5 Composting Myths You Should Stop Believing Right Now
video description
Also, to make that tragic fact from the beginning even worse, while 28% of food waste ends up in a land fill, in north america 1/3 of food bought is thrown away (even if it's good to eat. Why bring this up? It means those of us who can should compost as much as practically possible, it'll help you and help prevent climate change from getting worse from the lack of methane released
Date: 2023-04-30
Related videos
Comments and reviews: 14
Ziggy
Here's my current method on my journey into composting. I use open bottom plastic bins my State county provides for free. I throw in things that are gonna take a while to break down but worms love eating when they start breaking down like coconut husks, papaya tree's that have been cut down, banana trees that have been cut down, sugar cane that has been cut down, along with a ton of fruit tree leaves, cardboard, and any and all kitchen scraps including meats and fats. I also always add some home made bio char as I layer stuff in as well as watering each layer to get a nice moisture content to start things off, then I cover the bin for the hot phase. During the hot phase once a week I'll plunge a steel rod down the middle of the pile and work it around a bit to create an air funnel in the middle of the pile but not waste my time mixing the pile. Once the hot phase is mostly over the things I added that take a while to break down are still pretty solid, at this stage I start adding in thick layers of grass clippings over a few weeks or months (ignoring what they say about thick layers of grass clippings matting, I generally spread the grass clippings out on the lawn for a few days to dry out before adding and at this stage I always leave the lid off as I find leaving the lid on adds a bunch of predator bugs into the pile in this stage. Red Wiggler worms love the new temperature of the pile and love eating the grass clippings and start to multiply in the pile, keep feeding them grass clippings along with leafy kitchen waste and then comes the next stage. The tough to break down ingredients are now soft and breaking down, I keep adding small layers of dried leaves or dried grass clippings just as a top layer of mulch to keep the worms happy with the temperatures and the worm population that has been multiplying starts going to town on the tough ingredients. It's a slow process but the end result is magnificent mix of compost turned into a worm factory.
reply
Here's my current method on my journey into composting. I use open bottom plastic bins my State county provides for free. I throw in things that are gonna take a while to break down but worms love eating when they start breaking down like coconut husks, papaya tree's that have been cut down, banana trees that have been cut down, sugar cane that has been cut down, along with a ton of fruit tree leaves, cardboard, and any and all kitchen scraps including meats and fats. I also always add some home made bio char as I layer stuff in as well as watering each layer to get a nice moisture content to start things off, then I cover the bin for the hot phase. During the hot phase once a week I'll plunge a steel rod down the middle of the pile and work it around a bit to create an air funnel in the middle of the pile but not waste my time mixing the pile. Once the hot phase is mostly over the things I added that take a while to break down are still pretty solid, at this stage I start adding in thick layers of grass clippings over a few weeks or months (ignoring what they say about thick layers of grass clippings matting, I generally spread the grass clippings out on the lawn for a few days to dry out before adding and at this stage I always leave the lid off as I find leaving the lid on adds a bunch of predator bugs into the pile in this stage. Red Wiggler worms love the new temperature of the pile and love eating the grass clippings and start to multiply in the pile, keep feeding them grass clippings along with leafy kitchen waste and then comes the next stage. The tough to break down ingredients are now soft and breaking down, I keep adding small layers of dried leaves or dried grass clippings just as a top layer of mulch to keep the worms happy with the temperatures and the worm population that has been multiplying starts going to town on the tough ingredients. It's a slow process but the end result is magnificent mix of compost turned into a worm factory.
reply
Clover
I sometimes use kitchen scraps to help my surroundings and minimize landfill without waiting for it to compost Kitchen scraps smoothies!
I'm not gardening much per se (got 3 buckets of potatoes going - thanks for the tips - and a few tomato plants are coming, but my soil is so poor for my flowers n stuff. I have some small (I live alone) lazy compost going on in bins, but I enrich my beds with kitchen scraps smoothies!
I sometimes use my make-a-hole thing to aerate and fill up the holes with the smoothie.
My baby lilac twig went from struggling to pushing new shoots and leaves in 2 weeks!
reply
I sometimes use kitchen scraps to help my surroundings and minimize landfill without waiting for it to compost Kitchen scraps smoothies!
I'm not gardening much per se (got 3 buckets of potatoes going - thanks for the tips - and a few tomato plants are coming, but my soil is so poor for my flowers n stuff. I have some small (I live alone) lazy compost going on in bins, but I enrich my beds with kitchen scraps smoothies!
I sometimes use my make-a-hole thing to aerate and fill up the holes with the smoothie.
My baby lilac twig went from struggling to pushing new shoots and leaves in 2 weeks!
reply
Senryuu
the bioreactor johnson and su composter, is a scientifically approached composting to replace chemical fertilizers for industrial agriculture.
