5 Composting Myths You Should Stop Believing Right Now

[@fudroysmith7948]

I just built my first 3 tier compost bins out of pallets. I'm stoked! No idea what I'm doing, but I'm doing it!

[@epicgardening]

Love this!

[@hardstylzz5024]

Yes I have a 3 pallet system but I have ants in one and winter squash seeds have sprouted should I leave it? and maybe have tons of squash later on in summer.

[@Mrbfgray]

I've been simply making piles for many yrs, rarely do they get hot and it can take months during cooler time of yr but it's easy and works for ME. One pile actively adding to while mostly just pulling compost from older piles. (or adding to one end of pile while drawing from other end) Does speed really matter? It's X in and Y out regardless so only the very beginning is delayed, after that it's all the same.

[@patriciapatricia9040]

@@hardstylzz5024 yes leave it

[@fudroysmith7948]

@@epicgardening cheers, bud!

[@alinapung5155]

I started composting many years ago simply to stop our family food waste going into landfill. We just chucked food waste into an plastic compost bin. When it got smelly, I would riped up cardboard and pile it on top. I didn't have a plan to use it in our garden but when we moved the compost bin, an apricot seed germinated and now has grown to a tree larger than myself! Also we have got butternut pumpkins out of seeds that have germinated from our compost pile. I manage my compost a little better now, but getting started was very easy and you learn what to do with it along the way

[@dianec3279]

We started composting about 8 years ago. My husband built a bin and we just started putting all our garden waste and any waste from fruits and veggies, egg shells, coffee grounds, nuts… and we just let it go. It wasn’t long before everything turned to dirt. We use it in all our flower beds and the garden and this year in my new raised bed that he built for me so I don’t have to bend over in the garden. Bad back. Our plants grow like crazy every year. The bin is pretty trashed just from the elements so looks like he’s gonna have to make a new one, but it’s worth it. Don’t over think it people. Any composting is better than no composting. Great video!

[@usernamesareannoying5423]

Try reuse the wood and if you can’t burn it to ash, you need to feed it before it goes to the garden though

[@MrsB197something]

Thank you as I've been leery of one until this year and it seems so finicky to do so I appreciate the info and yes I am just going to do it and not worry about the fancy stuff😂

[@harvey195]

I also add wood ash to my compost. We have a pellet stove, so I hoard those ashes all winter and start layering them in with the green and brown layers in the new spring pile.

[@Kriti2024]

​@@harvey195how does ash help in composting???

[@harvey195]

@Kriti2024 It doesn't so much add to the process as add needed nutrients like calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and sulfur, as well as micronutrients like zinc and copper. I like having well balanced compost because I use it as a soil substitute. It's also alkaline, so it balances out the acidity of the compost and makes a better environment for worms, so in the end you get a better product.

[@josie_99]

This will probably get buried but I have something cool to share! I went to one of my local farmers markets and went to talk to one of the Master Gardeners from UW there. They are recommending the Epic Gardening KZbin channel to gardening newbies!! 🌱 I figured I’d tell y’all because I’ve been a subscriber for a while and love your content, plus a whole freaking university master gardener is plugging you guys! 🎉

[@rifraf262]

Great video. I compost nearly everything and just don't worry about the smells or vermin. I'm sure they are in there but that just makes good food for the hawks and owls. Keeping food waste out of the garbage means I get no smells whatsoever in the house. Having a tiered compost where you can move the piles down the line is nice but it takes up a bit of space and can't really be moved, I started with 2 tier and I liked how it worked but eventually created cubes out of 4x4 legs and 1x scraps tying the sides together, when I want to turn the pile I just wobble the box off (no bottom) and flip it over to wherever I want it to be next (usually right next to the pile). Works hot or cold.

[@7munkee]

I cold compost. It takes up to 18 months but works well enough for me as I am disabled. I pile all my material inside a fenced in 3x3 section of my yard. My son turns it two or three time per year. I just grab what I need each spring and have never had a problem. It basically turns into worm castings each year anyway.

[@roelrijkens4061]

That's even more work then I do. I guess I'm the laziest person when it comes to this. I throw all on a pile and once a year I take out what I need. When everybody turns their piles, I'm drinking a beer while watching them do it.

[@k-matsu]

@@roelrijkens4061 I guess Im the laziest of you all (I have the advantage, though, of light, well-aerated soil). I just dig a trench (about 45cm/18 inches deep) in a comparatively "depleted" area of the garden and throw all my organic material into it. Every lawn mowing, leaf raking or hedge trimming goes in, along with kitchen scraps. When its nearly full I rake soil over it. Six months later when I plant it, it is the most productive row in the garden. Just repeat the process in different places, every time one row gets filled up.

[@silverlorian6258]

That is exactly what I came up with to do on my path to do as little actual work as possible :D Neither smell nor rats nor anything bad happened. I expected it to take long, but actually the process is so quick that I hardly can find my compost a few centimeters down, it just looks like moist, dark earth. The only care I took was keeping an eye on spreading out green stuff if I had really much of it at a time.

[@Nico-de-gallo]

I went down to my local tractor supply and bought cheap garden straw not knowing it was full of weed seed. I spent the next week plucking the sprouts out of the garden. Then I found that straw makes excellent brown material for compost and i threw all that mulch into the compost. Now my compost pile is turning into garden gold. A handful of greens with two handfuls of straw every time I add to it. And the weed seed? Let them sprout and turn the pile, adds even more organic material!

