How to Make Starter Mulch for Biolet Composting Toilet?

[rudy2010]

Does anyone have experience with making compost for a composting toilet. I live off the grid so I have a non electric Biolet composting toilet. It works great but the compost costs $39 a bag. I was hoping someone would know what specific things need to be in the compost for it to work properly in the composting toilet. We use just 1/2 cup of the compost per application and spread a layer weekly so a bag usually lasts a while but it is still expensive.

[rot]

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https://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html

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[webmaster]

Hi Rudy,
The Biolet device has a user manual that offers a recipe for making your own starter mulch. If you don't have the manual handy you can download the [url=https://www.biolet.com/support/articles/BioLet-10-Standard-20-Deluxe-Manual.pdf]Biolet User Manual[/url] PDF file for the BioLet 20 Deluxe and BioLet 10 Standard.

Here is the recipe they give for a DIY (Do It Yourself) Biolet starter mulch:

[quote]Approved mulches
Use of only BioLet approved starter mulches is recommended. Approved mulches will carry the BioLet logo.

Using any other mulch may cause a decrease in the efficiency of your toilet and may void the warranty on mixer parts if their failure is determined to be caused by usage of unapproved mulch.

Homemade mulch
If you desire to make your own mulch you can use the following recipe for 10 gallons of starter mulch:

‣ 6 1/2 gal and Blond high fibrous, Canadian sphagnum peat moss (ALL PEAT MOSS IS NOT THE SAME)

‣ 3 1/2 gal - Pine wood shavings (obtainable from nearly any livestock feed store as livestock bedding) DO NOT USE SAWDUST, CHAINSAW CHIPS, OR CEDAR CHIPS

‣ 2 cups and Good rich garden soil from first 6â€

[rainbowgardener]

My Quaker Meeting (read church for all you non-Quakers) has a composting toilet, don't remember the brand. We may have used special mix to start it with when we got it years ago. For keeping it going we just use peat moss. Once it is composting well, when you empty it, you are always leaving some behind, so it has enough biologicals to keep going. We find that we do have to add water now and then, that "bathroom use" is not enough to keep it moistened. The rule of thumb is if you look in and you can see toilet paper, it's too dry. Add a couple cups of water and turn (ours has a rotating drum) and check again. (I was resident caretaker at the MeetingHouse for nine years and maintenance of the composting toilet was one of my duties).

PS When we installed ours, we had a dedication (and desensitization!) ceremony for it and my spouse, a singer songwriter, was commissioned to write a song for the dedication. The Composting Toilet Song is available on request! (Sample lyric.. the earth is our mother, she gives us food and drink. Much that we return to her is everything that stinks! .. but it's the only song I know of using the phrase thermophilic composting!)

[soil]

you have to buy compost to make compost in a composting toilet? what a rip off.

[huskie]

I bet....it would be cheaper and even faster to use sugar?

[webmaster]

you have to buy compost to make compost in a composting toilet?

I bet....it would be cheaper and even faster to use sugar?

The title of this thread may not have been accurate, which has lead to the above comments. I changed it to more accurately reflect what the OP meant. This is why [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7770]I often stress that post titles should accurately reflect what your discussion is about[/url] or else it will lead to off topic chatter or no response at all.

Basically, he has a Biolet composting toilet. In order for it to work they have to drop in a cup of starter mulch every time they use it. Not compost, but starter mulch.

The starter mulch is a very specific blend of organic materials and the company offers a recipe for making it, which I posted and linked to above.

[rainbowgardener]

and the composting toilet song didn't even get a reaction!?


webmaster is right-- the composting toilet makes compost from the excreta that are deposited in it. You just have to get it started so that it has a good mixture of biologicals in it... think of sourdough starter...

[The Helpful Gardener]

RBG, The Composting Toilet Song most certainly got a reaction out of me; several actually. The initial one was "What rhymes with thermophilic composting?" Then the laughter hit. Please PM me the lyrics and audio if you have it. I may get it on the radio for you (doing [url=https://www.wtic.com/pages/5490.php]Garden Talk[/url]on Halloween) if DH allows... don't know about royalties and such, but ask... It sounds like it's the sort of thing Lenny loves to put on for bump music and what could be scarier than the totured rhyme pattern that rhymes with "thermophilic composting"? Even if you don't have audio we could use it for Poet's Corner (a regular feature of the show, where Len says "real poems from real gardeners" but the reality is it's all made up poems from made up gardener's like Al. B. Raking or Petunia Drooping, some of the characters that make up Len's multiple personality disorder).

I'd be proud to read it...

HG

[rot]

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https://eclectech.co.uk/compostbin.php

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[rudy2010]

Thanks all for this very useful information. I had the manual in the door of my truck to protect it but can no longer find it. I am currently living in a tent on my property while I am trying to build a post and pile cabin so have no good place to leave the manual. I did however get a 1500 dollar biolet composting toilet and have built a really nice house around that. Lifes priorities.

Sorry for not responding sooner but my property is off the grid and I have been spending a lot time getting ready for winter. I will try to let folks know how it goes with making the compost. It does not sound that challenging.

[webmaster]

Thanks rudy2010, please keep us updated. I'm sure the information will be helpful for someone else in a similar situation.