Most composting in a household manner are bacterial dominant to process organic matter. The johnson su approach is just undisturbed compost in a huge batch for 1 year to promote fungal and bacterial growth in harmony.
However what matters most is without being too accurate. Just make anything rot, pile them or bury them. Plant anything on top of it (preferably native and non invasive. Eventually the soil will be a living happy collection of beings.
reply
the bioreactor johnson and su composter, is a scientifically approached composting to replace chemical fertilizers for industrial agriculture.
Most composting in a household manner are bacterial dominant to process organic matter. The johnson su approach is just undisturbed compost in a huge batch for 1 year to promote fungal and bacterial growth in harmony.
However what matters most is without being too accurate. Just make anything rot, pile them or bury them. Plant anything on top of it (preferably native and non invasive. Eventually the soil will be a living happy collection of beings.
reply
Paul
Composting changes based on your climate. We got roughly 180 days when the temperature is below 60 so that obviously affects how we compost in the northeast. Lots of people use insulated tumblers but I just snipe my neighbors fall decorations after winter shows up and throw them in a covered garbage can for the winter. I add my kitchen scraps to that all year and then grass clippings when the weather warms. Usually I get decent compost out of it. But it does take a full year of that. Actively managing a hit compost pile would be a bit much for me. But this process makes decent mulchpost
reply
Composting changes based on your climate. We got roughly 180 days when the temperature is below 60 so that obviously affects how we compost in the northeast. Lots of people use insulated tumblers but I just snipe my neighbors fall decorations after winter shows up and throw them in a covered garbage can for the winter. I add my kitchen scraps to that all year and then grass clippings when the weather warms. Usually I get decent compost out of it. But it does take a full year of that. Actively managing a hit compost pile would be a bit much for me. But this process makes decent mulchpost
reply
Alina
I started composting many years ago simply to stop our family food waste going into landfill. We just chucked food waste into an plastic compost bin. When it got smelly, I would riped up cardboard and pile it on top. I didn't have a plan to use it in our garden but when we moved the compost bin, an apricot seed germinated and now has grown to a tree larger than myself! Also we have got butternut pumpkins out of seeds that have germinated from our compost pile. I manage my compost a little better now, but getting started was very easy and you learn what to do with it along the way
reply
I started composting many years ago simply to stop our family food waste going into landfill. We just chucked food waste into an plastic compost bin. When it got smelly, I would riped up cardboard and pile it on top. I didn't have a plan to use it in our garden but when we moved the compost bin, an apricot seed germinated and now has grown to a tree larger than myself! Also we have got butternut pumpkins out of seeds that have germinated from our compost pile. I manage my compost a little better now, but getting started was very easy and you learn what to do with it along the way
reply
John
We had great success with a double Rubbermaid bin vermiculture when we were in our condo but that was too many moves ago.
Now we have a quarter acre of weeds. We re scraping the top inch where we re trying to plant, so we have lots of greens. There are enough trees and scrap wood from projects that there are plenty of browns also. Living in 9b means the surface of anything in the sun will be 130+. Hopefully, that makes this fool proof, but then I do feel like the curator of Brown Thumb Acres.
reply
We had great success with a double Rubbermaid bin vermiculture when we were in our condo but that was too many moves ago.
Now we have a quarter acre of weeds. We re scraping the top inch where we re trying to plant, so we have lots of greens. There are enough trees and scrap wood from projects that there are plenty of browns also. Living in 9b means the surface of anything in the sun will be 130+. Hopefully, that makes this fool proof, but then I do feel like the curator of Brown Thumb Acres.
reply
Nico
I went down to my local tractor supply and bought cheap garden straw not knowing it was full of weed seed. I spent the next week plucking the sprouts out of the garden. Then I found that straw makes excellent brown material for compost and i threw all that mulch into the compost. Now my compost pile is turning into garden gold. A handful of greens with two handfuls of straw every time I add to it. And the weed seed? Let them sprout and turn the pile, adds even more organic material!
reply
I went down to my local tractor supply and bought cheap garden straw not knowing it was full of weed seed. I spent the next week plucking the sprouts out of the garden. Then I found that straw makes excellent brown material for compost and i threw all that mulch into the compost. Now my compost pile is turning into garden gold. A handful of greens with two handfuls of straw every time I add to it. And the weed seed? Let them sprout and turn the pile, adds even more organic material!
reply
MindofMadness
I am restarting from scratch due to a move. My only compost, at the moment, is a 15 gallon drum with a lid used to Anaerobic compost two feezer of food we lost-meats, fruits and veggies. I also mix in greens, weeds, hay, chicken poop, whatever. If I manage to get things going then I am doing similar to what you have in the vid but keeping the Anaerobic bin for meats and other things-seeded stuff I do not want to chance and maybe a local problem neighbor. :D
reply
I am restarting from scratch due to a move. My only compost, at the moment, is a 15 gallon drum with a lid used to Anaerobic compost two feezer of food we lost-meats, fruits and veggies. I also mix in greens, weeds, hay, chicken poop, whatever. If I manage to get things going then I am doing similar to what you have in the vid but keeping the Anaerobic bin for meats and other things-seeded stuff I do not want to chance and maybe a local problem neighbor. :D
reply
George
I have about 2 acres of yard, plus 13 chickens.
