So this weekend I built a 3-bin compost system (each bin is 3 feet x 3 feet).

I keep finding different method of using the system, though. So I'm curious what's the "best" or "typical" way of using a 3-bin system.

At this very moment we've got a massive amount of yard waste (grass clippings, leaves from last fall, old branches, etc etc). Way more than would fit in all three bins.

We also generate a pretty good bit of food waste every day.

So how should I run my system?

~emmers

If you mix up all your ingredients, they will cook down so fast you will have to start scouring the neighborhood to find more ingredients ;-)

Keep us updated with more pics ;-)

The main thing to remember is that if you keep adding stuff to your pile(s) they will need more time to decompose. Therefore, I'd recommend that you stop adding to one pile so it can finish. When it is finished, use it and start refilling the bin while the other pile finishes.

Thanks

It helps to have bin 3 about half the size of bin 1 and bin 2 somewhere in between. That way the bins are sized appropriately to the shrinking piles as they move through the system. But it's not mandatory.

If faced with a brand new 3-bin system and a lot of material, I would make a pile in bin 1 and if there was more stuff, bin 2 if necessary.

You can turn every month or so if you want. I usually let the bins tell me when: when bin 1 was overflowing, bin 3 was usually ready to use, so time to turn. I did half a dozen batches per year when I had mine cranked up.

No... and that is why I show so many pics, as you can see, it is hard to argue with success ;-)

My bins are 8' deep and 4' tall and the Concrete slab slopes to the front (to shed excess moisture/from rain and such).

It makes so much compost so fast, even with my large garden, I can't possibly use it all, so I made a big pile on a tarp (over my gravel driveway) and am producing some veggies with the "overage" ;-)

I use my 3-bin setup in different ways each year. Sometimes I fill two of them in the late summer with fresh horse manure mixed with sawdust that I get from a fellow down the street. Then I use the leftover one for shredded material from the garden. Circular wire bins hold kitchen scraps through the winter and miscellaneous stuff.

Just experiment and see what works for you.

I generally don't because the material is mixed pretty well to begin with. Some batches are made up all at once - in spring when massive amounts of grass clippings are mixed with last fall's leaves, or in fall when I do the last mowings and suck up the same mixture. And I keep browns handy to layer with other occasional additions of greens, kitchen waste etc. So the two turnings - into bin 2 and then 3 - are sufficient to make lovely compost in the end. I'm fairly lazy and don't like to turn all that much.

"Hi Jon, You are right, one can't argue with the result. With four large bins, may one assume that you don't turn them much? Thanks"

You know what they say when you assume ;-)

Because I have an excavator ,I turn once a week, I know.... I know... I am indeed blessed ;-)

If I had to turn them by hand, I would mix it all up as I am adding to the pile... they let nature take over .. ;-)

I keep a pile of browns handy; when I cut the grass I add the cuttings and a few handfuls of the browns to the tumblr. The tumblr gets turned over most days. Then when the tumblr is filled, it gets empties into the first of the normal bins.

The first bin gets turned into the 2nd bin when it runs out of space, etc. I then use an old builders bulk bag to store all made compost until I need it.