The good news is, the City of Tacoma is now collecting food waste as part of its biweekly garbage and recycling pickups.
The bad news is, I don't live in Tacoma but a near suburb, so I can't participate.
The good news is, I have been consistently collecting food scraps in a container under my sink, and covering it with bokashi, a mixture of bran, molasses and microbes that helps to anaerobically ferment food waste while preventing smells. It worked really well, except for...
... the bad news, which is that after the mixture ferments, you need to bury it in the ground. As an apartment dweller, I had no place to bury it...
... However, the good news is, I read about an apartment dweller who buried bokashied food waste in a garbage pail. I decided to try it with a lidded garbage pail on my balcony. Which worked really well until...
... the weather turned warm. The bad news is, in a 13-gallon garbage pail, you can only bury the food waste so deeply, and now that the weather is warmer, the pail started swarming with maggots and fruit flies.
The good news is, I sprayed it with an organic mite and insect control spray, made from lovely ingredients such as rosemary and thyme oil (smells great!). Then I ignored it for two weeks, and just checked it again today. No fruit flies, and the maggots appear to be dead. But yuck, the dead maggots are everywhere (fortunately, they're invisible as long as I keep the lid on).
The bad news is, I've gone back to tossing my food scraps in the garbage the past two weeks, and although I still have a previous-filled bucket of bokashi, I'm afraid to add it to the garbage pail and start up a fruit fly infestation again. Not a good thing to have when you have a small balcony as your window to the world in a small apartment.
I am open to any suggestions and ideas! Is my garbage pail of compost ruined? And if it is, how can I get rid of it? But more important, how do other composting apartment dwellers deal with these issues? (Where to put the stuff, bugs, etc).
Showing posts with label composting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label composting. Show all posts
Monday, May 7, 2012
Friday, September 30, 2011
How'd my summer go?
OK, I know, it's been a while since I've posted. And after my high school friend, Laura, sent me a birthday card telling me my blog was how she keeps up with my life! (Hi, Laura!)
My excuses... work has been busy, I've been getting used to apartment living, blah blah blah. (Meaning: no good excuse).
So, time to fill you in on my summer:
Still savoring? Not as much: OK, I've fallen off the wagon a few times from my "savor the sweets" diet, and have times when I indulge my sweet tooth more than I should. But still, at a doctor's appointment this week I weighed 153 lbs, down from 160 at my physical in April, so I'm making progress.
Green apartment living
We moved in May from a house to an apartment, and not long after our move, I shared about some of the "green" advantages I anticipated to apartment living. After 3 months, here is my report:
Growing our own food--a challenge: Because we moved too late in the season to start planting seeds, I bought starts. Our apartment is one of a series of buildings that surrounds a courtyard filled with large trees. Our small balcony overlooks the courtyard, and thus gets virtually no direct sunlight.
The starts I bought were for plants that can do well with little sunlight--cilantro, basil, mint, and lettuce. The basil and mint made it through the summer (but weakly), and the cilantro and lettuce didn't make it at all. I have a lot to learn about growing food in our current circumstances, so I'll try again next summer.
Composting--bokashi on the cheap: I had long heard about bokashi apartment composting. A bokashi system is an anaerobic composter--basically a bucket with a drip spout that allows you to drain off the "tea" (the liquid residue of your compost, which can be diluted and used as a fertilizer). Bokashi is a mixture of bran, molasses and microorganisms that, when added to your food scraps, accelerates their decomposition through a fermentation process. It's ideal for apartment-dwellers, because it's compact, it's an anaerobic system so fruit flies and other pests can't get into it, and because of the fermentation process, it doesn't smell. (Well, yes it does. But it smells like something fermented, rather than like rotten garbage).
A bokashi system can be expensive (about $120). But a gallon of the bokashi mixture is pretty cheap (about $15) and it lasts several months. As some experienced composters have pointed out, a bokashi system is just a bucket with a secure-fitting lid. Thus, you can do bokashi as long as you have such a bucket. I use a large container that once held ice cream served at a church social. You can also ask fast food places if you can have their left-over pickle buckets. If you're really ambitious, you can drill a hole in the bucket and add a drip spout to catch the "tea." But if you are like me, you can just add your food scraps to a Bio-bag in the bucket, and the bokashi "tea" will seep through the bag and pool in the bottom.
