DIY Compost Machine

[Daffodils At The Sea]

~gd,
<<Your pile and forget it methods are outdated>>

Actually, it's not outdated. I do know how the science works, and there is lots of evidence that slow compost has more to offer plant roots and soil. I know there are always big debates about making compost. I was just trying to suggest a way that might work for K15n1. There's no really one way to compost. Lots of people prefer lots of different ways, so it usually comes down to personal preference.

There's a ton of oxygen in a well layered pile for microscopic bacteria. We shouldn't think of oxygen in terms of what humans need. The piles shouldn't have that much oxygen or they will dry out in the middle. In all of the gardening forums I belong to, when people have problems with compost it's almost always because the pile is too dry. None of my piles stink, they are not anaerobic. But even if a pile were to get too wet, turning it, adding more oxygen, making sure there are enough browns in it, would get it back to smelling like the forest floor in a day or so. Perhaps covering it, as I mentioned, to control too much rain input would help.

How the cities do their compost isn't really the way most individual gardeners and self-sufficient people would do it, is it?

 

[~gd]

~gd,
<<Your pile and forget it methods are outdated>>

Actually, it's not outdated. I do know how the science works, and there is lots of evidence that slow compost has more to offer plant roots and soil. I know there are always big debates about making compost. I was just trying to suggest a way that might work for K15n1. There's no really one way to compost. Lots of people prefer lots of different ways, so it usually comes down to personal preference.

There's a ton of oxygen in a well layered pile for microscopic bacteria. We shouldn't think of oxygen in terms of what humans need. The piles shouldn't have that much oxygen or they will dry out in the middle. In all of the gardening forums I belong to, when people have problems with compost it's almost always because the pile is too dry. None of my piles stink, they are not anaerobic. But even if a pile were to get too wet, turning it, adding more oxygen, making sure there are enough browns in it, would get it back to smelling like the forest floor in a day or so. Perhaps covering it, as I mentioned, to control too much rain input would help.

How the cities do their compost isn't really the way most individual gardeners and self-sufficient people would do it, is it?

Agreed but then again you aren't using the pile and forget it method are you? My personal favorite is composting in the soil it is slow but the fiber and composted material improves soil structure in place. I never suggested the high tech method for individual gardeners and self-sufficient people. I suggested that IF one was interested there were places where they could see such a system at work. These appear to be the wave of the future. BTW you seem to imply that 'browns' [high carbon materials] add oxygen, in fact the carbon is oxiidized. It is the act of turning the pille that adds oxygen. What ever floats your Boat! ~gd

 

[Daffodils At The Sea]

~gd, no, I didn't imply that browns add oxygen. Maybe I didn't explain why I suggested adding browns. If a pile is too wet, browns will absorb excess moisture. They are stiffer than greens, and make little air pockets that allow for that oxygen/air within a pile. That's what keeps a pile from being anaerobic whether it sits there or it gets turned.

And the act of turning the pile redistributes the contents, allowing for the more-dense places of microbes to be spread around, and provide more food for them, because after all, when the heat dies down in the middle it means they aren't eating, pooping, dying and making heat.

I don't know that there's a name for what I do, and I never said it was Pile and Forget It. There is a constant monitoring of a pile if you start noticing that it's too wet or too dry. All I suggested was how the person who started this thread could avoid a too-wet, stinky pile, and hopefully not give up on composting

 

[Hinotori]

I have the best compost machines. They have feathers and slime. Toss scraps to chickens if they will eat it. Toss stuff they won't eat and the chicken litter into a new raised bed spot with some topsoil and water well. Wait a month while keeping it moist and the worms we have here will have turned it all into some nice planting medium. Last two 8 inch raised beds I made had thick layers of really fresh chicken litter about 2/3rds of the way down then I just planted stuff in the top level.

The worms had it all taken care of, eggshells and all within the month. Other than being a different color when I dug in, it was just dirt. No smell and nice. Tons of worms in each scoop of soil. I had to actually fence off the beds to keep the chickens from digging for worms a few days after I made the beds.

The dog digs down in the chicken run trying to get rodents and the chickens now wait around for flying worms when she's doing it. I need to get new pens made up and move them out of that pen. They have been there two years and I really want to plant in there next year.

I have put up a run out in the garden that I can move as needed. Hopefully in a few years I'll be able to get stuff to actually grow in the ground.

 

[~gd]

~gd, no, I didn't imply that browns add oxygen. Maybe I didn't explain why I suggested adding browns. If a pile is too wet, browns will absorb excess moisture. They are stiffer than greens, and make little air pockets that allow for that oxygen/air within a pile. That's what keeps a pile from being anaerobic whether it sits there or it gets turned.

And the act of turning the pile redistributes the contents, allowing for the more-dense places of microbes to be spread around, and provide more food for them, because after all, when the heat dies down in the middle it means they aren't eating, pooping, dying and making heat.

I don't know that there's a name for what I do, and I never said it was Pile and Forget It. There is a constant monitoring of a pile if you start noticing that it's too wet or too dry. All I suggested was how the person who started this thread could avoid a too-wet, stinky pile, and hopefully not give up on composting

The OP [original poster] back in Jan12 was talking about a indoor composting machine, Your first post lncluded Composting works best when you make a pile, then stop adding, let it finish...starting a new pile that runs simultaneously. [That was where the pile and forget it name came from] Any gizmo that says keep adding to it will always have contents that aren't quite composted. Are the top and edges of your piles composted?
I am so confused that I am dropping this thread. Nice day ~gd