I have 2 compost stations: One is breaking the material down while I accumulate new material in the other.
Every time I mow the yard, and every time I clean out the coop, it all goes into the building-up pile. Meanwhile the breaking-down pile gets nice and hot, I turn it every week, and it comes out beautifully. So in spring I have compost ready-to-go, and again in the fall I have compost ready-to-go.
reply
I have about 2 acres of yard, plus 13 chickens.
I have 2 compost stations: One is breaking the material down while I accumulate new material in the other.
Every time I mow the yard, and every time I clean out the coop, it all goes into the building-up pile. Meanwhile the breaking-down pile gets nice and hot, I turn it every week, and it comes out beautifully. So in spring I have compost ready-to-go, and again in the fall I have compost ready-to-go.
reply
Brad
I composted in a fabric grow bag; cardboard, grass, houseplant and garden clippings, coffee grounds, tortillas, bread, leaves, small twigs, old beer, yogurt, and on and on!
I filled the top to level it with a bit of soil, then planted it up with some tomatoes, basil and an orange noah morning glory. The toms and morning glory can grow up and around the shed the bag is next to. Threw some mulch on top, and let's hope it all goes well!
reply
I composted in a fabric grow bag; cardboard, grass, houseplant and garden clippings, coffee grounds, tortillas, bread, leaves, small twigs, old beer, yogurt, and on and on!
I filled the top to level it with a bit of soil, then planted it up with some tomatoes, basil and an orange noah morning glory. The toms and morning glory can grow up and around the shed the bag is next to. Threw some mulch on top, and let's hope it all goes well!
reply
Peter
Once you get composting going, the delay doesn't matter because you are getting good compost consistently. you just have to have patience the first time. My big tip. lazy. If you don't mind an extra month or two, you don't have to flip your compost, just get a broomstick with a pointy tip and spike the pile at about 5 places and then wiggle the broomstick around, that is enough to get air to the bottom of your pile
reply
Once you get composting going, the delay doesn't matter because you are getting good compost consistently. you just have to have patience the first time. My big tip. lazy. If you don't mind an extra month or two, you don't have to flip your compost, just get a broomstick with a pointy tip and spike the pile at about 5 places and then wiggle the broomstick around, that is enough to get air to the bottom of your pile
reply
Julie
Is anybody doing a Johnson su bioreactor type compost? I made a mini one out of chicken wire with a chicken wire tube in the middle. I lined the inside with weed fabric to made it black to absorb heat but still be breathable. It s my first year doing this so I hope it works. We always have lots of leaves to rake in the fall and I m contributing veggie scraps and coffee grounds.
reply
Is anybody doing a Johnson su bioreactor type compost? I made a mini one out of chicken wire with a chicken wire tube in the middle. I lined the inside with weed fabric to made it black to absorb heat but still be breathable. It s my first year doing this so I hope it works. We always have lots of leaves to rake in the fall and I m contributing veggie scraps and coffee grounds.
reply
jimbox114
I have just been using a trash can with holes in it along with a pvc pipe in the middle with air holes. I try to keep it about 50 50 but I suspect sometimes I get a few more greens than I should. I wouldn't say it smells good but it doesn't smell bad. For my b-day this year my wife bought me a tumble composter so gonna see how that works out.
reply
I have just been using a trash can with holes in it along with a pvc pipe in the middle with air holes. I try to keep it about 50 50 but I suspect sometimes I get a few more greens than I should. I wouldn't say it smells good but it doesn't smell bad. For my b-day this year my wife bought me a tumble composter so gonna see how that works out.
reply
Marilyn
Hi mine blew up like a bomb and burnt 1/2 of my only citrus tree! Nearly burnt our house down. just remember when you have compost, potting soil that has sat in rain and then the weather turns hot, like about over 100 degrees can turn into a natural bomb! This is a true story not trying to put fear into any viewers but it s a real thing!
reply
Hi mine blew up like a bomb and burnt 1/2 of my only citrus tree! Nearly burnt our house down. just remember when you have compost, potting soil that has sat in rain and then the weather turns hot, like about over 100 degrees can turn into a natural bomb! This is a true story not trying to put fear into any viewers but it s a real thing!
reply
Add a review, comment
Other channel videos