The challenge of using bokashi is that once the food scraps are well-fermented, you need to bury them. Once buried, the scraps decompose rapidly and supposedly make incredibly rich compost. I bought a large garbage can for my balcony, filled it with potting soil, and I'm adding the bokashi'd scraps periodically. I'm not sure how well this will work. My plan is to take a sample of the soil to the WA State Master Gardeners in the spring and have them test it to see how healthy it is. Stay tuned.
Transportation--still working on it: I haven't walked or used public transportation as often as I'd planned. Mostly, it's a function of time, since it's faster to drive. In addition, because my daughter's daycare teacher asked to participate in our summer staycation adventures, I often needed to drive because I was transporting other children besides my daughter. However, we have walked or taken the bus on several occasions, so I am patting myself on the back as an encouragement to keep it up and do more.
I haven't learned as much about my car as I had planned. I have been tracking my mileage, and I have made a few changes to improve gas mileage. I removed the luggage racks from my vehicle to reduce the weight, I am keeping my tires inflated, and I learned that the click my gas cap makes when I turned it--which I always thought was a warning not to turn it anymore--is actually a good thing. I should keep turning the gas cap until I hear it click three times, and then I know that it is fully closed and unlikely to evaporate gas.
But my biggest challenge is staying within the speed limit of 60-65 on the highway. The average speed of those around me is 70, and I'm often following the crowd (usually to make sure I get to work on time). I have found that my gas mileage can go from a low of 20 miles per gallon to a high of 35 mpg, all depending on my speed. This, and walking or taking public transportation more often, are often functions of my own discipline. If I plan my time better, I can improve in both areas.
Small green steps: I wrote about my switch to a Moon Cup back in June. I still love it, and the switch came just in time. In June, I also had an IUD inserted, which increases menstrual flow.
Otherwise, I've made two changes this summer:
Reusable straws: I purchased stainless steel drinking straws, which my daughter and I both love! They're easy to clean with the straw brush that comes with them, and neither of us have experienced the complaints some have of funny taste or getting too cold. (Those concerns, if you have them, can be alleviated with glass drinking straws. I didn't want to go that route because I was concerned that my daughter might break them, even though they're made from very strong glass).
Homemade air freshener spray: I have used natural air freshener sprays for some time, but I read recently that those may still contain phthalates. So when my last bottle of Air Therapy ran out, I decided to try making my own. Here are two recipes I use. They're more mild than commercial air fresheners, but they smell good and do the job:
Peppermint/orange air freshener: add 1/2 cup of filtered water, 1/2 cup of vodka, and 20 drops each of peppermint oil and sweet orange oil to a spray bottle. Shake before each use.
Cinnamon/vanilla air freshener: Add 1 cup filtered water, 1 cup white vinegar, 2 cinnamon sticks and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract to a pot. Bring to boil, and then reduce to low, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Allow to cool, and then add to a spray bottle. Shake before each use.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The biggest focus of my summer has been my daughter. In another post, I'll share about our summer adventures, and my summer reading about parenting and teaching.
My excuses... work has been busy, I've been getting used to apartment living, blah blah blah. (Meaning: no good excuse).
So, time to fill you in on my summer:
Still savoring? Not as much: OK, I've fallen off the wagon a few times from my "savor the sweets" diet, and have times when I indulge my sweet tooth more than I should. But still, at a doctor's appointment this week I weighed 153 lbs, down from 160 at my physical in April, so I'm making progress.
Green apartment living
We moved in May from a house to an apartment, and not long after our move, I shared about some of the "green" advantages I anticipated to apartment living. After 3 months, here is my report:
Growing our own food--a challenge: Because we moved too late in the season to start planting seeds, I bought starts. Our apartment is one of a series of buildings that surrounds a courtyard filled with large trees. Our small balcony overlooks the courtyard, and thus gets virtually no direct sunlight.
The starts I bought were for plants that can do well with little sunlight--cilantro, basil, mint, and lettuce. The basil and mint made it through the summer (but weakly), and the cilantro and lettuce didn't make it at all. I have a lot to learn about growing food in our current circumstances, so I'll try again next summer.
