New composter, my journey so far

[farmerbob]

Hello.
I am new to gardening (infact, have not yet started...working on planning and builing my raised beds now.)

I have a small yard. I have decided to compost, though I realize to fill the beds I will have to buy compost.

I do not have access to grass or leaves (lawn service for the community and a small lawn.). Community has few trees thus it is very windy (mobile park).

I eat a ton of fruit...fruit mostly, so I have lots of banana and mango left overs..along with a lot of other fruits scraps.

Those are greens....and I have an endless supply...lol.
I am using a big dual composter, with 50 gallon for each.

I do not want to throw stuff like newspapers, cardboard, paper bags and the like due to the toxic chemicals used in the making of them....and am finding it hard to get browns. I have thrown in unused feline pine and some corn/wheat based litter for cats (all unused)...and that is actually working.

However, I want to be more 'natural'....I have been searching for straw, leaves, or grass clippings from yards not full of pesticides...but cannot find any, even with pesticides.

suggestions appreciated.

10 days in and the little critters are all over the inside of that bin...never saw weird grub looking creatures before. Only half full, but warm...not superhot yet...but probably since there is so little I started with.

added azomite/rock dust... bought a useless bag of starter compost (figured for the first one, why not).
Due to the lack of more browns, there was a smell for the first week...and a lot of flies the first couple days..
But now the smell is not as strong...no more flies...and before I turn it I see the entire top of the pile writhing alive with worm/grub looking critters....

Nothing online really talks about that first pile...or the first few weeks with a composter that is not filled, but still being filled.

it is interesting so far.


so...

looking for good ways to find some leaves, hay, and other 'safe' browns....I live in south east florida, any help appreciated.

Also looking for some woodchips, wanna play with that in one of my beds as a long term compost.

thanks.
bob

[Northernfox]

I am no compost expert but I do a very simple method. I take my kitchen scraps and I toss them in my standing bin. When I have browns I add them. Thing like newspaper that is not bleached or glossy paper tend to count as browns. Fast food drink trays work as well.

When it starts to smell I have two options I cover the pile in cured compost or garden soil or I cover it in grass. Sounds like grass is out. So your right wood chips will work. A good source of them is pellet wood fines for horse bedding. Typically fairly cheap and very effective. It acts as a bio filter and sucks of extra moisture.

I just continue to experiment

[rainbowgardener]

I think you are being overly cautious about all the stuff like newspapers, cardboard, paper bags. To my knowledge they don't have toxic stuff in them. In the way long ago, people used to be concerned about the ink on newspapers, but for a long time the inks have been soy based. So I think shredded paper etc is good as a brown.

I collect a bunch of fallen leaves in the fall, lots of bags of what people put out at the curb for pick up, and use those for browns, just feeding them in as needed. In the summer when I run out of leaves, I buy a bale of straw from the feed store and feed that in to my compost pile. Any of the leaves/ straw left over make good mulch.

If you use enough browns, your pile will never start to smell and your compost will be better quality.

[Dillbert]

>>toxic bags / paper / etc

what RainBow said . . .

once upon a time in a galaxy far far away - your concern was true / valid.
things change. Internet fear mongers do not change.

that said, newspaper/corrugated, etc. are not the best "brown" sources.

baled straw / spoiled hay are really good brown sources.

[estorms]

Are you in a mobile home park?

[Northernfox]

I should clarify. I don't use them because the methods I use they don't break down fast enough I also don't have issues with volumes of the other types and have limited access to straw or hay.

[rainbowgardener]

Looking back over your original long post, bob, a few more thoughts. The reason why you had smell and maggots is all the greens and no browns. All that will go away if you have a good green-brown balance. For me an easy way to have lots of brown on hand in the summer, when I run out of last fall's leaves, is to go to the local feed store and buy a bale of straw. I'm in the heart of the city, but even so there is a feed store about 20 min drive away. One bale works for mulch and compost until the fall leaves come back.

