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| We bought a lifetime compost tumbler a few weeks ago and started our first compost. I also got a free earth machine from our city which I think I may use to 'cure' the compost when it's finished in the tumbler. I'm now thinking I may need a 3rd bin for collecting compost material. Would a regular trash can suffice for this if I drill holes in it?
The tumbler we filled about 1/2 way with shredded cardboard, paper and some hay. Then I added a cup or two of compost starter (I didn't really measure). We've been adding kitchen scraps and coffee as we collect them. The first week the compost seemed to reach about 120 degrees but now it seems to be holding around 100 which I think is mostly due to outside temperature. I don't see much of the green scraps but the cardboard appears to be mostly in tact and moldy. We have been turning it daily. How long should it take for the cardboard to break down? It's been about 3 weeks. Should we keep adding green kitchen scraps? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by mustard_seeds 4 -Onalaska Wisconsi (My Page) on Wed, May 25, 11 at 14:52
| I think the trash can with holes would be fine for collecting material if the tumbler already has a good amount in it and you are getting it to cook. Curing in the earth machine sounds great, too. Cardboard can take a while compared to leaves and shredded paper - it will likely break down quite a bit in the curing stage. You can use a shovelful of curing or finished compost as a "starter" and often times there will be some worms in there to help break down a pile that is starting. Keep slightly damp, like a wrung out sponge. You are on your way to black gold! |
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| Hi ApexAZ, Compost tumbler is really designed to make hot composting (mix the carbon and nitrogen material, H2O to 2/3 capacity, turn daily and may occasionally break down the clumps with compost fork until done). Because aerobic composting uses up nitrogen, you may want to add more coffee ground to sustain the life of the process. So you are right about needing a place to hold the material while the compost is cooking inside the tumbler and be ready with the next batch. Hope that helps. |
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| Finished compost does not need to be cured. If curing of compost is necessary it is not finished. A 3 bin system allows you to build a compost pile from scratch and when that is ready to turn to turn that pile into the second bin, so the outside and indigested material gets put in to the center where it will be digested, and when that is ready to turn into the third bin, again to get undigested material more toward the center where it will be digested, to finish. This is where many people think compost "cures". The linked compost tutorial may be of some help. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Composting Tutorial
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| Okay, thank you :) |
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| Don't get too ambitious too quickly. Take your time and try one thing at a time, say a year with each method or system. I started with a plastic bin. Then a tumbler for quite a bit of money. Now I use mesh bins made of hardware cloth, about $20. They hold lots more material and are easy to turn. The larger bins also handle problematic stuff like fish and kitchen waste better than the earlier two systems. There is no one 'right' system for everyone. Differences in yards, tastes, space, etc., make for different compost methods. A person/family with not much of a yard, but a love of fishing might select a indoor worm bin as the 'best' method. I love my large, cheap mesh bins. The plastic bin sits unused in the country; the tumbler rusted thru after four years. |
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- Posted by joepyeweed 5b IL (My Page) on Thu, May 26, 11 at 16:46
| From years of reading on this forum, the process that robertz6 described is typical... lots of composters end up using wire mesh bins, they are cheap, effective and easy to use. apex, I think using your earth machine to finish the compost sounds like a perfectly acceptable way to finish it off. Lots of people store compost for awhile to let it finish, before they use it. Did you read the FAQ at the top of this forum? Its a great read for all composters, but especially for beginners. |
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