What Are They and How Do They Work?

The theory behind compost tumblers is to tumble the compost so it stays aerated and decomposes faster.  You put all of your refuse with a little organic compost material into the ball or drum and tumble it in one of several ways.  It doesn’t take a lot of energy or time to produce good quality organic compost for your garden.  In your compost making efforts, you might find this is the best way to go, especially if your time and/or energy  are  limited.

The Ball Compost Tumbler. . .

The most basic of the compost tumblers is simply a ball or drum that you fill with compost making materials and roll around the yard from time to time.

This would be a good project for your children, if you have any!  These balls aren’t set upon a base, like some of the other compost tumblers.  One advantage is that you can roll them wherever you need them.

The Drum Compost Tumbler. . .

One of the rolling styles that has a base is simply a drum or barrel set on a base that either has or doesn’t have rollers to facilitate the rolling process. Sometimes they will have a place for your feet so you can sit there and rotate the drum with your feet.  Later when the compost is ready, you can put it on the ground and roll it to your garden location.

A little more sophisticated are the drums that sit above the ground and have a pole that runs in the center.  They can either be mounted horizintally or vertically, with the horizontal mounted ones being easier to rotate than the vertical ones, as they tend to become very heavy when full.

The Hand-Cranked Gear-Driven Compost Tumbler. .

The most sophisiticated styles are the compost tumblers that are operated with a crank.  These tumblers sit on an above-ground frame, normally with rollers, and they are driven by a hand-cranked gear-driven system.

The main benefit of these compost tumblers is their ease of use.  Some have internal baffles to mix the compost materials better and, since they sit higher on the ground, they are easy to unload into your wheel barrow or whatever.

Kitchen Composting. . .Compost Crocks and Compost Pails

Hand-in-hand with the compost tumblers are the kitchen composters, such as  compost crocks and pails.  The crocks are really nice and look like a cute cookie jar sitting on your counter.

You can stash your daily organic material in these kitchen compost containers until you can make a trip to the compost bin, tumbler, etc., of your choice.  Look for the ones that  come with replacable filters to control odor.

The compost pails hold 3 quarts of kitchen refuse and are very attractive stoneware or stainless steel.  They come with dual charcoal filters that last from 2 – 6 months depending upon the amount of your kitchen scraps. Also, they are dishwasher safe, which is handy.

It’s not hard to learn how to compost, whatever method you use.  Which one do you prefer?

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

Compost Tumblers – A Brief Overview is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting

It’s a By-Product of Mushroom Growing!

Mushroom compost is actually the compost that mushroom growers make in which to grow mushrooms.  What you buy is the by-product of this growing process after the mushrooms are harvested.

Mushrooms growing in mushroom compost

Mushroom growers prepare a compost made of different organic materials, such as wheat or rye straw, hay, ground corn cobs, peat moss, cotton seed hulls, gypsum, used horse bedding straw, cocoa shells, cottonseed hulls, canola meal, grape crushings from wineries, soybean meal, potash, gypsum, poultry litter, and other natural organic materials.    Most mushroom growers have their own special recipe for their compost.

For the first three to four weeks, the compost is closely watched to make sure the temperature reaches,  and exceeds, 160 degrees F for a few days.  This heat kills any weed seeds, pests, or pathogens.  The compost is also turned frequently to aid in aeration.

When the above stage is finished, the compost is moved  into the building where the mushrooms will be grown. Approximately one week before the mushroom spawn is added, the mushroom compost is steam pasteurized to about 140 degrees F. This kills any remaining surface disease-causing organisms and pests.

When the compost is finally ready, it is topped with sphagnum peat moss which has been mixed with some ground limestone and the mushroom spores are sprinkled on top.

Approximately five weeks later the mushrooms are ready for harvest and they will be harvested for about three to four weeks.

The “spent” compost, as well as everything else in the growing room, is then steam pasteurized.  The mushroom compost is ready.

Because the materials used to make mushroom compost do not contain many heavy metals,  the  compost itself  is low in heavy metals .  Also, the pesticide level is low as mushroom farmers do not, as a rule, use pesticides on their mushroom crops.

This is the mushroom compost you can buy as Spent Mushroom Compost (SMC), Mushroom Soil, or Spent Mushroom Substrate (SMS).

How to Use Mushroom Compost

Mushroom compost, even if it is labeled “mushroom soil”, is not a replacement for regular soil, and should not be used as such.  Especially in container gardening, you should not use more than 25% mushroom compost mixed with the soil in the containers.