Composting--bokashi on the cheap: I had long heard about bokashi apartment composting. A bokashi system is an anaerobic composter--basically a bucket with a drip spout that allows you to drain off the "tea" (the liquid residue of your compost, which can be diluted and used as a fertilizer). Bokashi is a mixture of bran, molasses and microorganisms that, when added to your food scraps, accelerates their decomposition through a fermentation process. It's ideal for apartment-dwellers, because it's compact, it's an anaerobic system so fruit flies and other pests can't get into it, and because of the fermentation process, it doesn't smell. (Well, yes it does. But it smells like something fermented, rather than like rotten garbage).
A bokashi system can be expensive (about $120). But a gallon of the bokashi mixture is pretty cheap (about $15) and it lasts several months. As some experienced composters have pointed out, a bokashi system is just a bucket with a secure-fitting lid. Thus, you can do bokashi as long as you have such a bucket. I use a large container that once held ice cream served at a church social. You can also ask fast food places if you can have their left-over pickle buckets. If you're really ambitious, you can drill a hole in the bucket and add a drip spout to catch the "tea." But if you are like me, you can just add your food scraps to a Bio-bag in the bucket, and the bokashi "tea" will seep through the bag and pool in the bottom.
The challenge of using bokashi is that once the food scraps are well-fermented, you need to bury them. Once buried, the scraps decompose rapidly and supposedly make incredibly rich compost. I bought a large garbage can for my balcony, filled it with potting soil, and I'm adding the bokashi'd scraps periodically. I'm not sure how well this will work. My plan is to take a sample of the soil to the WA State Master Gardeners in the spring and have them test it to see how healthy it is. Stay tuned.
Transportation--still working on it: I haven't walked or used public transportation as often as I'd planned. Mostly, it's a function of time, since it's faster to drive. In addition, because my daughter's daycare teacher asked to participate in our summer staycation adventures, I often needed to drive because I was transporting other children besides my daughter. However, we have walked or taken the bus on several occasions, so I am patting myself on the back as an encouragement to keep it up and do more.
I haven't learned as much about my car as I had planned. I have been tracking my mileage, and I have made a few changes to improve gas mileage. I removed the luggage racks from my vehicle to reduce the weight, I am keeping my tires inflated, and I learned that the click my gas cap makes when I turned it--which I always thought was a warning not to turn it anymore--is actually a good thing. I should keep turning the gas cap until I hear it click three times, and then I know that it is fully closed and unlikely to evaporate gas.
But my biggest challenge is staying within the speed limit of 60-65 on the highway. The average speed of those around me is 70, and I'm often following the crowd (usually to make sure I get to work on time). I have found that my gas mileage can go from a low of 20 miles per gallon to a high of 35 mpg, all depending on my speed. This, and walking or taking public transportation more often, are often functions of my own discipline. If I plan my time better, I can improve in both areas.
Small green steps: I wrote about my switch to a Moon Cup back in June. I still love it, and the switch came just in time. In June, I also had an IUD inserted, which increases menstrual flow.
Otherwise, I've made two changes this summer:
Reusable straws: I purchased stainless steel drinking straws, which my daughter and I both love! They're easy to clean with the straw brush that comes with them, and neither of us have experienced the complaints some have of funny taste or getting too cold. (Those concerns, if you have them, can be alleviated with glass drinking straws. I didn't want to go that route because I was concerned that my daughter might break them, even though they're made from very strong glass).
Homemade air freshener spray: I have used natural air freshener sprays for some time, but I read recently that those may still contain phthalates. So when my last bottle of Air Therapy ran out, I decided to try making my own. Here are two recipes I use. They're more mild than commercial air fresheners, but they smell good and do the job:
Peppermint/orange air freshener: add 1/2 cup of filtered water, 1/2 cup of vodka, and 20 drops each of peppermint oil and sweet orange oil to a spray bottle. Shake before each use.
