My compost was doing really well, has broken down quite a bit, but now it has stopped. Its not heating up any more. Still smells great, I keep it moist, turn it quite often, but its not doing anything. It has reduced to about half the original size, but its still pretty woody, doesn't look at all like what Jim Muir had in his class.
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Just had to post my excitement. I just found a live worm in my compost almost 7 months after I put a couple of them in. Don't loose hope, it's cold...it will survive!!
How cold does it get where you are? We get night time temps down to 6 to 7 degrees centigrade (that's 43 to 45 Fahrenheit) in winter, rarely lower. If you have a half cubic yard/metre or more of compost/worm farm then the biological activity of the compost/worms warms it up. The type of container and where it is placed will affect this.
Composting falls roughly into two categories. Aerobic and anaerobic.
The aerobic requires oxygen so you must turn it regularly especially when it heats up. Commercially they monitor the temperature and turn the pile when it gets over 60 degrees (that's celcius). They also monitor moisture and add water if too dry. Treated like this the organic matter breaks down in a matter of weeks and is the best quality compost for nitrogen levels and good bacteria/fungi etc fro the soil.
Anaerobic (no oxygen) is when you don't turn it (to add oxygen) or use a bin which excludes oxygen. This takes longer to break down (months) and doesn't heat up appreciably but is still good quality compost. If the compost in your bin is heating up it is decomposing aerobically. It stops heating up when it runs out of a) oxygen b) nitrogen or c) gets too dry.
So if you turn it and it heats up then it was lacking oxygen,
If you turn it and it doesn't heat up then it lacks nitrogen or is too dry.
I add composting worms to my bins as they do the turning for you, don't care if the nitrogen levels are too high or low and produce worm castings of equal or better quality than the compost made without them. The only thing that turns them off is when it gets too dry, and if the bottom of the bin is open to the soil they just scamper out for a while and usually return when you moisten the heap/bin again.
K Christensen > Harry HarrisonJanuary 18, 2009 at 10:50pm
Hi Harry - do you have a particular type of worm you would recommend? Where did you get them?
Harry Harrison > K ChristensenJanuary 24, 2009 at 3:27am
You want composting worms.
They should be available from other permies. If not then garden centers and hardware stores sell them here. Online is another option. If all else fails then these worms are also sold as fishing worms just a bit more expensive usually.
Once you have composting worms in a suitable environment they breed up and you should be giving them away for the rest of your life!
Keep the compost damp but not waterlogged, and shade it from hot sun. If using a compost bid don't let it cook. If the compost goes sour add lots of shredded paper and moisten or apply a light dusting of dolomite powder. Lime and wood ash can be used but are a little "stronger" and thus trickier for the novice. Worms also like air if you can manage ventilation though my mum has worms in a closed compost bin that do very well and certainly get through a pile of scraps.
Worms can be divided into two categories, composting worms and earth worms. A few worm species cross over but by and large they are one or the other.
Composting worms come from high rainfall regions where they live in the upper layers of the soil feeding on the high levels of organic matter that accumulates as mulch in these environments. They don't usually burrow to any depth in the soil as they can rely on the continual renewal of the mulch. Typically they are quite active and mobile moving to where the conditions are best for food and moisture. They breed rapidly, doubling their numbers every few months, if the conditions are right and of course have to eat well to do this. Thus they are ideal for chewing through all the organic matter that we can throw at them.
The common composting worms are
the tiger worm Eisenia fetida thrives in warm climates
the red wriggler Lumbricus rubellus temperate to warm climates
the red tiger worm Eisenia andrei temperate to warm climates
Aporrectodea caliginosa a blue-grayish worm with a pink head temperate climates
In addition you may have others available that we don't have including the night crawler.
Earth worms on the other hand come from areas where they must burrow into the soil due to varying moisture and or temperature levels. There are hundreds if not thousands of species that do this. Some may be indigenous to your area. Commonly they are introduced with changes in land use and farming practices. Most of the common earth worms in Australian gardens come from Europe. We maintain garden soils to their liking so they thrive. They do a wonderful job opening up the soil and fertilizing it. So both categories of worms are valuable to humans who want to produce local food!
Hello everyone,
Just got on board here. I love hearing everyone's experience! I have one of those city compost bins and all I had to put in there was kitchen scraps and it was getting nasty and smelly. Then I filled the rest with flats of sprouts and wheat grass that was old and I just forgot about it because it needed to break down because it was too full. I just went out there today and turned it and it looks pretty good. I'm not seeing those grub things, but maybe they're at the bottom where I didn't have the strength get the pitch fork down and turn. I just added a bunch of dried out mesquite leaves from my poor tree that uprooted during that hurricane over the summer so maybe that will balance it out. Just wondering, what are the good bugs and what are the bad ones? I just took some pictures. They're on my profile.
my compost is dry. I added kitcken waste the weekend before last. I had soaked the compost that day and turned it. I used my hoe to break up the large chunks, and stired the mix. This weekend i went over to my mother in laws to work on the area were my compost is. That's gonna be a raised bed, but all the veggies were undetectable. They had broken down over the week, and I'm getting beautiful compost soil. My compost isn't big though. I just recently started this one. I took the compost off my balcony from the bucket to my mother in laws back yard! Thank goodness! I add to it once a week; kitchen waste, water, and turn it. I have news paper in there that is taking forever to break down though. Maybe because it is so dry during the week. I look at this way. It will break down eventually. I just keep adding to it!