[@Detroit-gx5nd]

Be very careful with straw its usually sprayed with an herbicide called Grazon that takes years to breakdown. It can inhibit your garden

[@SamlSchulze1104]

Yeah, it's not all bad. But it's kind of a rotten thing to do to your neighbor.

[@triciac1019]

It is always a good idea to use at least five ingredients to get the best variety of nutrients.

[@rpdx3]

@@SamlSchulze1104what neighbor?

[@SamlSchulze1104]

@@rpdx3 As described in the Bible.

[@Game.Like.A.Mother]

Extra tip if your compost has ants it’s because it’s too dry or too brown! Adding greens and water will help clear them out and speed up the breakdown ❤

[@oldchild527]

This is really useful!

[@Nocare89]

They seem to prefer crawling around my garden 😅

[@Trixtah]

And after adding the extra greens or moisture, stir it up more - every few days if you can, but at least once a week. Ants don't like to hang out too much if they're constantly disturbed.

[@Chattyman2]

Every year my compost pile is full of thousands of them

[@triciac1019]

Ants do help with the composting. Same with other bugs and insects.

[@johnwhitteron5296]

Great vid. You missed one of the most wasteful myths about composting. I have been composting for over 30 years and am constantly 'informed' by newcomers, who have seen all the gardening shows and videos, that you CAN't put Onion, Garlic or Citrus in a compost bin. This may be true of 'worm farms', though I haven't tested this, it is certainly a myth when it comes to composting. As always, it would be unwise to throw vast quantities into your pile at one time, anything organic will compost in a well managed system. I don't have space for a large set up like yours but use two enclosed black compost bins. One is processing whilst the other is filling. I use chicken wire underneath the bins to stop any rodent problems... simple. Your point about many people trying to overcomplicate things is a very valid one. Composting is a very straightforward process and is as old as gardening itself.

[@triciac1019]

It just takes making a successful one to then feel confident in your abilities and feel like a pro.

[@MrEzekiel1982]

When I first started composting I was obsessed with hot composting. It does feel great to get that right. But a cold pile is more interesting imo. And less stressful lol

[@tinabloomfield7228]

I have to do cold compost....much better on my joints....lol I have RA so no hot compost for me 😂

[@TheVTRainMan]

I think this is a valid point. People often forget, that if you don't care about time, a pile of organic matter will break down eventually without doing anything to it. eg. I have a pile of leaf litter and weeds I start in the fall. I continue piling it up in spring throughout summer. By the end of the season, the bottom/middle layer is broken down a lot. I lay the broken down stuff on my garden beds for overwintering (let the bugs/worms break it down into the soil). The stuff that isn't broken down at all, I pile it into an active compost pile that I try to get hot before winter. By the start of the gardening season here (zone 5) the active compost is ready for the garden. The most time I spend on compost is collecting the stuff to be composted and spreading it. The actual compost process, for the most part, should be handled by nature (not me). :)

[@breezywilson760]

Plus hot composted compost feeds for up to five years, cold composted compost feeds for five thousand years.

[@MrEzekiel1982]

@@breezywilson760 yep. I’ve learned to never be in a hurry in the garden.

[@beckypetersen2680]

@@TheVTRainMan I agree. It's as simple to me as throwing it into a pile and letting it do its thing. Eventually I will use it in my garden or pots.

[@RealBradMiller]

I composted in a fabric grow bag; cardboard, grass, houseplant and garden clippings, coffee grounds, tortillas, bread, leaves, small twigs, old beer, yogurt, and on and on! I filled the top to level it with a bit of soil, then planted it up with some tomatoes, basil and an orange noah morning glory. The toms and morning glory can grow up and around the shed the bag is next to. Threw some mulch on top, and let's hope it all goes well!

[@epicgardening]

You got this 🤞🏼

[@elisabetk2595]

I do something similar in old storage totes converted to composting planters ala Robbie and Gary Gardening Easy. Works great!

[@Abby-ug4xc]

Update?? How'd it go?

[@stevecharters8965]

Anaerobic composting is perfectly valid, especially if you have a cold climate. Fill black plastic bags with vegetable waste, seal them and leave them outside over winter then dig them into raised beds or add them to conventional compost when the weather warms. Weed seedlings that pop up from mulch or compost are generally quite easy to pull before new seed heads form. Chop and drop, or add them directly back into the pile.

[@cloverhighfive]

I sometimes use kitchen scraps to help my surroundings and minimize landfill without waiting for it to compost 😁 Kitchen scraps smoothies!! I'm not gardening much per se (got 3 buckets of potatoes going - thanks for the tips - and a few tomato plants are coming), but my soil is so poor for my flowers n stuff... I have some small (I live alone) lazy compost going on in bins, but I enrich my beds with kitchen scraps smoothies!!! I sometimes use my make-a-hole thing to aerate and fill up the holes with the smoothie. My baby lilac twig went from struggling to pushing new shoots and leaves in 2 weeks!

[@mjjoseph8259]

Kevin,I was r-r-r-r-really glad you busted that 30:1 brown to green ratio myth!I've been composting for 30+ years,and paid no attention to that myth.Great time composting,and lots of garden produce every year.

[@dustman96]

The bugs are doing a significant portion of the work breaking down your compost. Having lots of bugs means active biology in the area, also good.

