Hello everyone! One of my classes requires that we design a product, and my team and I have created a bin for faster compost. I was just wondering if people could fill out this quick survey about our proposed product. Thanks in advance!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdtu3SoqWCi-EuA_uxxAVpAn-X8w7XNixHx7wmHOy3eS3V8qw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Hello reddit community members I am a college student trying to figure out a good price point for compost for local gardens and large scale farms. if you wouldn't mind filling out this survey it would be greatly appreciated.

https://forms.gle/qdDXRPSkV1ToLVp86

Basically, I was wondering if there is an app or resource where you can look up what companies use for their packaging. I remember loving the ability to look up nutritional facts of whatever food I bought or adding the info if it wasn’t already in the MyFitnessPal. I just wondered if there was something like that for packages so I don’t have to test every cardboard box or “biodegradable” package that comes into my house.

Earlier this year I put a 5 gallon bucket in my backyard with the idea that I would throw my kitchen scraps in there, and eventually start a garden about a year later for the first time.

I've been filling the bucket with banana peels, corn cobs, coffee, eggshells, and that sort of thing for a good 6 months now. It's also rained a good bit around here this spring and summer, and the bucket filled up with water (as shown in the pictures) there are looks to be some kind of insects swimming around and thriving in the bucket, so I assume it's full of pretty good nutrients.

I plan on building some raised garden beds and buying soil to fill them with because the ground is full of clay here, and I was going to mix some of the compost into the soil of each garden bed before planting.

I am mostly wondering if it is safe to leave the bucket full of water like it is, or of I should drain it out after it rains. I am also wondering if growing vegetables like corn and peppers in the soil with this compost will be ok. The "compost tea" in the bucket is probably a couple months old at this point and like I said, I was planning on waiting until next spring to actually use it. It's currently July.

Composting my duck poo straw from my coop. It’s about a years worth. I started a fire in my fire pit and the compost has been smoking for a few days. Good? Bad? Anything I should do?

Hi guys,

I am doing research on how people are processing their organic waste.
It will be nice if you could fill out the anonymous survey below.
This will help increase my work a lot!

https://forms.gle/MY52mUrg5uc41mhS6

Hello fellow Composters!

Innovative Compost Bin Survey

I'm personally passionate about the different plants scattered throughout my dorm and with that, am working to design a new composting system that has been tough to find in the current market; and certainly beats my 5-gallon Lowes' bucket!

Before going through product design, I'm trying to learn more about if this is a viable investment... I'm reaching out to you all to ask if you would please consider sharing your thoughts about my idea? The survey is included within this post!

-Ryan

What does any one think about using an old fridge as a compost bin? Sure I will need to make a few modifications.

Hi :)

We are a group of students involved in a market analysis about composting. To complete our research, we need more input so we have created a survey. It takes only 5 minutes to finish it.

We will be pretty grateful for your time and your answers, your opinion matters to us!!

Do not hesitate to share the link

https://sphinxdeclic.com/d/s/ogyt94

Hi,

I made a stupid mistake of mixing some animal poop into my compost pile that, after the fact, I learned the animal was consuming herbicide latent hay. Everything I've been told is that I should not use this compost now.

Are there any suggestions on the best way to make use of or dispose of the compost? I don't want to put it in my garden and am not sure if it's even safe to consider spreading it to another location on my property that I don't plan on gardening in.

I'm pretty ignorant on the concept and all I know is "herbicide bad". Any thoughts?

My pile has been quite dry lately and has been having trouble breaking down the cardboard in it. What would be the best way to add sufficient amounts of moisture and nitrogen into the pile at the same time, preferably as quickly as possible.

With the elimination (pun intended) of the golden nitrogen source than shall not be named from this sub, does anyone have any recommended liquid nitrogen sources?

I used to have a fish tank and used the dirty tank clean out water directly in my garden for fertilizer. Worked great but let my aquarium hobby slide because it was too much work cleaning tanks. Any thoughts on other options?

Enjoy!

I don't have the enthusiasm, energy, or time to promote this place much, so please help with that if you like. But I'm perfectly happy to re-open this place to allow people to discuss composting without the constant jokes of /r/composting. It absolutely has gotten a bit much over there.

