Need cointainer help, my first try isn't going so well.

I live in suburban texas, and needed a closed container fashion of composting. My neighbors are crabby and the health officials that drive around dispensing tickets frown upon natural smells. I was afraid i would create a stinking mess on my first tries. Therefore I decided to try and use what I had. What I had were several five gallon buckets. I went to HD and bought lids for the buckets. I filled the bottom with kitchen waste and then layered cow manure, nandina bamboo leaves, cow manure, grass, cow manure, grass. I should have done more research. I now know way way too much nitrogen. So what I am wondering is how I could amend my buckets. I have several problems. 1) I took the lid of yesterday and whoa did it stink. It looks like there is mold growing on the grass. So it needs more air. I was wondering if I took the buckets and rolled them around would that increase oxygen?? 2) The buckets are not heating up. I don't think there is enough surface area. I'm thinking that perhaps a ten or fifteen gallon plastic trashcan would work better. Any suggestions?? Thank you. :)

Good for you for being innovative! I don't have time to address this, but if some of the folks here haven't by tonight, I'll give it a shot. But I wanted you to know that I think it's excellent that you're trying to do it, regardless of the challenges.

I'm no expert, but drilling some air holes around the sides would probably help. Please wait for more responses from experienced composters, just in case I'm wrong. I will watch for their responses as I have access to the large buckets for free from a pro-painter.

Cathy

Cathy, you're absolutely correct.

I saw a plan once for a no-turn compost bin - the designer took pvc pipe with holes in it and ran them through the middle of the bin. Not a bad idea!

Duncanji, I have tried almost the same thing this year when I moved to a new home - I took a regular old rubbermaid garbage can with a locking top. I have an "aerator" to turn the compost with (this is a little fancier than mine is, with 2 handles and more than one little wingy-thingy, but it gives you the idea - http://www.gardeners.com/Compost-Aerator/default/StandardCatalog.20708.33-367.cpd ).

The problem I had was that I didn't put drain holes in the bottom, consequently everything stayed too wet, turned black and stank, despite regular turning. I would occasionally drain it but I think it would have been much more effective to have holes in the bottom, too.

To give you an idea of what is going on (to the best of my knowledge) is there are [at least] 2 types of microbes breaking the matter down, aerobic (which thrive in the presence of oxygen) and anaeorbic (which don't like oxygen). Anytime you are using the anaerobes you tend to have smells. Adding oxygen to the mix increases the aerobes which don't smell, break things down quicker and will be the ones that heat things up. So oxygen is essential. Rolling helps, but isn't real effective unless your bin is half empty, right? Helps to mix things up and keep the moisture level consistent.

BTW, I've noticed that white, powdery stuff on grass clippings that were being composted before... it may be mold, but I really don't know what it is. Anyone?

duncanji: Sounds like you have several issues, some of which you and others have mentioned:
too much "green"- you need "browns"
no air- add air holes and mix to aerate
too small a volume

I think it unlikely that you would achieve heat in such a small container. The smallest recommended volume is generally a cubic yard, though mine gets pretty hot sometimes with half of that.

You mentioned that living in suburbia you need a container to container to compost. I also live in suburbia so I understand what you mean. (Though I know my neighbors wouldn't bat an eye at a big old pile of compost, but my husband is another story). An actual compost bin would work for you and I don't think most look so bad. I use the Biostack and I love it so much I added a second one this year.

Biostack http://www.smithandhawken.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=prod21199&categoryId=cat340061p&sku=21199

Karen

Thanks everyone for the advice. I am still pressing onward with this experiment of sorts I suppose. I'm going to see how this batch turns out. I've waited a week for everything to break down a little bit so that I would have more room in the buckets. Then today I added more leaves to all of the buckets and turned them and mixed them up a bit. To even the moisture I turned them upside down. I plan on airing everything and reversing the end every couple of days. I've left about five inches of empty space in the top of it to roll it around and mix everything up. It still stinks really bad. I mean really bad. LOL. But at least it only smells like that whenever the lids are taken off. Karen, I have looked at the biostack before and I would love to have one. But being a poor college student they are a little out of the budget. :) Now if I can only get them to heat up!!!! Pagancat, did you get compost out of the trashcan?? I'm really interested in trying that. It would have more volume, but I could still close the container.

Also, are coffee grounds considered green or brown??

Looks like it has a nitrogen: carbon ratio of 24:1, so you could call it a green.

LOL - no, I got a lot of very wet, uh, carp out of it! S'okay, it all went into my lasagna bed, where I needed moisture anyway. Before I start using it again, I'm going to have to poke a few holes through the bottom and set it in a tub or something... that way I can use the "tea" as well.

Best of luck!

Duncan - try Alfalfa meal. I buy it in the pelleted form, about $8 for a 50# bag. Wonderful stuff & it definately heats things up.