[@nickthorne5872]

I'm definitely no expert, but I believe it would be more accurate to say that the microbiology does the most significant portion of the work toward breaking down the bulk of the material, especially in hot composting. The bugs and worms probably do a more passive amount of work breaking down the edge of the pile or in cold composting. I get your point though, bugs are good. 👍🏽

[@dustman96]

@@nickthorne5872 I agree, that's why I used the word significant, not majority. In my view hot bacterial dominated compost only has a couple advantages; speed, and it kills off most of the weed seeds and pathogens. I believe slow compost yields a better finished product though. If you leave it long enough the pathogenic organisms will be outcompeted anyway. I once composted about 3 yards of pure wood chips, took about 18 months til it was mostly broken down, just gave it a little water here and there and turned it a couple times. The grubs did the majority of the work, and many other small organisms participated. Yielded about a yard. Some of the best compost I've ever made, peppers and tomatoes loved it.

[@gemfyre855]

I sometimes just stop and watch all the critters going about their day in my compost heap. I find it fascinating.

[@dustman96]

@@gemfyre855 I used to pull out the magnifying glass. Some truly strange and cool creatures in there!

[@StubbsMillingCo.]

Same for fungi/mushrooms and molds.

[@wvhaugen]

"Weeds are your friends." An underappreciated concept.

[@rickmoore52]

For all practical purposes, less time & labor is best for me. So I just throw all garden and kitchen waste into a pile. Let it do it's thing. The following spring I filter out any finished compost, apply to garden, and put the unfinished material into a new pile. So as little handling as possible and I get good results. EZPZ

[@simplysimple7628]

Composting is the single most important environmental thing that we as a human race can do to keep the environment healthy. Every single city and county should have a composting program. Where I live there is a private organic recycling program that gives out free mulch once a month on the 1st Saturday and charges on the 2nd wednesday. Not sure what the rates are. I’m cheap so I only go on the free day🥴🤣 Some of the best mulch/compost I’ve ever used.

[@Tailspin80]

I’d say it would be to stop digging up coal, oil and gas, converting them to CO2 and dumping it in the atmosphere and oceans, but then we’d all starve and freeze. I have been composting for years because it’s the easiest way of getting rid of garden “waste” and because it’s great for planting things, improving the soil and topping up my raised beds for growing vegetables.

[@Psikeomega]

One of my favorite things to do since i dont have anywhere near enough brown waste matter on my property to compost properly, is I shred my junk mail (for security) and then i substitute it in as legally mailings can't contain any toxic substances. Really saves my pile.

[@TomsBackyardWorkshop]

I just put all my composting material in a big bin and wait. It doesn't get hot enough to kill all the seeds but at the bottom of the bin is a pile of black compost ready to add to my spring garden. I do get some surprise plants sprouting up when I use it but unless its a weed I dont want I consider it a bonus.

[@epicgardening]

Nothing wrong w that!

[@JAndersonGhost0326]

At my house, we call those volunteers! Things I didn't plant on purpose, but they showed up anyway. It's always fun to see!

[@G60syncro]

When Covid hit, I moved into my GF's house and at the time she had a garden that wasn't being used. She said it would be cool to have chicken seeing how I basically grew up with them around when I was a kid. So I got to work designing a chicken coop attached to the garden. Now this does cut the area you can use in half but each year we have one side of the fenced area holding the chicken and the other half used as a garden and we swap it ieach year. The net result is self fertilization and zero weeds!! The chicken will eat anything that tries to live in there!! Also, the other day I was sipping my coffee and looking at them scratch around all over the place... literally holes dug in this year's garden and I was telling my GF "look at that, they're tilling the garden and all it costs us is trying to find egg cartons" So if you can keep hens in your area, do it! it's super cool, they're great critters to be around with and they love social interaction. Then you can just dump everything in the pen and they'll process it! Meat is top of the list and they'll pick bones dry so you never have to worry about other vermin being attracted, they take care of that pronto!!

[@triciac1019]

Chickens will even eat mice.

[@G60syncro]

@@triciac1019 yes!! As a kid I did once walk into the chicken coop and the rooster caught a mouse right in front of me.... Trust me, within the confines of the chicken coop, nothing but chicken lives!!

[@theplatypen1959]

I like using rolling garbage Bins, Lowes has them for $25, black with a closing lid. Just drill some holes on and around the bottom from drainage and letting the worms in. Black so it heats up better. Close the lid in the sun to heat up and hid any smell, and open the lid when it rains to get the moisture

[@Randy_Smith]

I'm in Indiana and for me my gardening is pretty much done by early November if not sooner. Managing my compost during the cold months has become a great way to get my gardening fix when I can't actually be outside growing food. For those who are in cold climates try to horde fallen tree leaves in the fall to help get your spring compost going. A pile of freshly mowed grass and fall leaves can heat up really quick and be ready to go in no time with very little work. Nice compost bin setup btw.

[@mehere8038]

@@KA-in6sx Alternatively a basic grow light & hydroponics can give a LOT of foods like leafy greens indoors in very little space. Mushrooms are great too

[@triciac1019]

I have done that by keeping them in plastic bags until I am ready to use them, or have them fenced in in an area. I got leaf mold from a few bags as they sat for a few years. The smell reminded me of my grandmother making leaf mold.

[@Randy_Smith]

@@triciac1019 I do the same thing. Any leaves I save and don't use in compost are left in a pin to become leaf mold.

[@jimbox114]

I have just been using a trash can with holes in it along with a pvc pipe in the middle with air holes. I try to keep it about 50 50 but I suspect sometimes I get a few more greens than I should. I wouldn't say it smells good but it doesn't smell bad. For my b-day this year my wife bought me a tumble composter so gonna see how that works out.

