Interesting videos. I too have been playing around with this. ..... small yard. But I have done one thing different. I cut the bottom out of the can and placed it over my garden beds ..... moving it around. So, worms climb up nutrients drip down ..... once the can is full ... let it rest. When it's done spread the contents and start again.
I got a large volume of arborist chips that I used as mulch to cover bare ground but also to compost. To add nitrogen I picked up grass clippings from a nearby park where I walk/jog. When the city mows they leave a lot of the clippings behind. It really gets my pile cooking. I also innoculate with a shovel full of native dirt.
I've found that when I'm composting manure with sawdust/woodchip bedding it can take a couple of years for the wood to be totally digested. Have you looked at dalek compost bins? Similar to using bins but without a bottom so has a larger area for the worms to get into. You do loose the ability to move them about though. If you were to plant something quick growing with a lot of leaves like comfrey in between the bins the roots of the plant would take up the leachate from the ground and they could be cropped and used as the greens in the bins.
I agree. Your dalek bins could stand together with the Comfrey and Nettles growing all around and benefit from the leachate from the bins. When the bin is ready, just lift off the dalek and shovel the compost into buckets or a wheelbarrow.
A crank twist compost aerator may be something you find useful. Urea is a synthetically produced organic substance that is 46% nitrogen and cheap if you are looking for cheap nitrogen.
The cans are not big enough to make heat and you need green stuff, garden waste and if you eat fresh veggies there should be lots of peelings, rinds, cores, seeds, pulp, leaves etc. plus egg shells, tea bags, coffee grounds even the cardboard tubes out of the paper towels and toilet paper can go in there. There are only 2 of us and we have pounds of stuff every week just from preparing veggies and fruit.
The issue is my chickens eat the vegetable waste, so I can't put it into compost. I am going to measure the temperature to see how hot it gets because you make a good point there, so let's check it out.
I wonder I you could plant squash in that top layer and give it another summer season to break down. I’ve grown squash in a compost pile before and it worked pretty well. I can’t recall where I read that idea. Multiple places I’m sure.
I use pumpkin to fertilize place for shade trees I am planning to plant. They have humongous leaves and it do not give space to unwanted staff to grow.
Never liked the trashcan method because of the smell and flies. I take my kitchen scraps and chicken poop and bury them about 14 inches layered with the garden soil I just remove,leaving the top 4 inches as soil. I might mix in some leaves or straw. I just move down a garden row, one 8 inch trench at a time planting behind it. The new plantings take off phenomenally and two months later that area is full of big fat earthworms that don't stand a chance if exposed because chickens suddenly appear if I pick up a shovel. One advantage is that if you didn't get around to handling your compost for a couple of days any fly eggs or maggots come to nothing buried in the ground. The process stays aerobic and results in deep soils that give earthworms a place to winter over. My chickies and I do a lot of rocking out in the process.
A yeast could help, but yeast doesn't break down wood which is part of my issue. Yeast could be beneficial though. Once concern I would have is can a added yeast survive in this environment - moist, somewhat anaerobic, with a lot of organisms competing for food.
Diego Footer I believe they use yeast in septic tanks to break solids down, and I would think it’s kind of the same situation. It might not help break down the wood, but I love where this is headed!
Yes, I think that yeast may be one component, but a lot of those additives are organisms that can survive in anaerobic conditions like lactic acid bacteria and PNSB.
@@chantallachance4905 - a wormery shouldn't be giving off that much tea - possibly a sign your contents are too wet - more cardboard and paper shreddings needed.