Since you are in a mobile home park without much access to yard trimmings and stuff, you will have to work a little harder to get a decent volume of compostables:

check with local tree trimmers (especially the city ones that keep trees away from the phone line). They will likely give away all the tree trimmings you could want

find a stable near you and get some used stable bedding, which usually comes with straw and manure (brown and green) combined

see if your city composts collected yard wastes and gives it away, many do these days

collect used coffee grounds from places like Starbucks or from your workplace if there is company provided coffee

my office shreds paper, so I can take lots of shredded paper home. Or get a little home shredder and shred your junk mail.

etc

[toxcrusadr]

I agree there is nothing toxic to worry about in paper products.

Re: Azomite, it is marketed as a trace mineral supplement. It turns out that compost made from a variety of materials has quite an array of trace minerals, so if you have compost, you probably don't really need it. Nothing wrong with using it up, but it doesn't add much to the compost that isn't already there.

[farmerbob]

Are you in a mobile home park?

yeppers...whichis why I am using a tumbler

[estorms]

My personal composting goal is to use materials that would normally be wasted and get really good soil ammendments for my garden. If you are living in the country, without neighbors, almost anything goes. In a mobile home park in Florida, you have to be very careful. Maggots are very nasty and a health hazard. Your neighbors should not be expected to live close to that. One fly in your home is all it takes; you might never see it. Keep your kitchen scraps in a tightly sealed container, like a plastic margarine tub. (no meat or dairy) If you no longer have children at home, your newspaper and grocery bags should be enough browns. Going out and buying things for your compost pile sort of defeats the whole purpose of keeping one. You may have to do it now and then when you are starting if things get too wet. It does take a little practice to get your garden and your compost into balance. Keep your garden small until you find what works for you. I would suggest 4X4 feet to start. Put a tomato or a couple of smaller things in there and use your finished compost on it. Earthbox makes a nice self-contained little garden for city dwellers and people without yards. After several years of practice, my husband and I are down to a McDonald's cup of garbage per week.

[rainbowgardener]

I keep my kitchen scraps in a tightly closed two gallon plastic bucket that kitty litter came in. Between cooking scraps and coffee grounds and used paper towels etc, we fill it every few days to a week. I keep two, so that one is airing out and getting rained on outside while the other is being used. Keeps the bucket from getting too stinky. Since I am vegetarian, nothing organic goes in the trash.

Maggots are just fly larvae. You don't want them in your house, but you may find them in your compost pile from time to time and they really aren't a problem outdoors. If your compost pile doesn't stay too wet, you shouldn't have any major infestation of them.

I agree that there shouldn't be much reason to have to buy stuff to compost, although sometimes when I run out of the collected and hoarded fall leaves by the next summer, I buy a bale of straw to be browns for the pile and mulch in the garden. The local feed store sells straw bales.

[Koniucha]

>>toxic bags / paper / etc

what RainBow said . . .

once upon a time in a galaxy far far away - your concern was true / valid.
things change. Internet fear mongers do not change.

that said, newspaper/corrugated, etc. are not the best "brown" sources.

baled straw / spoiled hay are really good brown sources.

So is spoiled alfalfa a green or brown?

[estorms]

I consider spoiled hay a neutral. If it just got a little wet, it can dry and still be a green. If it was very wet, and is old, it could be a brown. Whatever it's condition, it is a good soil amendment. Throw it on and don't worry about it.

[Koniucha]

I consider spoiled hay a neutral. If it just got a little wet, it can dry and still be a green. If it was very wet, and is old, it could be a brown. Whatever it's condition, it is a good soil amendment. Throw it on and don't worry about it.

But I must worry! It is my nature, unfortunately.

[Dillbert]

alfalfa has a nigh nitrogen content - typically considered a "green"

[imafan26]

Actually,if what you are composting is mostly kitchen scraps, why not do worms? They can be started with newspaper as bedding material. vegetable and fruit peelings, coffee grains, melon rinds are perfect food and they don't take up that much space. They don't make a lot of compost but, it goes farther if you use it to make compost tea and the worm pee is useful too.

[gepstein]

I do use cardboard that is not bleached or covered with inks. Brown paper bags would work, too. The constant turning helps add oxygen and helps the ammonia build up. How about contacting landscapers for shredded branches?