Food recycler, compost newb

Hi all! I just got a countertop food recycler, sometimes called a composter, but what comes out is more like dirt than compost. It dries and heats and crushes the food until it's something that's sometimes called "pre-compost". I plan to use this for kitchen waste and add this to a big compost bin with some Jobe's organic compost starter, along with my disease free garden waste and some wood chips here and there for a cold compost heap. I have never composted before, help a newb out, does this sound alright? Thanks!

A container in the kitchen most likely will not make composts, even if marketed as a composter.

Compost does look like dirt so maybe you are on the right track.

Look into making bokashi:

https://permies.com/t/188531/composting/Bokashi

As for making an outside compost pile look into the ratios needed:

https://permies.com/t/219569/composting/Composting-Ratios#2835392

Hi Gina, It sounds like what you've got will dessicate (and pulverise?) your kitchen scraps. This means they take up less room and are less likely to lead to smells...downside is taking up room, expense and energy use (£ etc.) Since the scraps will probably be sterile, I guess adding a compost starter to your heap might be beneficial. But generally just having a good mix of 'greens' and 'browns' in a moist heap will give you good compost in the end. I think there is no 'one size fits all' when it comes to composting, so I say give it a go and tweak it if you need to. Let us know how you get on!

I would make sure to keep that thing clean. Sounds like harmful bacteria or mold could form and transfer into the compost if you don't. I personally just manually break up kitchen waste with my hands before it goes into the compost pile. Kind of messy but requires no equipment.

Welcome to the wide world of composting!

There are a bunch of different ways to produce compost but I try to produce it with the least amount of investment possible. I like to make compost piles that touch the ground in order to let all of the microbiota of the environment to inoculate my pile. I believe that compost can be produced without monetary investment MOST of the time. The key for my success has been assembling a big enough pile that warmth can be formed at the core. I don't turn my pile as much as I'd like but I still have success. Compost, at a base level, involves highly nitrogenous materials and highly carbon rich materials intermixing and being broken down by microbes. I shoot for a rough mixture (C:N) of 30:1 carbon to nitrogen. If I need to get my core hot, I utilize either used coffee grounds or urine to give a nitrogen boost. This works in place of a purchased compost starter.

What is your compost setup like? Do you use a pile or maybe a tumbler system?