[@johnnytungsong8719]

@jimbox114. The method with the pvc pipe in the middle, with air holes, is called the Armstrong Wu method of composting! I’m going to try it when I construct my next heap! I watched a video whereby the ‘pipe’ was actually some large squared mesh, bent into a square tube, with fine nylon netting wrapped around it! As crazy as it sounds, I actually love feeding the compost heap, using fresh cut grass, dried leaves, rabbit poo and shavings, hay, kitchen vegetable scraps, etc! I know that the worms love it also!

[@648Roland]

Have found stuffing a black plastic bag full of flowering and/or seedy weeds then closing the top and leaving in full sun for maybe a week, makes a sludgy mess I add to my compost. Seems to work quite well.

[@triciac1019]

It is messy but really wonderful!

[@theupsidetotheoutside883]

Thanks for the tips. My compost always has fruit flies. It’s a lot of work to turn it all the time. And it’s not ready when I need it in spring. I kinda like getting a fresh bag of worm casting from the store to be honest. It was a fun experiment. My backyard is small.

[@epicgardening]

If you push your fruit and veg scraps more towards the center you'll avoid more of the fruit flies

[@veronicaanne1359]

Each time you add food scraps, try burying them underneath rather than throwing them straight on the top. This prevents the flies.

[@cursedcookies]

@@epicgardening This is good to know! I tried indoor kitchen composting with a ceramic compost jar and every time It has bred HUNDREDS of fruit fly maggots. I finally gave up after 3 tries. I shall have to try once more using this advice.

[@Nocare89]

​@@cursedcookies I keep mine indoors in a 5 gallon bucket. I have the lid on top with a paint can weighing down the lid. This has done pretty well to keep them out. Otherwise, the moment funky smells or flies develop it gets worked into in the outside pile. That kills all of that. Only gonna be an issue if your compost pile is overwhelmed with food scraps. Mine is mostly yard waste.

[@cursedcookies]

@@Nocare89 I might just switch to a setup like that instead :) isn't it bad for compost to have no air exchange though? that was one factor in keeping me from having an inside compost container with a fully sealed lid. Is mixing everything every few days to once a week enough in a small container? I don't have the ability to have an outside compost until I can afford a tumble composter so the kitchen sized one is what I got for now.

[@mybelovedchaos]

I have a trench style compost that I throw meat and dairy in and only give it a stir maybe once a month and it doesn't stink. The biggest problem is when I go to collect the compost every year I have to fight roots that have made their way in. Thanks for another great video.

[@mindofmadness5593]

I am restarting from scratch due to a move. My only compost, at the moment, is a 15 gallon drum with a lid used to Anaerobic compost two feezer of food we lost-meats, fruits and veggies. I also mix in greens, weeds, hay, chicken poop, whatever. If I manage to get things going then I am doing similar to what you have in the vid but keeping the Anaerobic bin for meats and other things-seeded stuff I do not want to chance and maybe a local problem neighbor. :D

[@PlantGuild]

I love this video. Composting in general is over-complicated to newbies because it’s over-explained by experienced ‘Rot Stars’ (myself included) and I like the simplicity of this video. We always mean the best intentions when we explain the Composting process to beginners. I believe it’s really starting with why someone should compost (prevent landfill waste and build the soil) and then going into how they should compost in their daily life. I used to think everyone should have a compost system in their backyard to have it be reused on-site (actually I still do think that), but I’ve found that there are other alternatives for people to compost their waste without having their own system at the house. This has helped me tailor conversations about Composting with people and I’ve found success with tying all decisions related to ‘DIY or no-to-DIY’ back to the ‘Why’ behind composting. I even have co-workers now who were interested, but didn’t want to set something up in their backyard, fill 2.5 gallon buckets each week with their food/paper waste and give it to me to put into my own compost bin.

[@MyFocusVaries]

I just throw my garden waste in a pile. It gets rained on, it gets some sun. Eventually it becomes compost. I'm very hands off

[@Wait_Huh817]

That’s nature for ya

[@grossguy9570]

Man I've seen people on TikTok showing how they take care of their compost by flipping it everyday and they only have enough waste produce to fit inside a gallon sized zip lock bag. I thought I was crazy that I just left mine out in a composter with little to no care.

[@MyFocusVaries]

@@grossguy9570 it's definitely faster if you tend it. I have other things to do.

[@lawrencebeck1144]

a pile per season/year and by start of the next year the old3 one is ready for the garden. amount of work, nothing, that is other than just dumping the grass clippings, etc, etc....​@@MyFocusVaries

[@perplexyasmr5493]

My compost saved me lots of money when I was filling up the 4 new raised beds I got from Christmas and my birthday 🥳 plants that are growing in it now are doing amazing!! That was my first round and I’m stoked to harvest this second round. I have a tumbler composter tho and I use a ton of fruit & veg so I’m like if I keep adding to this it’ll never finish but I can’t get myself to throw the scraps in the garbage 😂

[@gailthornbury291]

I have a tumbler too. I also keep a plastic bin beside it and new scraps and chicken poop and bedding are added to that whilst the batch of compost in tumbler is cooking. When I empty the tumbler I use the contents of the plastic bin to start the next batch. If it composts a little in summer whilst it’s waiting that’s not a problem. Although in Ireland summers are cool.

