compost.

We actually run four bins and run a slightly more complicated rotation - one's empty, one's filling, one's composting, one's finished - when we need a new bin, composting bin contents gets shoveled into the empty bin, which eventually becomes the finished bin... Total labor consists of carting food and garden waste to bin and, for compost generated by two people, an annual exercise of an hour or so doing the rotation.

 

[Pesqueeb]

I second the 4x4 bin. I'll get a picture later. Right now we just have one, with the second to come this spring. Our yard/garden is pretty small and our food waste for 2 1/2 people isn't much either. When we were in the PNW we had 3 4x4 bins because out yard was so freaking huge. Do a google for composting, you'd be amazed and what you can put in your compost pile. Between the compost and recycling our trash can is never more than 1/4 full on any given week.

 

[stoney]

You need a balance of green and brown waste. There is a lot of easy research out there.

 

[in the trees]

I'm a proponent of turning as you add new compost in during the filling process. I think that it helps keep the worm colony spread out over the new compost. A good mix of green and brown waste is key esp. at the beginning when you're trying to get things going. I also use two bins (both Gardener's Supply hinged-top models) - one I continue to fill, and one that is totally full and composting. When the compost is finished, sift out any non-decomposed plant matter and add it back into the other bin.

I love it. And it'll reduce your trash substantially. The add benefit is that you can make compost tea to use as a fertilizer and all of your plants.

 

[JohnE]

Thinking about going into the wald by my house to harvest some worms myself...

 

[mantispf2000]

I have 2 raised vegetable beds, and I just throw the scraps into them as I get them. Turn the beds maybe once a month to mix the old/new matter, and have used our used sliding glass shower doors to get the "green house" effect to burn off any weed seeds that may have blown in and to help speed up the decomposing.

 

[boostindoubles]

I keep a worm bin in the kitchen and they eat most of our kitchen scraps. If your interested, pick up a copy of "Worms Eat my Garbage." It is extremely simple and mindless once it is set up, but setting it up right does take some instruction (not hard). You mentioned heading out into the forest and picking up some worms. Standard composting worms are known as red wigglers and are not generally found out n about. I bought mine off a lady through craigslist. You can get em shipped to your house from various online suppliers too. Night crawlers and other worms which habitat woods eat a different diet and have a different lifestyle than is good for a bin.

Like Joker and in the trees said, for standard aerobic composting you'll need a blend of green(high nitrogen) and brown(high carbon) waste. Off the top of my head it should be somewhere around 30/70 (N/C). The other essential components are air and water. If the walls of your bin are filled with gaps that should be sufficient for air. (like a pallet box or a tube made of chicken wire)

Definitely don't want your compost bin to go anaerobic, unless you want some slime with a nice stench.

Hope this helps some.

 

[bizutch]

pics of exterior bins please.

 

[in the trees]

pics of exterior bins please.

This is the one I have - Pyramid Composter | Buy from Gardener's Supply
I also have a smaller version that they no longer produce.

More compost bins here - Composting Bins, Composters for Home Composting | Shop Gardener's Supply

 

[SkaredShtles]

<snip> watering or any of the other religious activity

If you live in an arid environment watering occasionally speeds up the process quite dramatically.

 

[jdcamb]

I like how my neighbors pile steams in the morning. It is amazing how much steam comes off it. I want one now....

 

[bizutch]

I wanna build one. None of that "hey, what's with the plastic piece of crap in your yard?" retail stuff.

 

[boostindoubles]

I like how my neighbors pile steams in the morning. It is amazing how much steam comes off it. I want one now....

Thats probably where they dump their morning duece's.

 

[Pesqueeb]

If you live in an arid environment watering occasionally speeds up the process quite dramatically.

Since relative humidity here is consistently in the single digits, a weekly watering is almost a necessity. Not a drowning, but it is important to keep it semi-moist. Probably not true for you east/west coasters, I know I never did it when we lived in Washington.