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Home composting options
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Posted by
Drakon 5 (
My Page) on
Sun, May 20, 12 at 12:52
| Due to the HOA rules where I live I don�t have the ability for outdoor composting. I would like to start and after some research I think I have found what might be acceptable options for me. My goal is to improve my lawn and eventual flower gardens. What I�m thinking is I could collect kitchen waste, junk mail (non glossy) in a bin and quite a bit of coffee ground from both my wife�s and my work. Then add that to a Bokashi bin in my garage. After it�s broken down a bit add it into an indoor worm bin for them to finish the job. I can then use the worm compost in compost tea and/or add directly to my lawn maybe once or twice a year. With that, how would one store the vermicompost so that it�s still useable after say a year?
Thanks, any tips would be great. So far I�m already making compost tea with compost from a local place.
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Home composting options
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| You can also use "trench composting" and bury the kitchen scraps directly in the flower beds. |
RE: Home composting options
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| Does bokashi compost? I thought bokashi only allowed for creating "tea"? Im uneducated on bokashi. If I couldnt compost outdoors I would try to use the "trench" method. |
RE: Home composting options
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| You would think if the rules said no composting that would go double for just burying your food for animals to dig up. |
RE: Home composting options
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| Blaze of glory if you look up indoor composting unit you will see a little machine that makes compost. It is electric and it heats and turns the compost. It is not supposed to smell, but it does smell a bit. Once this is done OP will add to worm bin. After the worms it will be worm castings. |
RE: Home composting options
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| Yeah but is that the same as bokashi? |
RE: Home composting options
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| I guess not, if he using the one without the motor then it only make liquid, so it won't make any thing for worms right? But, if is using a unit, I think bokaski company makes them also then there is something for worms. Someone explained this to me, but I could only think if I had was doing it, I would do it outside and not in the house. |
RE: Home composting options
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| Hi Drakon, Worm composting is great. They process kitchen scraps, etc. pretty quickly and they are incredibly easy to take care of (and keep out of sight of the HOA). I have three bins in my basement and they just look like storage tubs.
You don't need the bokashi for the worms. I think that might actually be detrimental because it works with anaerobic bacteria, which might be bad for the little guys. Also, the scraps might not have enough nutrients left over for the worms to survive on. They do a great job with scraps right from the cutting board! If you�d like to speed it up a little, you can always run the scraps through the blender first--super easy :) Come visit us over in the vermicomposting forum. Lots of nice people wiser than me :) |
Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Web Vermi Forum
RE: Home composting options
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| To answer the question about storing worm castings for later use, it is better to use any kind of compost as soon as possible for maximum effect. Is there a way you can screen it and sprinkle it on the lawns and flower beds immediately? Having said that, if you want to store it, you have to get it fairly dry, then store it in a container that is NOT airtight. Like a bag or bucket with some holes in it. Otherwise it will use up the air and go anaerobic, and you don't want that. :-\ |
RE: Home composting options
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| The best way to store compost is a bin that is open to the soil ground for drainage. If compost is a sealed bag it will not fair well. Yes, it will go anaerobic and begin to smell. But, it continues to break down as it in the bin open to the soil and after a year you won't have very much left. So, it is good to use it right away. Worming castings on the other hand may keep longer then compost. I don't know if they would keep for a year. It is a experiment if you wish to find out. |
RE: Home composting options
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| Thats what I was thinking about the bokashi. Didnt know if it would be good for the scraps to go from bokashi to wormies. I would think give the worms the scraps straight up? I love worm castings. I found a farm in San Diego that sells them for .50 cents a pound. Or a 50 pound bag of mulch with %10 worm casting for $8. Its a legit place with over 400 open air worm boxes under a forest of trees with even more closed boxes. Places like this, where they actually show you whats in the compost, are awesome! They told me that casting last quite a while but better to use them fresh or within 6 months. Definitely within the year. |
RE: Home composting options
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| That sounds fantastic, blaze. I was just talking to our University soil lab guy and he said they've had people come in thinking they wanted to sell compost, but they don't really know how to do it right, and it ends up being a poor product. Sounds like these guys know what they're doing! |
RE: Home composting options
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| Check it out...You can order a maximum of 5 pounds of pure castings online! This place is a couple hours drive from my house but I think the 50 pound bags of mulch would be worth it. Plus, if I cant make the drive, what is the harm of spending a few bucks online to get some good castings? http://www.redwormproducts.com/index.html |
Here is a link that might be useful: Worm Castings.
RE: Home composting options
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| sorry that was me logged in as bug_girl. I don't think buying worm castings is worth it. If you can make your own compost, you don't need worm castings. OP wants to know how long they will keep. |
RE: Home composting options
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| OP cant make his own compost and when you want castings on demand, the best way is to find a reputable source. Two posts above I mentioned that the worm farm told me its best to use castings fresh or within 6 months for best results, he even went as far as to put them in the fridge @60deg as to not kill them just keep them asleep and if you will not use them soon, dont keep them for more than a year at the most(he said that is pushing it). Best to use right away. Its not just castings you get, its eggs and tiny worms as well. If you follow the link in my post you can see that the worm farm is very reputable. And at .50 cents a pound, you cant beat that. There is also a number on the site for any questions regarding worms. You can even purchase red wigglers from them. Anyways, the OP already has a worm farm so he shouldn't have any problems. |
RE: Home composting options
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| This year I put in a number of small German mounds, which probably are not 'compost piles' in the traditional sense. These mounds include woody material, bokashi, half done compost, sifted compost, and clay soil. The mounds are about six to ten inches above the surrounding soil, and that comes in handy during very heavy rainfall. This year the small mounds are planting beds for most of my tomatoes. |
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