Cinnamon/vanilla air freshener: Add 1 cup filtered water, 1 cup white vinegar, 2 cinnamon sticks and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract to a pot. Bring to boil, and then reduce to low, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Allow to cool, and then add to a spray bottle. Shake before each use.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The biggest focus of my summer has been my daughter. In another post, I'll share about our summer adventures, and my summer reading about parenting and teaching.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Is my compost toxic?
I'm always getting green tips from the internet or books, and composting is no exception.
I have two bins I started on my porch last summer, and in each I did something based on a recommendation I'd read. Since then, I have been afraid I've ruined both batches.
For the first, I added a few briskets of charcoal. I read this recommendation in a children's book about going green, which suggested the tip as a way to reduce odor (the charcoal absorbs it).
Since then, I've read that charcoal should be buried as deeply in the ground as possible, away from anything you're trying to grow, because it's so toxic.
In the second bin, I added shredded personal documents. I read this recommendation in several places online, as a good way to get rid of documents you don't want to add to your recycling bin while still intact because of identity theft concerns. Shredded paper shouldn't be added to recycling bins either, because the small scraps are difficult to recycle, and they are hard to separate from everything else, thus corrupting the other materials (e.g., glass or plastic) to be recycled. So shredding these documents and adding them to a compost bin as part of your "browns" (i.e., paper and leaves) should be an ideal solution, right?
Well, other sites say no. Newspaper is OK, because most newspaper is printed with soy ink. But the ink generally used on business paper is more toxic, which can then contiminate your bins, harm your plants, etc.
So have I totally ruined these two bins? Should I just bury the stuff, or are the naysayers exaggerating the issue? (With both bins, the amount of charcoal and shredded paper I added was minimal compared to the total content). Any guidance on this will be appreciated!
I have two bins I started on my porch last summer, and in each I did something based on a recommendation I'd read. Since then, I have been afraid I've ruined both batches.
For the first, I added a few briskets of charcoal. I read this recommendation in a children's book about going green, which suggested the tip as a way to reduce odor (the charcoal absorbs it).
Since then, I've read that charcoal should be buried as deeply in the ground as possible, away from anything you're trying to grow, because it's so toxic.
In the second bin, I added shredded personal documents. I read this recommendation in several places online, as a good way to get rid of documents you don't want to add to your recycling bin while still intact because of identity theft concerns. Shredded paper shouldn't be added to recycling bins either, because the small scraps are difficult to recycle, and they are hard to separate from everything else, thus corrupting the other materials (e.g., glass or plastic) to be recycled. So shredding these documents and adding them to a compost bin as part of your "browns" (i.e., paper and leaves) should be an ideal solution, right?
Well, other sites say no. Newspaper is OK, because most newspaper is printed with soy ink. But the ink generally used on business paper is more toxic, which can then contiminate your bins, harm your plants, etc.
So have I totally ruined these two bins? Should I just bury the stuff, or are the naysayers exaggerating the issue? (With both bins, the amount of charcoal and shredded paper I added was minimal compared to the total content). Any guidance on this will be appreciated!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Easy garden composting tips
On MLK Day (the first day the sun appeared in Tacoma, in who knows how long!), the Washington Conservation Corps held several free workshops for the community, one of which was on garden composting and rainwater harvesting. The workshop presenter provided two very easy garden composting ideas:
1) At the end of the season, dig up your garden and clear the debris. Rake your leaves and spread them over your plot in a thin layer, no more than 3 inches deep. Then with a shovel, turn the leaves into the soil and mix it in. Over the course of the winter, the leaves will break down and will help nourish the soil for your spring planting.
2) After planting your garden, lay down two layers (two sheets) of newspaper (no glossy sheets!) between the rows, and cover them with dead leaves. This will prevent weeds from growing up between your veggies and will provide a more solid path for you to walk on as you work your garden, and in the fall, you can turn the leaves and newspaper into the soil and mix it in. Again, this will nourish the soil for the next growing season.
One of the things I realized as I listened was that we never cleaned out our garden plot last year. Duh! I called the U. Washington Master Gardener's program today to ask how you do it. The guy I spoke with said just dig everything up and turn it back into the soil. "Even weeds?" I asked, since quite a few weeds have grown up since then. "It's up to you, you can discard the weeds, or mix it in," he said.