Sue Wefel > Melissa RennellsOctober 30, 2008 at 6:22am
Isn't it great? Its like magic when you open the lid. I have one batch that is now ready to spread and have it works its magic in my beds. I should be doing that this weekend. I'm really anxious to see the results. Sounds like you are enjoying doing this too. I think the key is keeping it moist, makes a huge difference, but as you say, it will definitely break down, just takes longer.
Great idea, and I agree, more water is needed. I was always afraid it would be too wet, but it just dries out so fast. I keep a pan under the faucet so if I'm rinsing dishes, etc., I can reuse the water, I try not to let it go down the drain if I have my brain on. I also read in a great book I have on composting that you can add protein sources to the mix, they suggest rabbit food, etc. I had a container from my grandson's guinea pig (who sadly died, the pig, that is) and I dumped some in the bin. Shortly after, it took off again, so I don't know if that was purely coincidence or the food, but its now breaking down again. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll keep adding more water and see what happens. I now have three bins in various stages going in the yard.
Replies
The aerobic requires oxygen so you must turn it regularly especially when it heats up. Commercially they monitor the temperature and turn the pile when it gets over 60 degrees (that's celcius). They also monitor moisture and add water if too dry. Treated like this the organic matter breaks down in a matter of weeks and is the best quality compost for nitrogen levels and good bacteria/fungi etc fro the soil.
Anaerobic (no oxygen) is when you don't turn it (to add oxygen) or use a bin which excludes oxygen. This takes longer to break down (months) and doesn't heat up appreciably but is still good quality compost. If the compost in your bin is heating up it is decomposing aerobically. It stops heating up when it runs out of a) oxygen b) nitrogen or c) gets too dry.
So if you turn it and it heats up then it was lacking oxygen,
If you turn it and it doesn't heat up then it lacks nitrogen or is too dry.
I add composting worms to my bins as they do the turning for you, don't care if the nitrogen levels are too high or low and produce worm castings of equal or better quality than the compost made without them. The only thing that turns them off is when it gets too dry, and if the bottom of the bin is open to the soil they just scamper out for a while and usually return when you moisten the heap/bin again.
They should be available from other permies. If not then garden centers and hardware stores sell them here. Online is another option. If all else fails then these worms are also sold as fishing worms just a bit more expensive usually.
Once you have composting worms in a suitable environment they breed up and you should be giving them away for the rest of your life!
Keep the compost damp but not waterlogged, and shade it from hot sun. If using a compost bid don't let it cook. If the compost goes sour add lots of shredded paper and moisten or apply a light dusting of dolomite powder. Lime and wood ash can be used but are a little "stronger" and thus trickier for the novice. Worms also like air if you can manage ventilation though my mum has worms in a closed compost bin that do very well and certainly get through a pile of scraps.
Worms can be divided into two categories, composting worms and earth worms. A few worm species cross over but by and large they are one or the other.
Composting worms come from high rainfall regions where they live in the upper layers of the soil feeding on the high levels of organic matter that accumulates as mulch in these environments. They don't usually burrow to any depth in the soil as they can rely on the continual renewal of the mulch. Typically they are quite active and mobile moving to where the conditions are best for food and moisture. They breed rapidly, doubling their numbers every few months, if the conditions are right and of course have to eat well to do this. Thus they are ideal for chewing through all the organic matter that we can throw at them.
The common composting worms are
the tiger worm Eisenia fetida thrives in warm climates
the red wriggler Lumbricus rubellus temperate to warm climates
the red tiger worm Eisenia andrei temperate to warm climates
Aporrectodea caliginosa a blue-grayish worm with a pink head temperate climates
In addition you may have others available that we don't have including the night crawler.
Earth worms on the other hand come from areas where they must burrow into the soil due to varying moisture and or temperature levels. There are hundreds if not thousands of species that do this. Some may be indigenous to your area. Commonly they are introduced with changes in land use and farming practices. Most of the common earth worms in Australian gardens come from Europe. We maintain garden soils to their liking so they thrive. They do a wonderful job opening up the soil and fertilizing it. So both categories of worms are valuable to humans who want to produce local food!
Just got on board here. I love hearing everyone's experience! I have one of those city compost bins and all I had to put in there was kitchen scraps and it was getting nasty and smelly. Then I filled the rest with flats of sprouts and wheat grass that was old and I just forgot about it because it needed to break down because it was too full. I just went out there today and turned it and it looks pretty good. I'm not seeing those grub things, but maybe they're at the bottom where I didn't have the strength get the pitch fork down and turn. I just added a bunch of dried out mesquite leaves from my poor tree that uprooted during that hurricane over the summer so maybe that will balance it out. Just wondering, what are the good bugs and what are the bad ones? I just took some pictures. They're on my profile.
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