Because mushroom compost has a high level of soluble salts, which can be harmful to your plants, it must be mixed 50/50 with soil, and then it can be used as a good slow release organic fertilizer (2-1-1,pH 6.8).  Be especially careful with plants  from the heath family, such as rhododendrons, azaleas, and blueberries.  Another way to make mushroom compost “safe” for young plants, is to let it sit, uncovered, over the winter months so it can “cure.”

A lot of people are concerned that  mushroom compost, after being pasteurized, is not “alive.”  They believe that the pasteurization process kills off  the good micro-organisims that normal compost contains.  If you feel tht this can be a problem, add some regular organic compost – or compost tea – to your mushroom compost and letting it cure for a while.  It doesn’t take long for the mushroom compost to be teeming with micro-organisms again.

An Earthworm for worm composting

Putting mushroom compost into your wormery and letting the worms work on the mushroom compost over the winter months is also good for mushroom compost. The worm castings have many beneficial organisisms, the soluble salts can leach out of the wormery, and any synthetic fertilizers which may have been used on the mushrooms will be broken down by the worms.

Mushroom Compost Research and Statistics

Research from the Pennsylvania State University has shown that mushroom compost contains about 25% organic matter and 58% moisture.  This makes the mushroom compost perfect for handling and both making surface applications or incorporating it into the soil.  Due to an average of 1.12 % nigrogen, in mostly organic form, the nitrogen is slowly available to your plants.  It also contains an average of 0.67% phosphorous (phosphate), 1.24% potassium (potash), 2.29% calcium, 0.35% magnesium, and 1.07% iron.  The ideal pH range for most plants is 6.0 to 7.0, and mushroom compost averages 6.6.  Perfect compost contains a ratio of 30:1 or LOWER of carbon relative to nitrogen, and mushroom compost has a ratio of 13:1.

A good plan of action is to alternate the mushroom compost as a mulch one year and as a soil amendment the next year.

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

What is Mushroom Compost? is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting

This fermented product is then either buried in the garden or mixed into your normal composting making system, such as compost tumblers, compost bins, or a compost pile, where the decomposition process finishes, thus improving the microbial diversity of the finished compost and the soils and plants in which it is used.

What does “Bokashi” Mean?

Bokashi is a Japanese term that means “fermented organic matter.” It is a byproduct of EM and is used as a compost accelerator. The EM are natural lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and phototrophic bacteria that act as a microbe community within the kitchen scraps, fermenting and accelerating breakdown of the organic matter.

Kitchen scraps fermented in this manner will be ready to bury in your garden within two weeks. When you use the bokashi method, your kitchen scraps do not decompose as in traditional composting methods.They ferment, like pickles or wine. Therefore, the finished product does not resemble compost, but, like finished pickles, it looks about the same as when you started, just pickled.

When the fermenting process is finished, the next step is to bury the resulting product in your garden, about a foot deep,  or mix it into your regular compost making system and let it finish breaking down into compost.

How to Use the Liquid from Bokashi

The liquid that results from the bokashi method is very beneficial to your plants, but should be diluted 100 parts water to 1 part of the bokashi liquid.  If you have a septic system, you can pour the liquid down the drain and it will keep your septic system healthy.  Other drains in your home that are blocked and sluggish will also be “cleaned out” by the addition of this liquid.

How to Use the Bokashi System

To use the bokashi system in your kitchen for kitchen waste, you will initially need a supply of the bokashi EM mix, which consists of bran, molasses and the microorganisms, and two buckets with tight fitting lids, as the bokashi system is anerobic (without oxygen).

You would add a layer of shredded newspapers on the bottom of the bucket with a layer of the bran mixture. Then start adding layers of refuse, about 2 inches thick, each sprinkled with a handful of the bran mixture.

Keep the layers compacted so there are no pockets of air. Keep layering until the bucket is full, being careful to keep the air-tight lid on the bucket at all times except when you are adding your kitchen refuse.

When the first bucket is full, set it aside and start with the second bucket.

The first bucket should continue to process for about two weeks and can then be buried in your garden or put into your regular compost making system. By this time, the second bucket should be full so you can set it aside and start over with the first bucket.

