Help my sister to make compost

[zem]

Hi there MP My sister, she is big on organic, breastfeeding, and such, and she finally wants to make a compost bin, after she had been simply burying her kitchen waste in soil. I am a hydro guy myself so i can only help her so much, and I imagined what would be a typical compost bin for her, and that would be to get several 10-15" diameter plastic bins with lid about 15" high, and trays, and make holes in bottom and on top sides put some soil grass and brown leaf inside, and start filling them. I think that this way she could have several recipes in each bin with a different npk. I have many questions that I have and will have, but first, let me ask, is the basic idea ok?

More difficult for me to know is what kinds of food that i add to the compost will result in what kinds of fertilisers? I need more PK and less N for my sis to be able to flower plants with that. I know egg shells for calcium, can you suggest something high in P and K?

What about the smell? how can it be controlled? Any more tips and ideas?
Thanks!
Zem

 

[Rosebud]

Ya zem's sister... she needs to get a worm bin too. All fruits and vegetables and smashed up egg shells and coffee and tea. No animal products or meat or fat of any kind. Cut up orange peels, the smaller the pieces the quicker it composts. Grass clippings if clean (no pesticides) hay, brown leaves... It is all about the green and brown balance.. If it gets too wet she needs more brown. Compost piles don't smell if done right.
I use bat guano of more P andK... that is a start.. Tell her hi from a mother earth type..I am tickled she is doing this.

 

[zem]

There we go so a worm bin is different from a compost bin... i am ignorant in organics, and it feels great I love learning, and there is so much unexplored space for my brain there... The crushed veggies must go in the compost bin? what goes with worms? wow I feel like I am back in time to when I first signed up to a growing forum lol

 

[Rosebud]

I got my red wigglers (worms) from my neighbor.. You take two totes and put holes in the bottom of one and stack them.. No holes in the bottom one. You fill them with shredded paper and the same stuff you use for compost, except, no stringy things like celery.. worms don't like to eat stringy stuff. I am giving one as a gift today. LOL, i will take pic's for you. Then you make worm casting teas or if your lazy you just top dress your plants with worm castings.

 

[zem]

so the one with drainage is compost, the one with no holes is worm bin, thats cool Rose, I guess she will do the top dressing with castings and mix the compost with soil. I am thinking that she could collect local earthworms and let them multiply but i am not sure how efficient they are versus bought ones. her type would love to do it locally from her own earth. great info thanks Rose that is so nice and helpful from you

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

How much waste does she generate? If she has enough, I recommend a compost tumbler and a worm bin. When I lived by myself, I did not generate enough waste for a large compost pile, so just ran a worm bin and a small compost tumbler.

Trying to keep and turn a large compost pile can be hard if you do not have equipment. A commercial compost tumbler is easy to use and turn. You can buy them in smaller sizes and it is easy to supply the right amount of moisture. And they seem to work faster than a compost pile that you need to manually turn regularly.

A small commercial worm bin is virtually odor free and not messy at all. I kept mine in my kitchen for many years. It is in an enclosed greenhouse area next to the house now. I will bring it in soon as the weather as the is getting cold now. Worms also do not like foods with strong flavors, like onions, garlic, and cabbage. The finer the food is chopped up, the faster the worms turn it into wonderful worm castings. Most of the commercial worm have a reservoir at the bottom with a spigot to collect the worm leachate, which you make worm casting tea from.


She will love doing this. There are few things finer than turning gargage into rich black soil.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

LOL, zem, you posted while I was typing. There are actually a lot of other differences between compost and worms than the drainage holes. While you can make a worm bin with just a couple of totes, I encourage you to look at the tiered commercial bins. The are odor free and the worms cannot escape. The also catch the leachate for you. The worms migrate from one level as the food level rises, leaving you with rich castings and few worms to try and seperate out. I got 2000 red wigglers (about 2 lbs) from a commercial place to start. Red wigglers are a lot better in worm bins than earthworms.

With compost bins, you need a good microbe herd to break down the raw materials. With a worm bin, they eat the garbage and poo out the castiings. It is quite a bit faster. Compost piles are a lot pickier about temperatures, moisture levels, and green/brown ratios than the worms are

 

[zem]

wow more great info from The Goddess, thanks!
So i do want drain or leaching holes in the bottom of the worm bin, that compost tumbler is an awesome tool, if it were for my garden i would diy it in no time from my scraps, but my sis, would have to buy one, but thats okay i guess. she is married with a 3 yr old and a second one coming within a month, she seems to be on a roll..weeee!

 

[Rosebud]

I figured you might have a hard time sourcing some of that zem.. yes, a tumbler is great. i have a small one with two sides. no egg shells for the worms either.

 

[WeedHopper]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/VermiTek...53308&wl11=online&wl12=51130083&wl13=&veh=sem

 

[Rosebud]

I don't think zem has walmart where he is..

 

[WeedHopper]

Whoops.

 

[zem]

Lol no walmart but thats okay, i get the chance to put money in a pocket other than waltons' lol I can get such stuff from local gardening stores, they have showrooms with everything soil related. I wish i had the time to do that setup myself but with my hydro deeds, i am over my head, all i can do is point her correctly as she asked from me. she will not be doing bone meal since she has cats that clean the bones. She asked how necessary are the worms, i told her to just bite and do the bin as well, not sure what she will do. Her hubby, is easy to draw into such things, hes a kid dad if you know what i mean, does not care about organics but loves to play in his new little garden

 

[trillions of atoms]

Compost takes time, just food scraps thrown into a pile with yard waste and even animal poo.


Animal poo will be higher in P and K.

 

[zem]

thanks TOA ! I will look for that

 

[trillions of atoms]

Usually bird poop....chicken **** mainly because it is easy to come by. I put a DIY thread on compost teas here too.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Dont use poo from any meat eating animal--they can carry parasites and disease. But chickens, bunnies, other herbavours (sp) will be okay in compost piles.