1) At the end of the season, dig up your garden and clear the debris. Rake your leaves and spread them over your plot in a thin layer, no more than 3 inches deep. Then with a shovel, turn the leaves into the soil and mix it in. Over the course of the winter, the leaves will break down and will help nourish the soil for your spring planting.
2) After planting your garden, lay down two layers (two sheets) of newspaper (no glossy sheets!) between the rows, and cover them with dead leaves. This will prevent weeds from growing up between your veggies and will provide a more solid path for you to walk on as you work your garden, and in the fall, you can turn the leaves and newspaper into the soil and mix it in. Again, this will nourish the soil for the next growing season.
One of the things I realized as I listened was that we never cleaned out our garden plot last year. Duh! I called the U. Washington Master Gardener's program today to ask how you do it. The guy I spoke with said just dig everything up and turn it back into the soil. "Even weeds?" I asked, since quite a few weeds have grown up since then. "It's up to you, you can discard the weeds, or mix it in," he said.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
My kid the chef... and what I'm doing instead of composting
My daughter loves helping me in the kitchen. She also loves experimenting. Now, I liked experimenting in the kitchen, too, but I think I began doing so at age 8 or 9, not 4. (It may have something to do with being an only child. With no other playmates at home, she wants to do what the grownups are doing).
She's pretty good at it, too, having a good sense of what might taste good together. A couple of weeks ago, she mashed up two bananas, added a little flour, sugar and milk, and asked me to taste it. I did, and exclaimed, "Hey, this would make a great banana pie!" I made a crust, added her mixture to it, and baked it at 350 degrees for a half hour. Good stuff!
I may have mentioned the sauce she made for salmon, consisting of water, olive oil, rosemary, oregano, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt and lentils. We used only part of it the night we had fish, so I told her I'd store it and promised I'd try it the next time we had chicken. Well, last night I cut up and roasted a chicken and my marindade was the sauce she'd made.
I have a great minestrone soup that I make, originally based on a recipe from the Prevention Cookbook, but modified by me over time. I made it earlier this week and my daughter tasted a spoonful while it was still on the stove. "It needs something to make it smell really good and taste sweet, Mama," she said. (Back to Princess and the Frog: this reminds me a little of a scene early in the movie when the princess, as a small child, told her father his gumbo needed more Tobasco). I had saved some orange peels, so I handed them to her and showed her how to scrape the peel with a vegetable peeler. We added the shavings to the soup. The zest of orange gives the soup a really divine taste! Once more, my daughter is showing herself to be a tremendous budding chef.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And speaking of orange peels, I had saved them from an orange my husband ate, thinking that I might be able to use them for something or other. That brings me to my alternatives to composting. I wrote months ago about killing all my worms in my first compost bin. I kept meaning to buy some more worms and try again, but never got around to it. Yet the thought of sending all our food scraps to a landfill is something I didn't want to do. I started trying very hard not to waste food, but freezing leftovers and reusing them in new dishes later on, so food doesn't spoil. And for fruit and veggie scraps (and eggshells as well), I started burying them in the backyard.
I looked this up on the internet, and apparently, it's not a bad option. It's not as good as composting, since it doesn't produce something that can fertilize your garden, and you have to mix it with soil and bury it deep enough (at least eight inches) so critters don't dig it up. But it's working so far. I take only scraps (such as vegetable peeelings and fruit rinds), or fruits and veggies that have started to go bad, and nothing that has had any sauces, oils, spices, sugars or dressings added to them. I let them sit and rot for a while in a plastic container, and then I dig a hole, bury it, pat it down and cover the hole with dead leaves. This allows me to monitor whether anything has tried to dig it up, and so far, nothing has.
A potential downside (if you can call it that), is that some of these scraps may start to grow next spring. But it might be fun to see if that happens!
She's pretty good at it, too, having a good sense of what might taste good together. A couple of weeks ago, she mashed up two bananas, added a little flour, sugar and milk, and asked me to taste it. I did, and exclaimed, "Hey, this would make a great banana pie!" I made a crust, added her mixture to it, and baked it at 350 degrees for a half hour. Good stuff!
