Composter: Inexpensive and Quick

When people think of piles of compost, they often think of a traditional pile that is four feet long, four feet wide, four feet deep, or just a pile. Since a similar space is normally needed to topple the stack, the required area would be 32 square feet with a volume of 128 cubic feet. Suppose he showed you how to do the same job with less than a tenth of that space. It is not really difficult to create a compost heap that saves space.

There is a reason why a bunch of traditional compost is 4x4x4. When the plant material is stacked so high, the decomposition generates much heat. It is not uncommon for the internal temperatures of these compost piles to exceed 140 F. For this reason, this type of compost is called hot compost.

Heat is generated by the action of bacteria in the decomposition of plant material. The decay is fast and the heat is often important enough to kill the seeds of weeds, even if a person should not rely on it. Only when the heap has cooled most of the yeasts, worms, and invertebrates come to work, reducing the material even more.

A well-maintained compost heap can produce finished compost in just three or four months.

The space-saving composting method mentioned here uses a different kind of composting; cold composting. In cold composting, even if the heat is generated in the middle of the compost, the temperature does not reach the temperature of a conventional pile.

This means that cold composting takes longer, mainly depending on the action of yeast, worms, and invertebrates to decompose the plant material. Bacteria are also present, but not as massive as in a hot pile. A cold compound pole can take anywhere from 9 to 12 months to make finished compost, and he needs to pay more attention to what's in the heap because the internal temperatures are not high enough to kill weed seeds.

However, the much smaller range that this method requires is compensation for the longer term.

The space-saving method can also be called waste composting. It's actually done in 33-gallon trash cans. The method is pretty simple though. A 33-gallon tank has a volume of slightly more than 4.25 cubic feet, and since two are used, the total volume is just over eight and a half feet. This is much less space than a traditional 128 cubic foot stack.

A key is to drill 1/4 to 1/2 inch holes at the bottom and side of the basket. This allows air to enter the cell and allow excess moisture to escape. It also allows worms and other useful creatures to enter decomposing material.

If two containers are used, the contents of the working compost may be periodically thrown into the second box to facilitate the batch return operation. For this reason, the doses should not be filled for more than half of their capacity. Decaying plant matter may become quite heavy when wet, as it should be in a work pile. When the cans are full, it can be difficult to move content from one box to another without removing it.

This method takes more time to make the compost that can be used. It does not take up much space. The rotation of the battery takes less time and effort when the cans are half full. It is not even a big task to move the compost from one place to another as if you were using a pile of traditional compost. The expense of overturning the stack and making it evenly moist is much less than with a conventional stack.

The composting method, which saves space, has been used over the past decade. At that time, we moved four times, but it's easy to rework the compost after a move. The finished compost is as good as the compost that comes from a pile of hot compost. It just takes more time.

As a last resort, if the compost does not disintegrate and there are no worms, add a single pack of brewer's yeast. This can stimulate a bunch of compost that stimulates bacteria and the worms are attracted to the yeast they eat. If the compost works properly in the bucket, there should be many worms.

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