I’m still trying to grasp the concept of compost. Thank you for any advice!
We have free standing two rotating compost bins, the type that you can get off amazon, plenty of ‘brown’ material, hay from our chicken coop that is covered in poop, along with scraps from our kitchen. I know watering it will be a factor, but is amount of sunlight it gets per day and the amount I turn it important, as well?
How should I set these piles up and maintain them to achieve consistent compost, and is there anything I’m missing?
Thank you for your time!
by ConsistentBiped
6 Comments
What will you be using your compost for?
Sunlight doesn’t matter. Just pile that shit up and piss on it.
just fill one bay with organic matter and once it’s full fill the other bay
Looks built. Start piling.
Compost is easy, no need to stress about it. You have a great start. Collect all of that loose vegetation, leaves and such that you have around those bins. Then run a lawn mower over it to shred it up into smaller sizes. Put it into one of those bins and mix in your chicken straw next time you clean the coop. Add a little water and let it sit for a couple of weeks.Then you turn that pile into the other empty bin.
You can add additional organic material such as food scraps, lawn and garden cuttings as you go. After a couple of months you will want to turn the now we’ll decomposing pile out of those bins into a pile next to the concrete block bins. Let thst sit and next season you have compost.
Meanwhile keep putting your organic waste into those bins and start all over. Compost is as easy or hard as you want to make it.
Because i haven’t seen it mentioned before: Use two compost bays for one pile.
Shovel it from one side in the other however often you are able to. Weekly would be great, monthly is still ok. This way you put little air pockets back into the mix and can achieve a hot compost. (Faster, no smell, better offgases for the environment)
Alternatively you could just dump everything in one pile, turn into the other bin after 6 months or so and use it next season.
Shred browns, don’t dump your kitchen scrap ontop, bury it in the pile as to not attracts rats or other critters.
if you have lots of browns (leaves etc) i think it makes sense to dump them against the outside wall. This way you always have some closeby to add into the mix.
Oh and pissing on it adds some moisture and nitrogen. You basically need carbon and nitrogen, about twice as much browns as greens (more C) peeing on it adds some moisture and Nitrogen. All plant matter contains both nitrogen and carbon, usually you keep adding nitrogen as the browns decompose.
https://preview.redd.it/lfdrxguho1og1.png?width=444&format=png&auto=webp&s=af2865415eb9a7adaa2941550dd52e5ff4b57454
more nitrogen means higher temps, but can lead to a soggy compost without air. You’ll get a feeling for it.
Good luck