[@wbshappy1]

:Act year, I took some gathered weeds and put them in a 5 gallon bucket of water. They rotted in it after a couple weeks! I dumped them in my compost pile. Can't wait to see what the results will be!

[@annierampersad3982]

Thanks for the video Kevin. Knowledge is power. Happy gardening to all.

[@peterfoster1466]

Sadly I now live in an apartment block and no longer have a garden. When i did have a big garden i had three compost piles that I filled in series. Woody material I put through a shredder first. When a pile was ready to use I would put it through the shredder again to produce a fine potting composted.

[@paulgaras2606]

Composting changes based on your climate. We got roughly 180 days when the temperature is below 60 so that obviously affects how we compost in the northeast. Lots of people use insulated tumblers but I just snipe my neighbors fall decorations after winter shows up and throw them in a covered garbage can for the winter. I add my kitchen scraps to that all year and then grass clippings when the weather warms. Usually I get decent compost out of it. But it does take a full year of that. Actively managing a hit compost pile would be a bit much for me. But this process makes decent “mulchpost”

[@gilliansherman2756]

Would you consider doing a video more in depth on worm composting? Or giving some tips? I've tried it a few times and each time have not had success with it long term.

[@kcthonian]

What issues are you having?

[@lanetower3411]

I think he does have a video about that. Do a search on his site.

[@necurrence1776]

Not sure if this helps but just want to share my experience. Summers are very hot in my area and my compost is super dry. I used to think there were no worms around to break it down. But as I was digging one day some mole holes to put some mole repellent, I've seen a lot of worms about 4 or 5 inches below the compost where the soil is a bit cooler. So all fine

[@neville3059]

there are different types of worms. Some are surface to 12 inches below the dirt, never really going deeper. Some never come to the surface so to speak. So just seem to just burrow and aerate clay soil like the Alabama slammers, while the red wigglers are great for composting. I've taught me kids anytime the see a worm toss it in the compost pile or a garden bed. my compost pile has thousands of worms by mid summer. Compost goes in the raised beds and my tomatoes were bright red and my cannabis plants were over 10 feet tall. Not an expert just having a bit of success.

[@schoolsgirl]

I ❤ my Geobin. All I need to do is turn it & my end result is great. My original worms multiplied. I've had it for more than a decade. Thank you for your great videos. I admire your garden.

[@epicgardening]

It's hard to beat one of those, they are a classic!

[@nicholasbenedetto6319]

Yep, found out everything you said is true. Most of my composting was accomplished overwinter. Did maybe 25% green , November and by end of May, black gold. Basically all I had to do was layer BGBGBGB(Brown,Green), let the rain&snow do its work. Take some bread racks and sift it.

[@MelissaMorris-nu8mj]

I am definitely a 'lazy' composter 😂 I keep a 50/ 50 ratio, keep it moist as needed and nature usually does the rest! It can take a little longer to break down but I usually just add those tidbits to the bottom of my container garden and it keeps my plants with nutrients!

[@carolpbarbalho]

Sometimes I think people over complicate things… great video :)

[@DocFunkenstein]

Seriously. Compositing just /happens/, you don't have to follow a recipe or really do a ton of work. Those things just speed up the process (sometimes significantly), but the world has literally been functioning on this principle for millions of years. It doesn't require human intervention.

[@timjohnson1199]

@@DocFunkenstein Yup. Critters die and poop out there. The cycle is gonna happen. The more complicated you make it, the less people are going to do it

[@lynnalborough9672]

Yes.... oh yes.... need to stop and learn from own experiences...

[@johnliberty3647]

A bad compost pile is better than compost pile. My biggest problem when composting was making it so compacted that I had a dry bottom center and nothing broke down. But I stir it all up and let those parts compost in the pots I filled with them. Not perfect but the trees I potted up did fine.

[@veronicaanne1359]

Compost piles need water too. So each time you water the garden, add some to the pile too...

[@veronicaanne1359]

Also, if you have more than one pile, when you find dry bits, add them to the next pile, for further composting.

[@johnliberty3647]

It had been watered just fine. We had more than enough rain. Water just did not penetrate it. I fixed it through how I build them. This was close to a decade ago. I also started building my piles on rainy days so every layer starts out wet with my old bamboo fence polls to ad air chambers. Also I will add that a compost pile needs to be on high ground but I suspect most if not all people reading this knows that.

[@veronicaanne1359]

I have always put my compost heaps straight on the soil. This allows earthworms to invade quite readily.

[@Sue-ec6un]

Good video...nice to see there are other people on the internet that don't stress over their compost pile...my only thing is I have never been able to make enough compost for my needs...but what I do make...garden gold! I love my leaf compost! Let those leaves fall...rake them up into a pile in the early spring and then by the middle of July it is teeming with worms and microbes...I do it all on a patch of blacktop that used to be a driveway with no edges...it's like *magic* ;)

[@ogj5]

Omg I bought seeds form you and I didn't even know it was your company! 90% germination in fair conditions btw. Not ideal, not less than ideal, but decent conditions. I was super impressed.

[@kelleclark]

No mention of 'composting-in-place'...been using it for two seasons already and it works GREAT! Check it out if you want to save tons of back breaking work...no turning, sifting or hauling it around each season :)

[@epicgardening]

I believe I did mention with the cold compost pile!