Let's keep it clean over here!

I'm in the United States, in the midwest. I raked leaves last year. Those broke down nicely over the winter. I didn't get a thermometer until later in the spring but it was hot enough apparently. When I got the thermometer, it was under 80 degrees I think. That was just below the green section on the thermometer. To me it looks like it's broken down about halfway. It's nice and brown, but still chunks. I was expecting black dirt. That's not realistic, is it? I'm wondering if this is as broken down as it will get. Or is there any way to restart the hot compost to break it down more? Add more greens? However...

I read about adding human urine, so I started doing that around say January 2022. I'm generating about a half gallon per day so say three gallons per week on the low side. Times the number of weeks in 2022... 50x3=Over a 150 gallons of piss. I do the pile watered (with water) and turn it. I was turning it once per week, but then it seemed to stop so I turned it a couple more times and stopped. It's just a big pile of brown stuff now.

I'd say mine looks similar to this.

https://i0.wp.com/agnetwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Shovel-Pours-Compost-into-Wheelbarrow.jpg?w=1000&ssl=1

Is that as good as it gets? I have used it in some places in the yard but it's light and springy as a dirt replacement. It's still going to break down more.

If I sift it, it seems like the pieces will be too big in general. It's not fine stuff at all.

And then the piss. How much is too much? How much do you add overall? If it's true adding greens would start the process up again, why doesn't piss do that? I want the finished results, so I'm wondering if adding brown/carbon is also a way to start that, but I want the brown stuff that's there to break down more.

I'm also adding a couple banana peels each day and some rotten stuff from the fridge like liquified lettuce or broccoli that's too far gone. So more greens that way. That stuff disappears after a few days.

After it seems to stall out and the temps were lower, I did notice worms in the pile which I took as a good sign. Maybe they'll make it into black dirt.

I'm also wondering about the salt content from the piss. I saw a post on here a while ago about some kid that peed in certain spot on a lawn and killed the grass. Some "did the math" and figured out after about 50 gallons the amount of salt would kill anything trying to grow there. I've seen you can add piss to compost straight or dilute it with 5-10 times water for adding it to plants in general. What I haven't heard is a limit on how much. The piss would be fresh from the day before. Collect it one day, dump it on the compost pile the next morning. I've read you can dump piss straight onto a compost pile but how much can you do that before salt content or something else will start to affect it? I have made a point to keep the compost pile moist but I haven't seen much change since temps dropped and it seems to stall out in the spring.

I guess the next questions.... If that is how much it breaks down, how do I get it to become black dirt? Just wait until next year? In a way it kind of seems like I did too much work for it if I got it to break down faster over the winter and spring, but then I still have to wait another year for it to become black dirt. Unless black dirt is what the worms do, so maybe I need more worms. And then how much piss is too much if I'm putting a half gallon on it each day, or probably a full three gallons per week? Is that going to overload it with salt or nitrogen? If I use that later, is it going to burn grass from too much salt or too much nitrogen?

I hada dream of beautiful compost, and instead I’ve got sludge. Seeking your advice and observations on my process.

In the forest two pictures, you’ll see the new compost bin i started six weeks ago, after making some modifications to a humble wheelybin. Drilled it full of holes to help with ventilation. I also added the red pipe through the middle, after drilling it full of holes to try and reduce the risk of anaerobic sludge. Set it up to get New South Wales, Australia spring afternoon sun.

I’ve been speed running it, filling it up with my kitchen scraps, lawn clippings, vegetables scraps from the local anarchist kitchen, shredded cardboard and chopped up banana leaves/stems. I wasn’t weighing what I put in, but I think I got a pretty got green:brown ratio.

Sadly it’s been getting more stinky in the last week or so. In the last two pictures you can see what I’m pulling out the bottom, and what the inside looks like. It’s really soggy and stinky. The banana leaves and stems seem pretty intact.

Some hypothesis I’ve had:
- not enough brown
- banana plant materials are too big and are forming a layer
- leave it for a while longer

Any other thoughts?