Would this make my compost break down faster?

[mrsgreenthumbs]

I'v been saving my scraps from the kitchen and notice that a lot of it is larger chunks. Would running my stuff through the food processor help it all break down? Or am I just making more work for myself than needed?

[ArcherB]

The quick answer is, "Yes".

In detail:
The smaller a particle is, the more surface area it has for the micro-buggies to attack meaning more are eating at one time. However, be careful not to over do it and throw paste on your pile as it will not be able get air and then you end up slowing it down. So, the smaller the pieces, the better, but keep it clumpy, thumby.

[nickolas]

I agree with ArcherB, I run all my kitchen west that I don't give to my chooks thru a 2.5 hp shredder as well as all my garden west to. I then add it to my many compost piles.

[toxcrusadr]

I find food waste is the fastest to break down in the pile, as it is usually juicy, high in nitrogen and already cut up to some degree. I do cut my citrus and melon peels a couple extra times but that's as much to save room in the kitchen bucket as anything. Dry fibrous stuff takes a lot longer in the compost. So it's not really worth the trouble to me, but it doesn't hurt, so do what makes you happy.

[wsommariva]

I never cut up any of my food scraps. When I harvest my compost and see a piece of something not turned into compost yet, I just throw it into my number one bin for another year of decay.

[Gary350]

Heat and nitrogen both speed up the compost process. I have a metal 55 gallon drum with both ends cut out painted flat black in direct sun light. Compost goes down very fast in 90+ degree weather. Temperature gets 150 degrees inside the barrel with a black top in full sun.

Nitrogen also speeds it up. I think Legume Seed Inoculants on beans and peas growing in the compost pile will speed it up.

At the end of the season seeds are very cheap I bought a 2 lb bag if peas for $1 Saturday. 2 lbs of peas or beans in the compost would add a lot of nitrogen.

I will probably be planting peas next weekend.

Click the link. https://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/crops/00305.html

[soil]

I blend up all the scraps that go to my worms, they thank me greatly and leave little presents of concentrated goodness.

[Gary350]

If you put water mellon rine on you compost with the RED side down black magets get on the mellon and in just 2 days the mellon rine will sink down into the compost about 10 to 12 inches. The magets like the red part of the mellon and they eat up the compost with the mellon. If you put the mellon red side up the black magets ear only the red part of the mellon and thats all. If you cut your scrap mellon into lots of pieces and place the pieces all over the top of your compost the whole top 12" of the compost will be eaten up in about 2 days.