I may have mentioned the sauce she made for salmon, consisting of water, olive oil, rosemary, oregano, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt and lentils. We used only part of it the night we had fish, so I told her I'd store it and promised I'd try it the next time we had chicken. Well, last night I cut up and roasted a chicken and my marindade was the sauce she'd made.
I have a great minestrone soup that I make, originally based on a recipe from the Prevention Cookbook, but modified by me over time. I made it earlier this week and my daughter tasted a spoonful while it was still on the stove. "It needs something to make it smell really good and taste sweet, Mama," she said. (Back to Princess and the Frog: this reminds me a little of a scene early in the movie when the princess, as a small child, told her father his gumbo needed more Tobasco). I had saved some orange peels, so I handed them to her and showed her how to scrape the peel with a vegetable peeler. We added the shavings to the soup. The zest of orange gives the soup a really divine taste! Once more, my daughter is showing herself to be a tremendous budding chef.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And speaking of orange peels, I had saved them from an orange my husband ate, thinking that I might be able to use them for something or other. That brings me to my alternatives to composting. I wrote months ago about killing all my worms in my first compost bin. I kept meaning to buy some more worms and try again, but never got around to it. Yet the thought of sending all our food scraps to a landfill is something I didn't want to do. I started trying very hard not to waste food, but freezing leftovers and reusing them in new dishes later on, so food doesn't spoil. And for fruit and veggie scraps (and eggshells as well), I started burying them in the backyard.
I looked this up on the internet, and apparently, it's not a bad option. It's not as good as composting, since it doesn't produce something that can fertilize your garden, and you have to mix it with soil and bury it deep enough (at least eight inches) so critters don't dig it up. But it's working so far. I take only scraps (such as vegetable peeelings and fruit rinds), or fruits and veggies that have started to go bad, and nothing that has had any sauces, oils, spices, sugars or dressings added to them. I let them sit and rot for a while in a plastic container, and then I dig a hole, bury it, pat it down and cover the hole with dead leaves. This allows me to monitor whether anything has tried to dig it up, and so far, nothing has.
A potential downside (if you can call it that), is that some of these scraps may start to grow next spring. But it might be fun to see if that happens!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Funny
My compost bin has been sitting on the terrace since the first frost that killed all the worms. I hadn't bothered to empty it and clean it out, because it seemed pointless to do until it was warm enough to restart the bin. Yesterday I looked into it. Right now, it's a pile of stuff that's vaguely recognizable as corn husks, avocado pits, brown goop and paper. And leaves! New, fresh growing leaves.
That's right, something is growing in my bin. I imagine that the seeds of some food item I tossed in has started to grow, but I have no clue what it is!
That's right, something is growing in my bin. I imagine that the seeds of some food item I tossed in has started to grow, but I have no clue what it is!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Trying to go green when you suck at certain things, Part II
Adventures in Composting
I've already mentioned that I had a few problems with my first attempt at worm composting (or vermicomposting). I recently joined the Vermicomposting group at Yahoo and posted about my problems, and got a few responses back. I'm going to cut and paste my post and the responses here, and then add my new thoughts.
=========================
My original post
In the fall I took a worm composting class, after which we were given a worm bin (a plastic tote with holes), shredded cardboard and a bag of worms. I went home eager to start. After a week, none of the food scraps I added seemed to be disappearing, so I emailed my teacher. He suggested adding a scoop of dirt. This would add other organisms to the bin, which he said would speed up the decomposition process.
After another week, the bin was crawling with fruit flies and other bugs, and I saw very few worms. I wrote my teacher again, who said to put a small glass jar in the bin with apple cider vinegar and a little dish soap in it. I did this, and while it captured a lot of bugs, it still seemed like just as many were swarming around.
For many weeks thereafter, this was the situation: very few visible worms, even when I dug around, and lots of other bugs. But since the bin seemed to have the right moisture level, it didn't smell, and food seemed to be disappearing, I thought that maybe it was OK.
However, since then I've read differing opinions on the web. Some say that you don't want to add decomposing food, because that attracts bugs and reduces your worm population. Others, like my teacher, say that decomposing food and other bugs are helpful, because they make the digestion process easier for the worms. So I am very uncertain.