[@kelleclark]

@@epicgardening Not the same...I bury a 2 gallon pot leaving 2" showing...fill half full with kitchen scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, dead leaves, toilet paper tubes...then set a matching pot on top, filled with potting soil and any shallow rooted plant. The weight of the top pot deters varmints. The worms go crazy and when I see the level has dropped, I lift the top pot and add more scraps. So simple and very effective :) Makes tidying up the garden easy with little debris pots everywhere.

[@nancee9101]

​@@kelleclark yup, I do this "inground worm bin" all over my garden. So easy to do garden cleanup.

[@ProfoundPodcasts]

​@@kelleclark hi Kelly! what kind of shallow rooted plants do you use? Thanks!

[@ArDeeMee]

@@kelleclark I have an in-bed composting setup as well. When I stack up the scraps, they get broken down within just a few weeks. It’s handy.

[@audas]

The Berkley method (which is what I always use) is not just 50:50. The ratio is 30:1 (carbon:nitrogen) - but simply two buckets of carbon to one of nitrogen. The way I look at it is a pile of carbon with some nitrogen through it. Another great tip for this method is that I store ALL my kitchen waste in preparation waiting to compost. I use large lidded bins - wheelie bins we call them in OZ. I put my daily small kitchen scraps bucket into the bin and cover liberally with saw dust. This restricts all decomposition and stops major smell. Can be nasty on emptying though - but you have a super charged mix. And you absolutely do not need to be turning it that often. You definitely can for a finer result - but no need. Trick is to layer it properly and water the layers. I turn mine only two, sometimes three times. Ensure you cover it - this is critical and often left out. This prevents water getting in. I also water mine a second time. You mentioned no meat or oils or fats. I add everything to mine - as I hot compost. Every single scrap from every single meat, beef, fish, lamp, pigs, bones - everything. I also add in entire dead animals. All gone in a matter of two to three weeks. Here is a great video on this - this is fundmentally super hot, super fast composting and 100 pigs are gone in a matter of days - AMAZING. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2rOqGN3bsSiea8

[@busker153]

There is value to knowing all the technical stuff about composting, "recipes," but it is also important to remember that a pile of organic material, left to itself, will decompose over time. All the high tech stuff is only for speed. Time is a powerful ally.

[@dshe8637]

Yes. It can put people off being told there are lots of rules. We have a single plastic recycling bin with a lid nowadays and never turn it. We just tip it a bit and all the lovely compost falls out of the bottom. It's not the fastest, but it fits our tiny garden, recycles all the vegetable and fruit peelings and gives perfect plant food and soil improvers to the fruit, salads and herbs we grow

[@susanfarley1332]

I heard today that in Florida they are raking up all that seaweed thats washing up on the beaches and planning on taking it to the landfill. A long time ago i heard seaweed is good for soil because of the trace minerals in it. But i worried about salt being on it.

[@gardeninginthedesert]

I hadn't thought of using Seaweed. I just read the salt would be such a tiny amount and it would get leached away in the rain so it wouldn't do any harm. I'm always looking for new compost materials so I'm going to make sure I have a bag in the car next time I'm near the beach. ❤

[@susanfarley1332]

@@gardeninginthedesert that would be a great idea. The food we eat is supposed to provide us with trace minerals essential for our health but other than fertilizer that has nitrogen, potash and phosphate I don't think the trace minerals get replaced back into the soil as much. Back when I had a subscription to Organic Gardening magazine I heard about people putting seaweed in the soil. But a lot of the growers nowadays are connected to large corporations. I just dont trust those, since they are more concerned with profits. Did you hear about the farmers (I think it was in Maine) that can't farm any more because the state sold them sewage sludge to better their soil? Now they can't farm because the sludge had forever chemicals in it. That is what the state says. Back in the 1970's I was taking Horticulture and had to do a report on sewage sludge and one problem that it had (which is why sludge was not recommended) was that the sludge had heavy metals in it. Lead, mercury, cadmium, etc. I don't think they were as concerned about forever chemicals back then. But the heavy metals don't go away. That is something the state stopping the farmers from farming didn't even mentioned. They shouldn't have sold it to the farmers anyway. I don't know if it was ignorance or the temptation of making money from the farmers that made the state sell it. Not only forever chemicals and heavy metals are a problem with sludge, but not too long ago they found that sewage also contains chemicals from prescription drugs that people take that ends up in the sewage. And those have been causing problems with fish exposed to the sludge. Like reproductive problems. ( That makes me wonder if that might be contributing to the lack of population growth in countries all over the world. I heard China has that problem but they don't know what is causing it. Russia too has the problem. It might be that people are not wanting kids but who knows. Both China and Russia are careless with pollution. China specially. While doing that report one thing I ran across was tilapia fish. I researched what uses sludge had and China and other Asian countries use it to feed tilapia. They grow big and fat on it. We didn't even have tilapia in the grocery store when I wrote my report. Now we do have tilapia in the grocery store and every time I see it there or on a restaurant's menu it makes me feel queasy. But I'm not a big fan of fish so I don't eat much of it except for cod, pollock, and tuna.

[@ikazukison2]

50% greens and 50% browns? I just throw everything in there and turn it sometimes, I don't think it gets hot, but I have a ton of worms in the pile that break down everything, and I mean everything

[@epicgardening]

That's fine!

[@robertshiell887]

Lazy gardener here! I have always prescribed to the thinking that compost just happens. We have two piles, one we feed all year and then cover in the spring while we feed the second pile. We uncover the following spring and use the “dirt” in the garden and cover the second pile to start the process over again. Granted it takes two years and we have plenty of space on a small acreage to do it on, but aside from an occasional watering it is a pretty hassle free method for creating compost.

