A Different Way of Composting

Worm composting is done in a wormery (worm compost bin) and is an alternative method of making compost that utilizes live worms to “eat” kitchen and garden refuse and turn it into castings. A worm can process half of its body weight each day, effectively reducing the materials by as much as 80%.

Watering your houseplants with worm compost tea

Worm compost bins make compost much quicker than regular compost bins or compost tumblers. After the worms eat the materials you feed them and produce the castings, which are richer in nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium than normal compost, you benefit from the results in two ways. First, you can collect the liquid, a form of compost tea, that drips out of the bottom of the wormery, mix it with water, and use it to spray on your plants leaves. Second, when the castings are finished, you collect them and use them as you would compost in your garden.

How a Compost Using a Worm Compost Bin

Wormeries are very simple. One example is a vertical wormery that is composed of three trays with holes in the bottom of each tray allowing the worms to move from tray to tray. To begin, you put bedding in the bottom tray and then add the worms. The bedding can consist of shredded newspapers, mature compost, sawdust, hay, dried leaves, burlap bags, etc. The goal is to have the bedding as similar to the worm’s natural habitat as possible, which would be like the moist, dried leaves found in a garden or forest floor. The worms will then migrate towards the food.

The top tray holds the food – fresh kitchen and garden scraps that can be put in every day or so and covered with damp newspapers or other bedding. The second tray is the work-in-progress tray where most of the composting takes place. This compost is not finished yet. The third tray is where the finished product ends up.

You can keep a compost crock or compost pail in your kitchen to collect the scraps, but be careful not to provide the worms with too much at one time or it will just rot in the wormery.

When the third tray becomes full, you take the finished compost out and rotate the trays, putting the now empty bottom tray on the top and moving the other two trays down a notch. These particular wormeries are on legs and also include another container at the bottom, with a spigot, where the liquid collects. This is the liquid that, when mixed with water, is great for your plants.

There are other types of wormeries as well. The one mentioned above is vertical. You can also find divided horizontal wormeries that work much the same way. There are also wormeries that aren’t divided, but they are a lot less convenient to use as you have to empty them out from time to time to remove the compost and aerate them by hand.

The Types of Materials You Can Put Into a Wormery

The types of material you can put into a wormery are somewhat different than what you would put in conventional compost bins or compost tumblers. First, you need to chop up the materials and give it to the worms often and in small batches. You can add a lot of the same things, such as plant and vegetable refuse, that you would normally use in a compost bin or compost tumbler, but you should avoid heavily acidic fruits, onions and garlic, and some people say not to use potato peelings. Also, worms don’t do well with anything oily.

Temperature Considerations

The temperature for a wormery is important. Worms won’t survive long in high temperatures. It’s best to keep the wormery in a shady spot between 55 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (12-21 degrees Celsius). The temperature of the bedding should not drop below freezing or above 89.6 °F (32 °C).

Yes!  A Wormery is Great for Dog Feces and Cat Litter!

A separate wormery can be used to process dog feces and cat litter. Worms will eat this and turn it into castings that can be used in the ornamental part of your garden. This is especially useful if you have a dog or cat and disposing of the their feces and litter is a continuing problem. If handled correctly, there will be no odor.

A Wormery is Great in a Small Space

Wormeries are great if you don’t have a lot of space. They can be tucked into the laundry room, in a shady corner of your patio or courtyard or, when the weather permits, under a shady tree. They have no odor and they turn your garden and kitchen refuse into usable compost quickly and benefit your garden and indoor plants.

What is Worm Composting? 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.

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

Professor Higa’s Discovery

In the 1970s, Professor Teruo Higa introduced a compound he named Effective Microorganisms(tm), or EM. Dr. Higa, a Professor of horticulture at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan developed the culture from beneficial, naturally occurring microorganisms which can be inoculated into a medium, such as wheat bran, and used to ferment household kitchen refuse.

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.

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

The Simplest Method:

Compost tea is simply liquid compost. It can be made very elaborately, with different types of equipment, or you can just take solid organic compost, either purchased or homemade compost, and soak it in water. After the mixture has steeped for a long time, you have compost tea. You then strain the liquid and apply it to your garden by spraying it on the leaves or applying it to the soil.

This easy steeping procedure produces compost tea anaerobically, meaning without the introduction of oxygen into the process. It will produce a tea that benefits your plants, but it is the least preferred of the different methods.

A Step Up:

The next step up is to use an aquarium pump to aerate the mixture in a five gallon bucket. You will need an aquarium pump, a gang valve, 3 or more feet of aquarium hose, and a couple of tablespoons of unsulfured molasses. Attach three 12″ pieces of hose to the gang valve and place it on the bucket. Look into the bucket to make sure the hoses reach the bottom.

Add one gallon of organic compost and about four gallons of water, to within six inches of the top of the bucket.  Add the molasses.  Turn on the pump and let the tea “brew” for two to three days, stirring occasionally. When it is finished, strain it into another bucket and return the solid matter to your compost pile.

Use immediately, as the microorganisms you want to benefit your garden will not last long after the air supply has been removed.

It should smell good, like fresh earth.  If, for some reason, it smells bad, return it to your compost heap and start over!

Where to find more information:

Your local nursery should have information and a good selection of mixes and equipment to aid you in making your own compost tea at home. Whatever method you chose, it’s well worth the time and effort.

Why would you use compost tea?

Compost Making

photo credit: Ajay Tallam

Your plants will benefit because compost tea is a very mild, organic liquid fertilizer that will not burn your plants.  It will improve your soil by providing beneficial living organisms wherever you use it.

If, for example, the healthy organisms in your soil have been destroyed by overuse of pesticides or a long, cold winter, the organisms can be restored by the use of compost tea. Bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and other active organisms found in compost tea will help your plants get the most nutrition from your soil.

Other places to find compost tea:

You can also get a form of compost tea from the liquid that drains out of the bottom of your wormery. This is especially nice to use on houseplants.

In addition, many compost tumblers come with a container attached to the bottom that catches the liquid that drains out as the compost making process goes on. You can empty this out from time to time and use it on your plants.

Give it a try!

Look into using compost tea in your compost making efforts and you will see marked improvement in your garden.

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