Sorry to butt in here but I just found out about alfalfa tea and wanted to get some alfalfa pellets. I was told that Tractor Supply had them but they have closed down in our area. Any other sources that you know of that might me in my area? Cicero NY near (Syracuse).

duncanji: Yes, the biostack has gotten pretty pricey. If you keep your eyes open, many cities, counties, municipalities, even garbage collection companies, offer compost bins at a low, subsidized cost, usually around $25 dollars.It doesn't happen much here, though, as my area generally is just not very "green".

After my old bin fell apart I had a heck of a time finding a compost bin locally, at any price. The county supposedly has a sale twice/year on compost bins, but this spring it never happened.

Karen

Mittsy, look for a feed store, farmer supply, that sort of thing. It's generally sold as horse feed.

Karen has a great idea - I'd bet the county extension (especially if they have a Master Gardener program) might have a line into some composters.

duncanji,

I've made compost in buckets before. But, I lined the buckets with heavy duty black plastic trash bags. This really heated up the compost. I added a layer of rotted leaves on the bottom of the trash bag, added kitchen scraps, rabbit manure,and a small shovel full of garden soil, and on top of that I added a cup of water. Tie the bags loosely, and put the lids on. You can roll the buckets from side to side to help mix the ingredients. I had rich, crumbly compost in no time at all. You can reuse the bags, and the buckets only need a quick rinse, and they are ready for the next batch of compost. I didn't put a lot of grass clippings or green materials in the buckets. Just a lot of vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, manure, soil, and more rotted leaves. I rake all the leaves in the fall, and put them in black trash bags. Add a little garden soil, a handful of 10-10-10 , and a quart of water. I keep well rotted leaves at all times. Good for compost, or mulching, or just as a soil booster.

Thank you Arias that is good practical usable information. I'm going to try a 5 gallon bucket for my kitchen scraps.

Arias, that sounds like a great idea. The only question I have is how do you aerate the material?? does it even need to be aerated using this method. Also, would this method still work if you don't have rotten leaves. As it is fall I will soon have access to newly fallen leaves, but not to any that are already partially rotten. Thank you for you're info.

J

When you open the bags to add scraps, that will let in air. Just give the bag a "jostle", before you close it. Also, you can close the bag, put the lid on the bucket, and give it a shake. I have three buckets sitting in the carport, in various degrees of decomposing. There is hardly any odor.

I like to use to leaves as I have so many, and they add trace elements and minerals to the compost. So if you don't have any, find another source of carbon. Like finely shredded brown paper bags or finely shredded paper. If you save the fall leaves, next spring you'll have an abundance of well rotted material

Arias, since the leaves are just beginning to fall here, do I understand correctly that I can use shredded newspapers for the next few weeks? I hope to get a bag of grass clippings from my neighbor, we don't have a bagger.

Sure, you can use a few shredded newspapers, and also shredded paper bags. You need a little "bulk", and the paper provides it. I'd layer the grass clippings between the other materials, as the grass clippings are slimey. Just add a handful of shredded paper, a layer of grass clippings, scraps, and whatever else you are using. I'm a big fan of easy composting. ha ha. So just putting all the ingredients in a black plastic bag appeals to me. I have been making the compost in bags for a few years now, plus, I keep the rotted leaves in bags for gardening. I send nothing to the trash, if I can help it. Our landfills are about full. So, the leaves and food scraps and grass clippings need to be re-cycled.

I had bagged leaves one year & not enough time to work them into the compost bins. They sat all winter on top of my raised beds, closed up. We rarely run a rain deficit here in the Pacific NW, so the fall leaves are quite wet. Next spring when i opened the bags, the leaves had composted down: the worms had done the work for me. I suppose the worms got into the bags via the leaves, or, in through the small tears created in the bags when they were dragged from the car to the garden. Nonetheless, it was a very nice surprise!

Well, the five gallon buckets are a failure I have decided. They did well for a short period, everything started to turn black and decay. Now, they have stopped it seems. I must say that Arias' idea of the black bags works much better. I also experimented with that. I put holes all over the bag, did 2/3 leaves and shredded newspapers and 1/3 kitchen scrap and coffee grounds. It is moving along quite nicely. I put the bag in a black trashcan to capture the Texas heat we STILL HAVE!!! I'm also trying a bag that is a little bigger, no holes in the sides, and double bagged. So far it hasn't heated up.

Lucky you with the heat!
We are continually heat deficient (Seattle area) - hard to get things composted very quickly, and that's why I let the worms do their work.
What did you do with the material that was in the 5 gal buckets? Was it usable?
Just curious...
The bags i have used are the 39 gal leaf/garden bags (black). It took about 4 months for the leaf mixture to compost down. Since it was over the winter, I thought it was convenient, and all I did was bag the leaves & move the bags into place. Gotta love those worms...

I just spread the material in one of the raised beds. Can't waste leaves!!!

amen! =:0)

YOU SHOULD TRY WORMS FOR YOUR CLOSED BINS. THEY WORK IN HALF THE TIME AND KEEP THE SMELL GONE CAUSE THEY CONSTANTLY EAT THE GREEN STUFF.

I have been experimenting with using garbage bags and it works really well. I can roll the bags around to mix it up. I do put holes in the bags so they air out. They've make compost a lot quicker than my regular compost piles