[@Get_Growin]

I love your channel, man. You motivated me to start a garden AND a KZbin channel. Thank you for what you do!

[@wrongwayconway]

I had no idea I had to turn my compost every few days. For years I was doing it "once in a while" and would lament that I never had any usable compost after months. I spoke to a well seasoned gardener and she told me "dear, you have to turn it every 2 to 3 days." 😮 This year I have done so, and I can see the difference already! I'll do my best to keep turning it this winter (gets to -15 -20C here 🇨🇦).

[@john0094]

Wouldn't this be fixed with an airpot ?

[@dshe8637]

I've never turned mine. It's fine.

[@georgevanhoose6333]

I have about 2 acres of yard, plus 13 chickens. I have 2 compost stations: One is breaking the material down while I accumulate new material in the other. Every time I mow the yard, and every time I clean out the coop, it all goes into the building-up pile. Meanwhile the breaking-down pile gets nice and hot, I turn it every week, and it comes out beautifully. So in spring I have compost ready-to-go, and again in the fall I have compost ready-to-go.

[@AnnikaVictoria24]

On my small balcony in a temperate climate, i use two 20L buckets with holes drilled in them, throw abouuuut equal food scraps and leaves/paper in them, and then leave them in the sun and forget about them. 3-4 months later i have compost. I dont even ever turn them haha 😂 if it ever gets smelly i just throw some browns on top. Has worked fantastically.

[@austinduke8876]

I've been binging your videos man and I'm losing track of how many best friends a gardener has.

[@Cursed_cass]

I have a tumbler and a leaf pile. I just throw things in there kinda in a layer along with a compost accelerator. Im in the midwest so theres no getting rid of weeds. Im gonna have to spray and preen my yard for years because they spread on the wind. My compost seems to be attracting flies and maybe mosquitos, not sure. I bought some botanical interest flower seeds. Waiting to see if they come up!

[@Gardeningchristine]

I’ve tried all kinds of composting experiments. Leaf mold,cold compost, trash can composter, burying, mulching, in the pathways.

[@myurbangarden7695]

Burying and trash can is what I am trying now.

[@SalMinella]

I always bury the waste from my chicken stock deep down where I’m going to plant the tomatoes. Huge benefit to the plants. You can get to near zero waste people. Just get creative.

[@FeedingMyFloridaSoul]

When I first started gardening I always buried my kitchen scraps around my raised beds and my plants did awesome. The very first KZbin channel I had watched was robbie and Gary easy gardening. That's what sparked the interest in easy compost. Then I started watching more videos on compost and was like "oh maybe that'll work better" and honestly it was all just way to complicated that I went right back to put my scraps either right in the soil or in buckets I have put around my garden beds.

[@SalMinella]

@@FeedingMyFloridaSoul whatever works!

[@myurbangarden7695]

Burying food scraps in a perforated container has been my go to.

[@Tippler0611]

Yes! Our modern family of five in the suburbs makes one bag of trash a week. Most of that is plastic packaging

[@anarchisttutor7423]

My pile is long, against a wall. More decomposed matter is on the right. New stuff and things sifted out of the right end get put on the left. My main brown is shredded cardboard, either with a shredder, or, if the pieces aren't flat, with a lawnmower, once they're weakened. It seems to be working well, but too slow for my liking, even though it's often hot. Maybe it's too spread out.

[@triciac1019]

Do at least a 3' x 3' pile. A 4' x 4' would be better. Turn it every few days and keep it moist. It will get smaller as it breaks down. Mix at least five different ingredients. Carbon and nitrogen 3 to 1 ratio.

[@Momma_Tomma]

Because my husband does lawn care, we do composting on a larger scale. I can't physically turn the pile because it's in a 8x8 "bin." So it is more of a cold compost. After 4 years, we finally moved the first pile and turned it over. The bottom had broken down into lovely compost. The middle was still quite warm, so whrn it was turned, it just helped get the process goung again. We are starting a new "bin" so the other can fully break down this year hopefully.

[@ceecee-thetransplantedgardener]

One other myth is that you have to have a lot of space. (This may have been covered already in the comments). Truthfully - while space to move/shift compost in it's various stages is optimal (3-4 bin system, as example)- it "ain't" a deal breaker if you don't have that kind of room. This is a great vid - thank you.

[@mehere8038]

Space is what stops me, I certainly don't have 3 square foot of space I'm willing to hand over to a compost! That's a HUGE amount of produce that can be grown in that much space! I'd rather just bury garden waste while harvesting root veggies & then plant straight on top of it & let it break down under the soil

[@dshe8637]

​@mehere8038 we have a circular plastic recycling bin with a lid and it hardly takes up any space at all.

[@adriankalitka3762]

I do my composting in a rain barrel. I never drilled holes but I do leave it open and put the lid on when it rains. Last year I left it open and it rained for 2 days. It stunk really bad. I threw in a bunch of dry dirt and mixed it. A few weeks later I just threw it in my garden. I had my best harvest in tomatoes, cucumbers, etc and i had the same amount of plants as i did for the past several years. I ran out of people to give them to. It worked better for me

[@Donna_G]

I've never concerned myself with percentages or ratios. Since I compost indoors in a 5 gallon bucket, I don't even try to do hot composting. I add kitchen waste when I have it. At times, I will add wood pellets. Periodically, I will add some black soldier fly larva to the bin. It's a long process; but, eventually everything breaks down.

