Mini-Composting

[stella1751]

I compost on a grand scale, using huge wire cages and waiting a year for results. It works for me, and it's pretty much all I know.

I recently learned to make compost tea. Now I am dying to compost on a mini-scale, putting my kitchen scraps and such to good use and getting enough compost to make some tea. (I'm dying to copmpost some tuna I have in the cupboard.) I know the rules for ingredients (soil, organic material, etc.), but I don't know how to do this in a five gallon pail. Here's what I am thinking of doing:

Take a 5-gallon pail, fill it two-thirds full of compostibles, cover it tightly with a burlap sack, and keep it moist while shaking it every now and again. Will this work?

[top_dollar_bread]

Mini composting works and the 5 gall bucket is excellent. Ive done it my self. Fist drill plenty of holes in the side of the bucket, about 1/2 inch or smaller (this will help aerate the compost).
Now when adding the ingredients keep it uniform. For example fill the bottom with 3-5 inches of drys, (cardboard, new paper) and compact it down nicely (not too compact). Then place another layer 3-4 inches of greens (organic matter, tuna) and continue layering. Be sure you leave room at the top because your going to want to add some good soil, compost, or manure to the top. But be sure you leave maybe 3-4 inches of empty space at the top.(this will give you room to turn it)
Now let that sucker cook,(tuning it from time to time) adding compost tea, alfalfa, guano, corn meal pretty much any thing you add to your tea will really speed up the process and you could have5 gallons or less of finish compost in less then 2 weeks.

[stella1751]

Top_dollar_bread, you've given me another good idea. I'm wondering, though, whether I could refine it. See what you think: About ten years ago, I developed a yen to experiment with container gardening as a means of extending my garden. This yen lasted about three years, after which I had enough beds built that I didn't need the extra acreage

I now have tons of large containers stored in the basement. They already have the holes in the bottom and large mouths that would make it easy to stir compost. I've also got the saucers, so I wouldn't have to worry about overwatering it, as well as an odd, heavy, metal, three-pronged utensil (purchased at a garage sale), that I could use to stir it. If I set up three of these with some kind of mesh over them to keep critters and insects at bay, I could have a series of mini-compost bins: one for the using phase, one for the cooking phase, and one for the filling phase.

What do you think about this plan?

Another question: Because most of my soil is concealed under an 8" layer of river rocks probably put down in the 1940s or 1950s, a layer I remove, one stone at a time, so I can take advantage of the great top soil lying on top of and within it, I often have to buy bagged soil to supplement my extra projects. I imagine this top soil has been sterilized to remove weed seeds. Will the sterilization process have removed the bacteria I need to get a rapid decaying process going?

[top_dollar_bread]

the 3 bucket methods seems plausible. But I would still drill more holes on the sides of the containers. I also see no need for the saucer; if you happened to over water I think it would be best to let that water drain into the ground, then letting the compost filled container sit in it.

Will the sterilization process have removed the bacteria I need to get a rapid decaying process going?

Some use heat either by steam or solar to sterilize, while others use herbicides and fumigants. I would avoid uncertified top soil and use compost, manure, alfalfa, fish emulsion etc. instead. These will defiantly benefit your compost life and you don't have to worry about harmful chemicals.

[stella1751]

Thanks! I just jumped in with this on Maximavswife's thread. I really don't know what I want to do yet, only that I want to play with compost now