First what is compost?
Compost is decomposing organic matter. It is a mixture of carbon (brown) and nitrogen (green) By mixing leaves, paper, and cardboard which are browns in with kitchen scraps like vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, and eggshells that are high in nitrogen it will decompose and leave you with a natural soil amendment or plant fertilizer. Composting is free and easy and it is not gross or smelly like some people think. Compost happens you don't even have to do anything. If you add these materials and let them sit they will decompose within a few months however turning the compost gives it air and helps speed up the decomposition process. Decomposing matter gives off heat as is breaks down. The pile will heat up even in the middle of winter the center of the pile will be warm and you can see steam coming from the pile. Keeping the conditions aerobic (with air) will also prevent the pile from smelling.
Most people do not think about exactly how much waste we produce on a daily basis. It all gets hauled off to overcrowded landfills. Aside from the waste we throw out at our homes we often forget about the waste that accumulates from our work, school and from dining out. The waste can be several pounds, per person, per day. Why not take advantage of that waste and reuse it.
When organic material decomposes it gives off carbon dioxide; however when we place our waste inside of a plastic bag and bury it under several feet of waste it does not get oxygen and break down as it should. This causes methane build up which is a greenhouse gas way more toxic than CO2. Aerobic decomposition is quicker and will not produce methane gas as it would in a landfill.
Landfills typically collect trash and seasonally collect yard debris with different trucks. The yard debris is composted and at the end of every day they cover the trash with several inches of compost to reduce the smell. You can significantly reduce your trash output and produce some fertilizer for your lawn or garden. If you do not have a garden you can spread it across the lawn or I’m sure one of your neighbors will be more than happy to take your finished compost. But most likely you won’t want to share any.
Pet Worms? No they are not pets they are workers.
Vermicomposting is composting with worms. There are many different species of worms and not all worms are suited for composting. The most common type is the Red worm or red wigglers (Eisenia fetida). Another common worm is the European night crawler (eisenia hortensis) and I will explain why….
Garden or soil worms are not well suited for composting within a bin and vice versa. Manure worms will typically not survive when added to a garden since the conditions of a garden are too dry. If there are a few worms in your finished compost when you add it to your plants you do not have to worry since worms will not harm the plants or their roots but the worms will probably not live for very long. The worms only eat decomposing matter not living matter. If you are interested in worms for aerating your lawn you might want to try a larger breed such as Canadian night crawler or Alabama jumpers which tunnel and help move air, water, and nutrients through the soil.
Back to composting…..
Red worms and European night crawlers commonly referred to as ENC or Euros are the best type of worms for composting . Red worms are small but they eat a lot and will tolerate fluctuations in temperature as well as the disturbances of adding and burring food. ENC are a larger worm and prefer it on the cooler side and tend to burrow deeper. Most people require a pound or two of worms. I recommend two. You can purchase these worms at bait shops however they are usually sold in small quantities. Two pounds of red worms sells for around 40 - 50 dollars on the internet. Worm composting may seem more difficult but it definitely speeds up the process and offers benefits over regular composting. If you have kids it can turn into a learning project. Most younger kids will get a kick out of feeding the worms, and then you can use the kids as workers to help pick out worms from the finished compost.
Your choices of a bin should depend on your living situation and how much waste you produce. You can make a bin or buy one. I have several different homemade and store bought bins and I will tell you the advantages and disadvantages of both.
My first bin was a 50 gallon drum with a crank handle so the drum could be turned and it cost me $100. The reason I disliked this bin was because although 50 gallons sounds like a good size the drum can not be filled all the way. You can fill it half way and then it is difficult to turn. You can not keep the material covered easily since you are always turning it. So this style attracted a lot of flies. Don’t even think your going to throw leaves and grass clippings in this style bin. It will not handle the volume. Simply put If I knew then what I knew now I would have saved myself the $100. I did not use worms in this compost bin.
I started composting with worms using an 18 gallon storage bin that I drilled holes in the bottom and along the sides. I do not recommend drilling holes in the lid since rain water could get in and flood the bin. Plastic bins retain water fairly well and it is better to control the amount of water you add rather than worry about too much rain water getting in from the lid. Most people have an old bin lying around the house, garage or shed somewhere. You can pickup one at the store new for a few bucks, a yard sale or thrift store if you really want to recycle.
