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a1234qwer

What's best way to compost meat and dairy

a1234qwer
15 years ago

I use worm bins for my kitchen scraps. I want to compost my meat and dairy waste. What is the best method? Surfing the net I found some info on bokashi composting. Is bokashi the best method for composting meat and dairy? If bokashi is the best method where could I buy a bokashi bin or could I make one? Thanks for any replies.

Comments (24)

  • gnomey
    15 years ago

    I put stuff like that in my tumbler with lots of browns.

  • Lloyd
    15 years ago

    I'm with Gerri on this one, tumblers are the best way for me. Enclosed, up off the ground, no animal/varmints concerns. Wouldn't know bokashi if one bit me on the leg.

    Lloyd

  • digdirt2
    15 years ago

    I just bury them into one of my regular compost piles. If they are well covered - no problem. Do you have regular compost piles/bins or just vermi bins?

    Like Lloyd said bokashi composting, while I have heard of it, isn't on my To Do list. ;) There are some past discussions here about it tho that I linked below for you.

    Dave

    Here is a link that might be useful: Bokashi discussions

  • cuticlesfromhell
    15 years ago

    I compost meat and dairy in my outside worm bed - no problem.

  • jeremyjs
    15 years ago

    I've put dug both meat and dairy in to the middle of hot piles with no unpleasant odors or pest problems.

  • joe.jr317
    15 years ago

    Get a dog for the meat. Talk about disposal. But then, you still have to get rid of the stuff once it comes from the other end. . .

  • Kimmsr
    15 years ago

    We will add small quantities of meats, cut very fine, to our compost piles occassionally with no problems. Whether adding the same thing to a worm bed, vermicomposting, is good or not I have no idea since I do not vermicompost. Most everything I have read about the Bokashi method is just way too much work to mess with.

  • rootdoctor
    15 years ago

    I compost fish carcasses and critter carcasses once cleaned as well. Bury them deep, after turning the pile and the will all but disappear. Some bones will remain, but it's all good. Timo

  • gratefulgardener3300
    15 years ago

    I threw a whole frozen turkey in mine a few months ago. My mom found it in her "big" freezer and didn't know when she bought it, so into my pile it went. I did make sure that I covered it and got my rather cold pile to heat up a bit. I turned my pile this weekend and there was no sign of it. Raccoons?, bear? or microbes?

  • takadi
    15 years ago

    I put a rotten chicken carcass in my compost pile one time. All of a sudden, little baby flies started to appear ALL over my house, I must have killed 50 in one day. Not sure if those two incidences can be correlated, but I'm not taking any chances.

    I really want to try bokashi sometime. The bran that is required can be bought pretty cheaply. The problem is that the bucket and the innoculant can be pretty expensive and call for things like ceramic powder and stuff. I'm pretty sure all of those can be obtained or made cheaply, but I'm just not sure how

  • missysunshine_excite_com
    14 years ago

    I think the best and cleanest ways to compost meat and dairy is to use the NatureMill automatic composter. It's the only non-commercial composter that I found that can compost meat and dairy without attracting pests, flies, rats, raccoons, etc. It uses electricity to heat, aerate, and mix the compost. It even has a charcoal filter for the odor.

    At first, I was a little offended when I learned that it used electricity. But I found out that it used very little electricity, cost less than a dollar a month to use it. It's much better than throwing away the meat and dairy and let it go to landfill. Or even worst, throw away all the kitchen scraps, let it go to landfill and then buy fertilizer for the plants.

    I brought one six months ago and I have been using it to compost all of my kitchen scraps (yes, including meat and dairy). I'm pretty happy with my compost which my plants love. Also, ever since I start composting my kitchen scraps, I have less trash odor in my kitchen.

  • yonutza_k_ro
    13 years ago

    Search for Joraform JK125 composter!

  • nancyjeanmc
    13 years ago

    Whenever an unfamiliar name pops up, recommending some product, I check to see how long they've been registered on GardenWeb. Why can't I click on nelusantinelu, above? Can spammers get on without registering?

  • joepyeweed
    13 years ago

    I just compost those things along with the rest of the compost, in my regular pile.

  • jolj
    13 years ago

    Meat, dairy & pet poop are three thing I never compost.
    But the tumbler sounds like the best bet to me.

  • connie_cola
    13 years ago

    It is odd that both of the posters have no link to their member pages like the rest of us do AND that both are promoting products by name. Moderators is this suspicious to you, too?

    Posted by
    CompostMaster CA
    (missysunshine@excite.com) on
    Fri, Jul 17, 09 at 15:13

    Posted by
    nelusantinelu
    (yonutza@k.ro) on
    Fri, Jan 21, 11 at 4:35

  • connie_cola
    13 years ago

    Hey! They do not have member pages, either!
    They're NOT MEMBERS!
    What's going on here?????

  • mid_town_farmer
    13 years ago

    take an old garbage can, drill a bunch of holes in it all around, dig a hole the same size as the can, put the can in the hole and fill in the dirt around it. Make sure the lid is just about 2 inches about ground level. Put in all the yucky stuff like meat, dairy, spoiled cassarole from the fridge, etc....
    Put the lid on it securely and it will compost without odor (except when you open it to add more), without pests, flies or other related problems. It has been working for me.

  • dfcash55
    13 years ago

    The easiest way I found is to bury these items directly into the ground. This way you won't have to worry about animals in your pile or unpleasant odors. I bury meat and dairy 1 to 2 feet deep in the ground depending on the size. The nutrients find their way directly into the soil and you never see the item again.

  • pjames
    13 years ago

    Here in the south we have black soldier flies which drop eggs that hatch into voracious larvae. I put my meat products and pet wastes (any any other objectionable type waste) into a garbage can and the BSFL tear it up. Of course the resulting compost is NOT used on my veggies.

  • Lloyd
    13 years ago

    I know CompostMaster is a member (has been since July '09) and I've seen previous posts. GW had this type of issue (member name could not be clicked on and full e-mail was displayed) before, it was a software issue.

    This is more of an open forum than the Froup.

    Lloyd

  • connie_cola
    13 years ago

    Sorry. Lloyd you're right. CompostMaster has been a member for a while - all 3 of her posts are from Fri, Jul 17, 09. Good to know. Thanks.

  • bpgreen
    13 years ago

    "This is more of an open forum than the Froup. "

    Yeah, but the froup got very political and almost exclusively extremist political, so I (for one) stopped visiting. Maybe I'm the only one.

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