[applestar]

and the composting toilet song didn't even get a reaction!? Smile

Are you kidding? I got a great joy out of it imagining the wonderful ceremony you made out of it. Also, assuming it's the same native American-like chant, I spent the rest of that day chanting the version I know "The Earth is our Mother, we must take care of her, the Earth is our Mother, we must take care of her. Hey-yana, Ho-yana, Hey-yana, Ho. (repeat) The Sky is our Father.... The Rivers are our Sisters.... the Trees are our Brothers.... The Earth is our Mother, she will take care of us... etc. Hey-yana, Ho-yana, Hey-yana, Ho."

I just couldn't think of an excuse for asking for the lyrics.... DH would NEVER go for a composting toilet. Though I must admit, it's one of the things that I've kind of monitored (as in "casually watched") the innovations and the increasingly market-acceptable designs that have come out over the years. Even now, on occasion, I go out on an internet foray to see what people are using -- anything from 5-gal bucket and hand-ful of wood chippings to ?

rudy2010, I applaud your efforts and I also will be looking forward to hearing how your project progresses. Good luck this winter!

As for that chant/song, now that I've got it in my head again, no doubt I'll be singing it all day again.
... Hey-yana, Ho-yana, Hey-yana, Ho. Hey-yana, Ho-yana, Hey-yana, Ho. Hey-yana, Ho-yana, Hey-yana, Ho ....

[The Helpful Gardener]

That's a really intriguing compost recipe; I am especially interested in the high carbon inputs. Pine heartwood is like 100:1 and sphagnum, even the newer (blond) stuff is VERY high. Wheat or peanut hulls are too... no greens at all. This isn't compost at all, this is just the "Browns"...

Something tells me the "Greens" are brown too...

HG

[muddy45]

the greens are brown LOL
I use the humanure style 5 gal. bucket brigade.
I have for almost 7 years now used this type of convence.
I have used oak saw dust,,peat moss,,garden soil and finished compost,,I use what I have at the time.
I do not use it on my vegetable garden but use it on the grassy areas of my land,,since my missouri ground is more rock then any thing else.
I am still a ficalphobe,though I have been useing this system as long as I have.
I am on so many meds for my cancer treatment,,I don't want to put it in my garden.
I don't have my own WELL so this works for me.
it is better then freezeing my be hind in a out house like I did when I was a kid.
different strokes for different folks

Larry
who feels a movement coming on

[The Helpful Gardener]

Lending new meaning to the phrase "the green movement", Larry

Sorry to hear of your health condition, sir. I have lost good friends and it is one of the key reasons I struggle to bring folks to organics. People in my trade are more likely to get cancer; some in the "green trades" like golf course superintendents, are four times more likely to get cancers than the public average. While survival rates increase, the incidence of this disease does too, and that is a sad reality

I wish you the very best and a speedy recovery; your good humor and healthier habits will both stand you in good stead...

HG

[muddy45]

interesting that you mention gulf courses scott.
I was a greens keeper for ten years and a grounds keeper for several years also.
and we did use a lot of chemicals ,and I use to complain about them poluteing the osage river below bagnel dam.
alot of are run off went in to the river and creeks.
their excuse was that farmers poluted a lot more then they did.

Larry

[organically_me]

My Quaker Meeting (read church for all you non-Quakers) has a composting toilet, don't remember the brand. We may have used special mix to start it with when we got it years ago. For keeping it going we just use peat moss.

Thank you for this information rainbowgardener! We've been using a composting toilet (electric model) for the last six years. It took a bit of trial and error to get the proper mix of temperature, moisture and mulch but it works great for our small family. I'm going to try using peat. It will be much less expensive if it works. Less initial cost, and much less in shipping fees!

[toxcrusadr]

One comment to add to the 'starter mulch' topic: I notice their 'approved' recipe has dry, high-carbon materials (peat moss, wood chips, etc.) that will serve to absorb moisture AND balance the CN ratio. It's not just about having the microbes, which, as someone mentioned, will already be there once you have been using it. This stuff will keep it physically/mechanically within its operating limits. No mulch, it may stink and not decompose right. Wrong mulch, it could jam up. Best not to ignore their recommendations on this. But, the home-made recipe will be cheap and that's the way I'd go.

muddy45: I am just north of you in the JC/Columbia area and am just now thinking about a bucket type toilet for my wooded property. Clay is so bad that any hole fills up with water that never drains out. No good for a traditional outhouse. Would love to hear more about your experiences.

[Anaki]

I found this forum & signed up while looking for an answer to this question. (AND I'm trying to find where I can hear the song!) We have a Biolet NE we have been putting off starting up because it seems strange to do our business in the house after so long outside under a tent. The company's recipe calls for a lot of stuff I can't get. What I was wondering is if you can use say, coffee grounds, egg shells, stale bread, popped corn, whatever is not too wet or chunky that usually goes to the compost bin. Makes sense to add finished compost and good soil too. Pine shavings I can get, leaves are plentiful, I could shred some hay or grass. Anyone out there use this kind of mulch? Also wondering if we should avoid urinating in it, how wet should it get?
Getting down to business...

[rainbowgardener]

No, don't avoid peeing in your (composting) toilet, that's what it's for .

Ours at the Meeting House we had to add water to some times to keep it from being too dry, since we were adding peat moss or sawdust with each use. If you can see the T.P. if you look in it, it is too dry.

[ldep]

hi Rainbowgardener,
I'd like to hear your song!