Built a 3 bin compost system. Question is...

Nov 19, 2020 12:11:43

What do you do with your food scraps prior to building your first pile? (Besides freeze. No space available)
This system requires the first bin be completed in one step. Not a slow add of items. So, let's say the first pile has been turned to the next bin and I have a couple weeks to save up food scraps to start a new pile, do I save them in a bin on the side and let them start rotting?

Also, this was my first solo build. Pretty proud. Still adding the chicken wire.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Nov 19, 2020 14:59:08

Hi Jenny I am probably the last person who should respond to your question because when it comes to hot composting I am an epic fail. That being said I love your compost bins you did an assume job! Have you read Dr. RedHawk's Things everyone should know about compost but probably don't ? I think it will help you a great deal. I personally would just toss the food waist and anything else in as I get it, knowing it wont start to hot compost until it gets enough volume, it seems like a better solution then having a bucket of rotting food sitting around. Just remember I'm not a good hot composter. On a side note even if it doesn't hot compost organic matter will still brake down and eventually become compost. Cool compost takes a great deal longer, but it's better for the environment. cool composting is so much easier. I just throw what I want to compost in and forget it. No turning, no worrying about brown to green ratios. The only real downfall to this method for me so far is it takes so much longer, and I don't put any weeds with seed into it because it doesn't get hot and won't kill the weed seed. This is what I have started doing, so I can still compost and not feel like a failure. Good luck to you. Jen

https://permies.com/t/98570/compost-don

Nov 19, 2020 18:33:04

Jen Fulkerson wrote:

https://permies.com/t/98570/compost-don

This sounds like he is talking about the layering process of a hot compost. I read his post a got that idea. Maybe I'm super ignorant about all this but from the research I did I found that this system was best and fastest. Even from my local food pantry.

Is hot composting a permies no no?

Nov 19, 2020 19:07:02

I gather my food waste into 10 gallon buckets with sealing lids and sprinkle bokashi on them as I go. Basically a gallon ish bucket by the sink that gets emptied every day or two into the big bucket which then gets a cup of boksashi spread on top.

I've done it with a 55 gallon barrel once so I could make a really big compost pile. Now I just wait till I've filled two of them and build a compost pile by layering those 20 gallons with layers of random browns that I pile up as I go

Nov 20, 2020 16:02:51

I would not say hot composting is a permies no no. Compost is an amazing way to improve your soil, an grow healthy food. How you get that compost is a personal decision. There are many ways to compost, and I would say each has advantages, and disadvantages. Hot composting isn't as environmentally friendly as some of the other methods, but if you need compost soon hot composting is the way to go.
I personally don't hot compost because I'm terrible at it, and too lazy. Cold composting, and Verma compost are what works for me. Cold compost takes forever, but it is so much less work and less complicated. My worm bin is actually pretty quick, a bit more work to sift the worm castings from the worms, and you get a small amount, but it is super amazing.
Unfortunately if you ask 20 people about composting you will probably get 30 answers. You just learn what you can, and do what works for you. Ultimately you will probably learn the most through trial and error. Have fun.

Nov 20, 2020 18:36:27

Here is my composting bins I made several years ago. They worked great!

That is until my grandkids put all the worms they could find from the sidewalks and driveway.

I was away for several months working and when I got home my first bin was full of worms!! Thousands!!!

I loved it. Couldn't stand to destroy them so just kept adding kitchen scraps to it and had the best soil ever!!

Nov 21, 2020 07:17:19

You don't need to fill it all at once, fill it slowly and it will start to decompose, then when it is full flip it into the next bin mix it up and if you have any add some grass clippings and it will start on the hot composting.

Nov 26, 2020 20:00:21

Very nice. I don’t think composting should have hard and fast rules. I think your method should be determined by how much material you have, and how fast you’d like your compost done. In winter, I don’t have an urgent need for compost so I build up my pile gradually. I have a massive pile of leaves that I add in as I accumulate kitchen scraps.

Spring and summer is the best time for hot composting for me. If I’ve had winter and sprint cover crop growing, I steal clippings from it, and used winter’s leave to build a massive compost pile, and use the hot compost method, because I know I’ll need it for spring planting, and summer feeding

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