I recommend two bins depending on the amount of people in your house and how much waste you accumulate. If there are only 2 people in your house you probably only need one. There are 4 people in my house and in the beginning I started out with one bin. After a month I divided half the material in the bin and made a second. This allowed me to alternate every time I added compost. Worms quickly increase in numbers but are limited based on how much food is available and how much room they have to expand in the bin. If i could do it again I would have 2 bins right from the start.
Be patient.....When the material is well aged. Probably 3 - 4 months your going to want to use it in the garden. Feed one bin for a period or 2 weeks or a month and let the bin dry out a little bit. Don't add water or not as much. Take the bin that you have not been adding materials to and run it through a ¼ inch screen. What material falls through the screen can be added to the garden or put into a container. What material that does not fall through the screen can go back into the bin to continue composting. Then add material to the bin you just screened and let the opposite bin dry out. The finished compost passes through a screen easier when is has been left to dry out. You should let the screened compost sit for about a 2 week period before you use it. This also allows you to pick any weed seeds that may have sprouted in your compost. This type of composting does not get hot enough to kill seeds that may germinate. Having 2 bins helps prevent overfeeding and can help prevent the bin from heating up which may cause the worms to leave the bin.
There are different kinds of flow through bins. Stacking and Continuous flow through. The Worm Factory, Worm Factory 360 and Can-O-Worms are examples of stacking flow through. These systems have trays with holes on the bottom. You add you paper, food scraps and worms to the bottom tray. When the bottom tray is filled you add the next tray and keep adding food and paper scraps. The worms consume the food on the bottom and then migrate upward. The idea is that the first tray on the bottom will be the oldest and most broken down. By the time you get to the 4th tray most of the worms will have migrated upwards toward the fresh food source and there will not be many worms in the bottom tray. You then take the bottom tray run it through a screen and then add the bottom tray to the top and the cycle continues. I have the worm factory 360 and I am happy with the design. It saves you time since the new material is not mixed in with the old material like in the homemade storage bin. You will probably have to take the bottom tray out and let it dry our for a week before you run it through a screen. All the moisture will run down this system and the bottom tray is usually pretty wet. I still run the bottom tray through a screen since things like lettuce break down quickly and things like a corn cob take longer. These systems also have a collection area for the excess water which can be drained from the spigot and used as a liquid fertilizer. However I would probably dilute it in water.
Yard waste
A large amount of our waste comes from yard waste especially leaves and grass clippings. It is best to cut without a bag and let the grass clippings sit on the lawn. This will return nitrogen to the soil as well as cut back on what you throw out and reduce the amount of fertilizer you need. Shredding leaves with either a leaf shredder or a mulching lawn mower is a great way to speed up the composting process. The more finely shred the better. If you do add grass clipping to your compost make sure you don’t use chemical fertilizers on your lawn. If you do use chemical fertilizers and add the grass clippings to your pile I would recommend using the finished compost on your lawn and not in your garden where you could be passing along chemicals/pesticides to your tomato plants etc. This requires a bit more space and not everyone is able to compost all of their yard waste at their house. If you can not compost all your yard waste be sure to buy the bio degradable yard bags rather than throwing yard waste out in a plastic bag. If you do compost yard debris you can compost with or without a bin. Someone who lives near the woods could just pile it up at the end of their property without buying anything
If you want to contain the compost the cheapest way is to use a wire/mesh style fence. There are larger plastic bins that you can buy but can get expensive and sometimes simple is best. I purchased a large role of metal fence for 40 bucks and made 2 circles. (The 40 dollars I spent on a wire screen was cheaper than buying lawn bags.) I threw in piles of shredded leaves and added some organic compost starter which I got for 7 dollars at the home depot. My neighbors typically throw out 100 to 150 bags worth of leaves. I threw out a few small bags of acorns and composted all the leaves and believe me I had lots of leaves. I would have thrown out less but the acorns were so heavy I had to split them up in a few bags. My neighbors even asked me what the hell I’m doing with all my leaves. They were joking saying its to bad I can’t sell bags of leaves. I replied you could if you composted. If you do compost yard debris make sure you do not compost right near a tree, or between bushes. Reason being tree roots can grow up into your compost pile in search of nutrients.
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Good blog with helpful information. Thanks.
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