“My compost is sludgy.” “My compost is not working.” “There are too many flies.”
I have had many opportunities to visit places with these
problems. What I notice are the
following:
·
Sludgy bins and/or big globs of food scraps: This is because we are not adding 4 units of
brown stuff for each unit of green stuff.
Rarely do I see anybody with leaf bags or a leaf storage pile beside
their compost bin, If you don’t want to
collect and store leaves beside your tumbler, tumblers are not the right choice
for you.
·
There are too many flies: This indicates anaerobic conditions. The compost is not being turned frequently
enough. There is also a high correlation
with odors from these piles, including ammonia.
·
It’s not composting: The pile is too dry. Please look at the chart below. This chart describes the ratio of
precipitation to evaporation as developed by Transeau. Keep in mind that in dry/drought years, the
lines shift eastward. If you are living in the shaded area to the left (the plains or drylands), then your environment evaporates moisture
faster than it receives via rains etc.
That means you must continuously add water to your compost tumbler or it
will dry out. Compost needs to be at 50%
moisture, such that you can squeeze a drop of water or even two from the
compost materials. If you are using
composting for waste diversion goals, I strongly suggest you convert to a
bokashi system and bury your food scraps directly into soil. If you live in the
shaded area to the right (forestry
dominated areas), you are in a classic composting area which evaporates
less moisture than it receives in rainfall, dew etc. It is relatively easy to keep a compost pile
at 50% moisture here. This is the area
in which Rodale documented and developed composting (Pennsylvania). It is not the same as the two areas to the
left. If you live in the center regions (breadbasket of the USA)
then you are somewhere between the two other categories and you benefit from a
variety of systems.
Comments
Post a Comment