The Advantages

The advantages of the bokashi system are many:

• ALL kitchen refuse can be put into the bokashi system, even fish, meat, cheese, and bones.
• There is no odor as there is no oxygen to react with the scraps and the lid on the bucket is air-tight.
• Since you are not putting the raw kitchen refuse into a compost making system outdoors, you don’t have to worry about bugs, or animals digging up the refuse.  The finished product that you ultimately put into your garden or compost mixture is already pickled so it doesn’t attract bugs or animals.
• The bokashi method is much faster.  The resulting product is ready within two weeks of when you finish filling the bucket.
• The liquid resulting from the process is excellent for your plants when mixed with water in a 100:1 ratio.
• You reduce the amount of refuse you put in the local landfills.  This not only helps the landfills, but it can save you money.
• As with a wormery, you can use the bokashi mix to ferment dog feces, but you must first mix the feces with other organic matter.  Do this separately from the bokashi you will be using for your vegetable garden. After it has fermented, bury it under about 8 inches of soil in your ornamental garden.
• If you have a cat litter box, the addition of a little of the bokashi  mixture to the cat litter each week will reduce the odors and is not harmful to the cats.  The resulting litter can be processed the same way as dog feces and, after it is fermented, it can be buried in your ornamental garden.
• Your bokashi mixture will last for many years if kept in a dry place out of direct sunlight.

An Earth Saving Revolution

Use the Bokashi System to Extend YOUR Compost Making Season

• Continue putting your kitchen refuse into the first of your two bokashi compost buckets, sprinkling them with the wheat bran medium inoculated with the microorganisms developed by Professor Higa.
• When the 1st bucket is full, set it aside for 10 days to 2 weeks to finish the ‘pickling’ process and start putting your kitchen waste into the 2nd bucket.

STEP 2:

• When the contents of the first bucket are finished pickling, put them into a back porch compost tumbler.
• These compact compost tumblers weigh just 40 pounds, stand 37″ high x 31″ wide x 26″ deep, and sit on 6″ wheels which makes them really easy to move around.
• Make sure your compost tumbler already has a small amount of compost inside, composed of green and brown organic materials and a little soil.  This gives the kitchen scrapes what they need to interact with to finish the compost making process.

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

How to Compost Using the Bokashi Method is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting

Just because the weather has turned cold, doesn’t mean you have to stop your compost making efforts. Your kitchen refuse is still going to pile up so you need a system to extend your compost season as long as possible.

Here are a couple of ways on how to compost during the colder months:

Compost Tumbler System:

Keep a compost container, such as a compost crock or compost pail, in your kitchen and collect your kitchen refuse every day like normal.  when the compost crock or compost pail becomes full, transfer the refuse to a Back Porch Compost Tumbler, similar to the one pictured below.

These compost tumblers are small in size, measuring just 37″ high x 31″ wide x 26″ deep, weigh just 40 pounds, and sit on 6″ wheels, which makes them easy to move around.  You can easily keep it on your back porch, patio, balcony, or laundry room.

In one of these locations, it shouldn’t freeze and will continue to convert your garbage into useful organic compost.  If, for some reason, your compost doesn’t get hot enough, you can always add a compost activator to get things perking along.

The Bokashi System:

Another alternative is to use the Bokashi system in your kitchen, such as the ones made by All Seasons Indoor Composters.  With this system, you alternate your kitchen refuse – all of it – in an air-tight bucket with layers of a medium, such as wheat bran, which has been inoculated with effective microorganisms. This mixture basically “pickles” your garbage in 10 days to two weeks. It’s usually good to have two buckets and alternate them.  When one is full, you switch to the next.  By the time the contents on the first bucket have ‘pickled’, the second bucket is full.
When the contents are ready, you can put them in your back porch compost tumbler with the rest of your compost and proceed as normal.  If it’s still possible, you can alternately bury the pickled mixture directly in your yard and it will be ready for your garden by Spring.

A Word of Caution

Before you begin putting the contents of your compost crock, pail, or bokashi bucket into your back yard compost tumbler, the tumbler must already have a small amount of “normal” compost to interact with the refuse from your kitchen containers. A good mixture would be green and brown organic matter and a little dirt, just like you would use when you are starting a normal compost pile in your back yard.

Whichever system you chose, compost crocks or pails, or the Bokashi system, used with your Back Porch Compost Tumbler, you can effectively extend your compost making system throughout the colder months.

Click here “I LOVE COMPOST MAKING!” to buy what you need for YOUR compost making!

How to Extend YOUR Compost Making Season is a post from: Compost Tumblers & Composting