Continuous composting

Hi there!

After listening to Hellen Atthowe talk about how she feeds the soil nowadays, I'm going to try a new composting method.
I am not heading for a sanitized, perfectly safe compost, but looking for the kind of substrate that mimicks how organic matter is found in nature.

Here is what I'm going to do.

+ Two to three bins, numbered #1 #2 #3. (I actually have one bin and two bathtubs).
+ I want to obtain a substrate that has 80% finished compost, 15% in the process of composting and 5% fresh. This substrate should smell good and be just slightly hotter than the environment.
+ I mix kitchen scraps with cardboard and a little bit of mineral dirt in a bucket, because that's what I'm dealing with, but any other mixes that do not produce bad smells can be used (use proper carbon to nitrogen ratio). Then pour the bucket into bin #1.
+ Whenever I pour a bucket of ingredients in a bin (twice a week), I mix it with the aerator tool, and check that the humidity stays between 30 and 60%, watering if needed.
+ When a bin is full, I take a bucket of composted ingredients out. If it smells nice and it is not hot, I can use it directly*. Otherwise, I pour the bucket with the half baked ingredients into the next bin. Rinse and repeat.
+ The first bin is critical, it has a higher quantity of fresh ingredients, meaning that the risk of rotting is higher. It needs to be aerated properly.


Disadvantages:
 It's more work!
 It's cold compost that may contain weed seeds and pathogens.
 It's not a homogeneous product, it contains a little bit of trash.
Advantages:
 Less rotting risk.
 Rather easy to do.
 Plants like eating in small quantities.

(*) This product is better used as potting soil with a pregerminating process.


So far, bin #1 is doing well, and I am starting to fill bin #2 (bathtube in my case).

This sounds like a good suggestion to me plus it is neat and organized.

This sounds like something apartment dwellers could utilize.

Hi there!

I want to share the method that is working for us. Remember, we have no irrigation here, temperature in summer is a killer, and there's no machinery.

Here you can watch the process (single handed, since I was recording with the other hand):



A little explanation (in english). We have two devices. Number 1 is a 50 litres bin, with many holes and a inner axial pvc pipe with holes for extra ventilation. Number 2 is a bathtube with a plastic mat over it.
We pour our kitchen scraps mixed with paper/cardboard scraps into the bin. If it's too wet, we may add a little bit of dirt. The bin holds the natural humidity from the kitchen scraps quite well. In fact there's risk of putrefaction, so we use the aireation tool every time we add some more kitchen scraps. The bin lid prevents rodents too. The bin smells like fermented vegetables, a strong smell but not nasty.
When the bin is full, we put the excedent into the bathtube. The excedent may contain some fresh ingredients, but it is a rather small part. The bathtube is not so good at holding humidity, but on the other hand, there's little risk of putrefaction since the organic matter is half baked already. Every time we add composting matter into the bathtube, we mix the ingredients and add a little bit of water (I think it it keeps humidity around 30%). The bathtube smells like mature dung with a background of fermentation. Plants grow well here.
Sometimes we screen the compost in the bathtube and send back the biggest pieces, those that failed to compost into small pieces, again to the bin where humidity is high.

I call it continuous composting because I may take compost from the bathtube at any time, and I keep adding kitchen scraps to the bin every two or three days, unlike the big hot compost piles that is processed in batchs. This suits me well for dealing with my organic waste.
We lost our red worms, but the local fauna is doing the same work without dying under the summer's heat.
Oh, rats had messed into the bathtube just once, but whatever they found is no longer there, so they left.