Also, I have neither a garage nor a basement, so I keep the bin outside on my porch (I surrounded it with styrofoam, except for the holes, to protect from cold). When the first frost hit, however, everything in the bin died. I looked at it recently, and it has this white, spider-webby covering over everything that I assume is mold.
So now I have no clue what to do. Do I start over with a new bin and new set of worms in the spring? Did I do wrong or right with the bin I had in the fall? What should I do differently? And what should I do with the rotting mess in the bin I already have?
One more question...
How much food is a good amount to feed your bin? I kept food scraps in two 16-oz rubbermaid containers, and I generally filled both of them weekly. But I would only add one to the container at a time. Is that a good amount? Is it too much? How can you tell?
===========================
Responses
1. I don't know where you live but you probably need to keep your bin inside during the winter months. I'm in WI and I keep mine inside and will probably do so during the warmer months too just so I can keep an eye on it. I started my bin in November and I'm no expert but I've read alot and know what you mean about the information available - it can be confusing. Unless you have a well insulated bin that has some microbial activity working to help keep it warm during the winter the worms can freeze outside if you're in an uber cold place like I am.
To help keep fruit flys at bay you can microwave the food before you add it to the bin or freeze it. Both are effective ways to keep the fruit flys away. Also be sure to cover whatever you put in the bin with plenty of bedding to further deter the fruit flys.
It sounds like you need to dump the whole thing, wash it out and start over fresh. If you can't put the bin inside I'd personally wait until it's warmer outside to start a new one. I don't know that you did anyting wrong but make sure you have plenty of bedding next time. More bedding than food for sure. Cover the food well and I'd say either freeze it or microwave it before you add it to the bin and don't worry about if it is decomposed or not before you add it. It will decompose once it hits the bin. I personally blend my food too before adding it but I have a stackable system with good drainage so if you don't have good drainage you might want to skip that step. It's not really necessary.
2. I killed my first apartment worm bin too. Here is what I did wrong:
--I made it too moist because I was dumping my daily coffee grinds in it in a pot of water. The bin became sludgy.
--I added way more food than my worms could handle. It attracted flies because the worms could keep up so the food would decmpose on top.
--I didnt keep enough shredded newspaper on top of the bin so there would be no room for flies.
I would dump out your current bin and start over.
Once I realized that my worms couldnt eat all my scraps, they thrived. My goal now was to get some good vermicompost every three months for my plants. I would add a little food each week...and actually monitor their progress.
I now live in a place where I have a big yard. An outdoor worm bin is much easier to maintain because of space. I can dump everything I have into a large pile...and the worms just grow with the space. since it's in the corner of the yard, flies and other critters dont matter. it all just decomposes and breaks down.
3. I'd say to start out add a handful or two then montior it. If it's disappeaing then add a little more. How much you feed all depends on what kind of worms you have, how much they eat, how often you feed, temperature, bin conditions, etc. so there are no hard and fast rules.
When you start your new bin put in some stuff that breaks down fast like banana or melon and mix it with some other stuff that is a little slower like potato peels or carrot peels to get the process going.
Just some thoughts. . . .
===========================
My thoughts
As I said in my original post, I have no basement or garage, so the bin's NOT coming into the house. Thus, I'll have to wait until spring to restart the bin.
I always used a lot of bedding and did the microwaving bit, but it sounds like I might have fed them too much food. So I think that's what I have to do when I restart the bin: feed them less, and gradually let it build up.
Anyway, here's to hoping I have more success with my next compost bin!
I've already mentioned that I had a few problems with my first attempt at worm composting (or vermicomposting). I recently joined the Vermicomposting group at Yahoo and posted about my problems, and got a few responses back. I'm going to cut and paste my post and the responses here, and then add my new thoughts.
=========================
My original post
In the fall I took a worm composting class, after which we were given a worm bin (a plastic tote with holes), shredded cardboard and a bag of worms. I went home eager to start. After a week, none of the food scraps I added seemed to be disappearing, so I emailed my teacher. He suggested adding a scoop of dirt. This would add other organisms to the bin, which he said would speed up the decomposition process.
