Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Small-Scale Composting Basics
Hi there...
I have recently started small-scale composting. I took a 20-litre (5-gal) bucket, cut out the bottom, and sunk it several cm.s in the soil outside. It is getting all of my kitchen scraps, plus some grass clippings, and a bit of paper. It is also getting some urine (yes, from me...) I am guessing that the volume is too small to ever have "hot" composting going on. The two questions a 1. About how long will it take for the materials to break down to be appropriate for applying to my (just-starting) garden? 2. Would adding some worms help? If so, what type, and how many? 3. Any caveats regarding the urine (esp. regarding excess salt, and overdoing the nitrogen input.) Thanks in advance for your help... .. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Small-Scale Composting Basics
Down Under On The Bucket Farm wrote in message . ..
Hi there... I have recently started small-scale composting. I took a 20-litre (5-gal) bucket, cut out the bottom, and sunk it several cm.s in the soil outside. It is getting all of my kitchen scraps, plus some grass clippings, and a bit of paper. It is also getting some urine (yes, from me...) I am guessing that the volume is too small to ever have "hot" composting going on. The two questions a 1. About how long will it take for the materials to break down to be appropriate for applying to my (just-starting) garden? 2. Would adding some worms help? If so, what type, and how many? 3. Any caveats regarding the urine (esp. regarding excess salt, and overdoing the nitrogen input.) Thanks in advance for your help... . I think you would do better to bury your compostables directly into the soil and lose the bucket. To keep animals out a scrap of plywood or sheet metal and a rock on top would work. For hot compost few things under 1cu yd work well. On a western diet urine will contain about 1oz or urea at 46% nitrogen per day, this works out to 10.5 lbs a year. Excess salts will only be a problem in places of low rainfall. In the soil worms will find their own way in. Compost is considered finished when the original ingredients are no longer recognized. It's all about returning nutrients to the soil. Everything else about composting is secondary. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Small-Scale Composting Basics
Down Under On The Bucket Farm wrote:
Hi there... I have recently started small-scale composting. I took a 20-litre (5-gal) bucket, cut out the bottom, and sunk it several cm.s in the soil outside. It is getting all of my kitchen scraps, plus some grass clippings, and a bit of paper. It is also getting some urine (yes, from me...) I am guessing that the volume is too small to ever have "hot" composting going on. The two questions a 1. About how long will it take for the materials to break down to be appropriate for applying to my (just-starting) garden? 2. Would adding some worms help? If so, what type, and how many? 3. Any caveats regarding the urine (esp. regarding excess salt, and overdoing the nitrogen input.) Thanks in advance for your help... Stop peeing in the bucket; it isn't helping, and is probably illegal. That being said, if you stir this up every day, there's no reason you can't get hot composting going. Given that, it'll take about two weeks to become compost after you stop adding material. [You really need two buckets, one to be 'cooking' and one to be building.] You might want to add a bit more in the way of browns -- paper or dried leaves. Chris Owens -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Small-Scale Composting Basics
I don't think there'd be much composting happening in such a small
container. More like rotting, which isn't the same. I'd just spread the materials out on the top of the ground. It will rot faster that way. Actually people think the secret to great compost is a "starter." I think of starters as the snake-oil of composting--not needed at all. But if you want one, human urine is free, and it works. It's actually a pretty sterile substance, unlike most body fluids. -- Compostman Washington, DC Zone 7 "Chris Owens" wrote in message ... Down Under On The Bucket Farm wrote: Hi there... I have recently started small-scale composting. I took a 20-litre (5-gal) bucket, cut out the bottom, and sunk it several cm.s in the soil outside. It is getting all of my kitchen scraps, plus some grass clippings, and a bit of paper. It is also getting some urine (yes, from me...) I am guessing that the volume is too small to ever have "hot" composting going on. The two questions a 1. About how long will it take for the materials to break down to be appropriate for applying to my (just-starting) garden? 2. Would adding some worms help? If so, what type, and how many? 3. Any caveats regarding the urine (esp. regarding excess salt, and overdoing the nitrogen input.) Thanks in advance for your help... Stop peeing in the bucket; it isn't helping, and is probably illegal. That being said, if you stir this up every day, there's no reason you can't get hot composting going. Given that, it'll take about two weeks to become compost after you stop adding material. [You really need two buckets, one to be 'cooking' and one to be building.] You might want to add a bit more in the way of browns -- paper or dried leaves. Chris Owens -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
The Definitive Chord & Scale Bible - Literally EVERY chord and scale! | Freshwater Aquaria Plants | |||
Small scale threshing | Edible Gardening | |||
Starting up a small scale garden centre HELP | United Kingdom | |||
Composting anything was Composting ivy | United Kingdom | |||
Small scale plant propagation | Australia |