Will this work? RE: Composting

[Homely]

I want to compost kitchen scraps to feed my container garden. I'm am a homesteader in theory only, but I'd like to make the most of what I do have and have it easy enough that I'll actually do it.

I have a big thing of peat moss and plastic buckets. I'd like to layer the kitchen scraps with peat moss a' la humanure composting toilet. Will this work? Do I have the same restrictions on putting animal products in? I saw on this board where a whole carcass could be composted in sawdust, so I'm hoping old cooked food will be fine, too. Should I throw in so plain old dirt to get the right bacteria in?

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

[Forerunner]

All the ideas you mentioned are good ones, and do-able.
If you compost in buckets, it will take some time, and you'll want to cover with sawdust, say, an inch or two thick, and I'd leave the lids on, if you have them, to keep flies, etc. at bay.

Better yet would be to combine all ingredients in an outside pile--wouldn't have to be huge-- where you might gain enough mass to heat.
Heat is the key to breaking down the tougher ingredients.
The heat both cooks the material and provides an environment most conducive to the benevolent action of the thermophilic bacteria...while also killing all human pathogens and weed seeds.

Do you have a spot outside ?
Can you come up with leaves, grass clippings, sawdust or animal manures in any quantity ?
A compost pile that would take up about two pickup truck beds worth of space is sufficient to heat properly.....

[mistletoad]

I think a worm bin would be ideal for you. Drill air holes in your bucket, add red wigglers to your damp peat moss and then feed the kitchen scraps to the worms.

[Homely]

Thanks for your replies.

I've thought about worms but there seem to be a lot of "don'ts" involved there. I'll re-read on the topic and find out. I'm looking for the simplest possible thing.

I'm in the tropics, so its pretty warm all the time. I don't have access to large quantities of leaves, clippings or manure, although I'm working on that.

If I keep the lids on and set the full buckets someplace sunny, will it break down a little quicker? The buckets are white, if it makes a difference.

Keep the input coming.

[highlands]

Composting is very easy. Don't let it be difficult. Don't worry about ratios or proportions. Make a pile mixing some carbon source like wood shavings with what other materials you have. In time it will decay and make great garden amendments. Just keep adding layers.

[chickenista]

If you want the compost to happen in a timely fashion, you'll need to shake it or stir it or roll the bucket around a bit.
Oxygen is very important for fast, hot compost.
Put the lid on tight, knock it over and roll it around and then set it back right.
If you just do layers and don't mix them up, you'll be doing an anaerobic breakdown (without oxygen). You get different composters growing and eating your stuff.
If you roll it, it will turn to rich, black gold quicker..

[Navotifarm]

Without knowing what kind of scraps yoU have or how much, but whatever they are, my surmise is that they may get pretty stinky cooking in your tropical heat. Worms and shredded newspaper would be what I recommend.

Do you have an extra blender? Youu could blend them with water and make holes in your containers to pour your scraps juice in. For that matter, you don't have to blend your scraps, just bury them so they don't get odoriferous and attract nasty insects. A few worms in the containers would help digest your scraps and fertilize your plants.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Lid on is a bad idea. You are going to have a slimey anerobic toxic slurry.

You'd be better off with a worm bin.

[Callieslamb]

blend your food extras in the blender and pour it on the garden. You can dig a hole for it if you want. Or devote a small area of your garden to composting. Dig a hole down and fill it up with kitchen waste and dry matter. Cover the top with soil and you are good to plant.

[Allen W]

I agree with Callieslamb.

[Betho]

Originally Posted by Homely

Thanks for your replies.

I've thought about worms but there seem to be a lot of "don'ts" involved there. I'll re-read on the topic and find out. I'm looking for the simplest possible thing.

I'm in the tropics, so its pretty warm all the time. I don't have access to large quantities of leaves, clippings or manure, although I'm working on that.

If I keep the lids on and set the full buckets someplace sunny, will it break down a little quicker? The buckets are white, if it makes a difference.

Keep the input coming.

Homely, worms are reeeeealy easy. I even neglected mine completely for about 6 months once and they were STILL alive when I went to go check on them.

[Homely]

I was about to try this morning when visions of vermin infested anaerobic soup made me chicken out. So I've been reading at the humanure messageboard, which didn't help too much but I recalled a thread from Mothering.com where humanure was composting on its own, inadvertently, and this more relevant article where they are getting compost in a matter of days:
" I been experimenting with humanuer for 5 yrs now, speeding up soil making to 1-2 months in 5 gal buckets (from pooper) by mixing in soil & minerals with dry or damp sawdust. "
and
"However for super-fast composting layering with elements help balance the whole decomposing into rich soil. Here at PM we have daily buckets of food scraps, lots of fresh seaweed & horse poop we combine in layers, with green leaves & wood ash as needed. In 2-3 days we get 50-80% rich soil, we sift into our nursery for potting & planting."

So I'm going to read and consider some more and see what I can decide on.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Did it say if they have aeration holes in the buckets? Turn the contents?

Not enough info.

[ronbre]

composting is just rotting..basically...it is a trial and error situation..

enough brown, enough green, enough air, enough water..other than that really anything that rots can be composted.

[Terri]

This might amuse you, though it says not to use meat or fat. Shrek posted this this morning.

http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Easywormbin.htm

[Homely]

Thanks. That is a nice simple set-up. What's the difference between red worms and earthworms, does anyone know?

[Terri]

Red worms are a variety of earthworms. They are what is common locally.

[o&itw]

Originally Posted by Homely

Thanks. That is a nice simple set-up. What's the difference between red worms and earthworms, does anyone know?

While redworms are a type of earth worms, there is a difference when composting. In the US, red worms are what is often sold as "red wigglers" at fishing bait stores. Many earthworms are more like night crawlers. They live down in the soil and come to the surface at night to feed in the vegetation layer. Redworms, don't actually live down in the soil, but stay in the vegetation layer itself. If one puts a pile of compostable material in their garden, the regular eathworms will come up out of the soil at night and eat at the edges. While the redworms will live in the material itself. Both types of worms will help a compost pile, but the regular earthworms don't take to "container" composting.

If you live in a tropical area, you can probably make a round metal wire fence a few feet across, or a barrel shaped container with no bottom and some holes drilled in the side, and simply dump the waste material in it (leaves, sawdust etc. on top will help keep an odor down) There will be some kind of local worms that will find their way into the material sooner or later and take up residence. Bacteria will do the compost job without worms, the worms will make things faster.