After another week, the bin was crawling with fruit flies and other bugs, and I saw very few worms. I wrote my teacher again, who said to put a small glass jar in the bin with apple cider vinegar and a little dish soap in it. I did this, and while it captured a lot of bugs, it still seemed like just as many were swarming around.
For many weeks thereafter, this was the situation: very few visible worms, even when I dug around, and lots of other bugs. But since the bin seemed to have the right moisture level, it didn't smell, and food seemed to be disappearing, I thought that maybe it was OK.
However, since then I've read differing opinions on the web. Some say that you don't want to add decomposing food, because that attracts bugs and reduces your worm population. Others, like my teacher, say that decomposing food and other bugs are helpful, because they make the digestion process easier for the worms. So I am very uncertain.
Also, I have neither a garage nor a basement, so I keep the bin outside on my porch (I surrounded it with styrofoam, except for the holes, to protect from cold). When the first frost hit, however, everything in the bin died. I looked at it recently, and it has this white, spider-webby covering over everything that I assume is mold.
So now I have no clue what to do. Do I start over with a new bin and new set of worms in the spring? Did I do wrong or right with the bin I had in the fall? What should I do differently? And what should I do with the rotting mess in the bin I already have?
One more question...
How much food is a good amount to feed your bin? I kept food scraps in two 16-oz rubbermaid containers, and I generally filled both of them weekly. But I would only add one to the container at a time. Is that a good amount? Is it too much? How can you tell?
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Responses
1. I don't know where you live but you probably need to keep your bin inside during the winter months. I'm in WI and I keep mine inside and will probably do so during the warmer months too just so I can keep an eye on it. I started my bin in November and I'm no expert but I've read alot and know what you mean about the information available - it can be confusing. Unless you have a well insulated bin that has some microbial activity working to help keep it warm during the winter the worms can freeze outside if you're in an uber cold place like I am.
To help keep fruit flys at bay you can microwave the food before you add it to the bin or freeze it. Both are effective ways to keep the fruit flys away. Also be sure to cover whatever you put in the bin with plenty of bedding to further deter the fruit flys.
It sounds like you need to dump the whole thing, wash it out and start over fresh. If you can't put the bin inside I'd personally wait until it's warmer outside to start a new one. I don't know that you did anyting wrong but make sure you have plenty of bedding next time. More bedding than food for sure. Cover the food well and I'd say either freeze it or microwave it before you add it to the bin and don't worry about if it is decomposed or not before you add it. It will decompose once it hits the bin. I personally blend my food too before adding it but I have a stackable system with good drainage so if you don't have good drainage you might want to skip that step. It's not really necessary.
2. I killed my first apartment worm bin too. Here is what I did wrong:
--I made it too moist because I was dumping my daily coffee grinds in it in a pot of water. The bin became sludgy.
--I added way more food than my worms could handle. It attracted flies because the worms could keep up so the food would decmpose on top.
--I didnt keep enough shredded newspaper on top of the bin so there would be no room for flies.
I would dump out your current bin and start over.
Once I realized that my worms couldnt eat all my scraps, they thrived. My goal now was to get some good vermicompost every three months for my plants. I would add a little food each week...and actually monitor their progress.
I now live in a place where I have a big yard. An outdoor worm bin is much easier to maintain because of space. I can dump everything I have into a large pile...and the worms just grow with the space. since it's in the corner of the yard, flies and other critters dont matter. it all just decomposes and breaks down.
3. I'd say to start out add a handful or two then montior it. If it's disappeaing then add a little more. How much you feed all depends on what kind of worms you have, how much they eat, how often you feed, temperature, bin conditions, etc. so there are no hard and fast rules.
When you start your new bin put in some stuff that breaks down fast like banana or melon and mix it with some other stuff that is a little slower like potato peels or carrot peels to get the process going.
Just some thoughts. . . .
===========================
My thoughts
As I said in my original post, I have no basement or garage, so the bin's NOT coming into the house. Thus, I'll have to wait until spring to restart the bin.
I always used a lot of bedding and did the microwaving bit, but it sounds like I might have fed them too much food. So I think that's what I have to do when I restart the bin: feed them less, and gradually let it build up.
Anyway, here's to hoping I have more success with my next compost bin!
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