[@epicgardening]

I respect that!

[@myurbangarden7695]

Do you ever get flies in the house?

[@elisabetk2595]

Black soldier flies indoors??? They go to town when my spouse doesn't sufficiently cover the scraps in our compost-to-planter bins, and while they are the least annoying fly ever, I sure wouldn't want them in my kitchen! Also the larva are quite the horror show if you aren't expecting to see them, lol.

[@Donna_G]

@@myurbangarden7695 Once in a while; but; they don't bother us. If my cat catches them, they are the only insect he will eat.

[@Donna_G]

@@elisabetk2595 I have purchased the soldier fly larva to give to my bearded dragon. In fact, I had them set up to autship ever month.

[@syzygyxv3359]

perf timing for the vid. i just got pallets from my work and going to start my first compost bin. excited to do it

[@naumikaur7459]

The one I have heard a lot and made my family a nd neighbors very nervous leading to delaying starting to compost by a whole year is the worry about rats getting in. I was warned about it even this evening! Would be useful to hear a bit more about that. I have an enclosed plastic square compost bin and not an open bin . I do not put anything cooked. Thanks

[@smas3256]

Reminds me. Tomorrow gotta work on one of my composts. Heat index is 95. Zone 6b. East coast usa. Sept 5.

[@baneverything5580]

To make a new planting mound I make a 3 ft square and 8 inch deep pile of a mix of green grass clippings, rotted forest wood, chopped leaves, leaf mold, and some chopped weeds, stick a handful of rich, active/alive garden soil in the center, then cover with at least 6 gallons of sandy soil from a wash between two hills. Peeing on it a couple of times helps too. Spray with water. Put cardboard around the edges and around the stems of whatever you plant to cover any bare soil.

[@Madmun357]

Composting is one of my favorite things about gardening. I love the smell. I love the texture. Hot. Cold. I do both.

[@sheryltiseth9442]

Been composting for decades. No weeds go in. No meat. Those are my only rules. I’ve never had a lot of leaves, so I cut up brown paper bags for browns. Just used one bin in my new fall raised bed. So whatever I’m doing must be working. I just don’t sweat it. 😊

[@PeterSedesse]

Once you get composting going, the delay doesn't matter because you are getting good compost consistently. you just have to have patience the first time. My big tip... lazy. If you don't mind an extra month or two, you don't have to flip your compost, just get a broomstick with a pointy tip and spike the pile at about 5 places and then wiggle the broomstick around, that is enough to get air to the bottom of your pile

[@Mary-zj9jz]

Thank you I cannot always flip my pile when needed. This will be a big time save and less stress on busy weeks.

[@pansepot1490]

I never never understood the hurry to get the compost ready. Unless you work in a really small space and need to take out the mature compost in order to make room for fresh waste material, just let it be. Time and nature will do the work for you. If for your garden needs more compost than you produce you’ll have to buy some anyway, otherwise, as the OP pointed out, it’s just a matter of waiting longer when you start the cycle.

[@mml0082]

I didn’t know botanical interest was your seeds! I just bought a bunch at my ace hardware 🌱

[@UpstateGardening]

As someone who composts Black Walnut materials, getting it hot and toasty is the only way to go

[@epicgardening]

Makes sense!

[@dancharak6300]

I always seem to have a ton of food scraps and that seems out weigh my ratio causing to be a bit stinky at times. I suppose I can add browns to offset but do you recommend a 2nd pile? Love the channel. Thanks!

[@Taylexwow]

Im not sure I produce enough food scraps for a large compost system like a 3 bay.....Can I supplement material with the grass I mow and shredded paper/cardboard?

[@chiquita_dave]

I didn't realize till this video that y'all were the Botanical Interests people! I LOVE y'alls seeds! They sell them at my local nursery and they are some of my favorites.

[@epicgardening]

We acquired the company late last year!

[@corywilliams9895]

I just dug a 3x3x3 hole and just.. threw everything into it (mulch to start) and every now and then when I went to chop wood, I’d turn it. Then the homeowner decided to sell so my 2 year experiment went belly up. It was rich soil though. Moved to a new place and bought chickens.

[@nadias5192]

Great video you & Mark from Self sufficient me inspired me a few years back to engage in composting as a newbie & it’s been wonderful.

[@DJ-nw2ef]

I don't do gardening (although I did when young), but I happen to have a composting toilet system, and the composting part is dead simple. It's just a hole in the ground that starts out waist-deep, and covers an area about six feet square, and every time I empty the bucket from the toilet the waste material just goes into the hole, with no additional management at all. Much of the decomposition is completely anaerobic, and there are lots of insects, worms, fungi, and other sorts of Mother Nature's decomposers in the mix. I also compost waste paper such as used paper towels and used facial tissues, as well as small amounts of food waste, such as coffee grounds and peelings from fruits and vegetables. I don't really know how it smells, because I don't get that close, but it's not a problem, because the location is such that no one ever goes near it anyway. Only me, and only when I empty the bucket (once a month or less). The interesting thing is that it takes years to fill the hole, because the vast majority of the solid material turns into CO2, water vapor, and other gases, which simply blow away in the wind, leaving only a fraction of the original material as humus. The first hole took seven or eight years to fill, and after three or four years of being left alone, you can't even tell what was there. It's just a flat area with unusually lush plant life. Similarly, I am three or four years into filling a second hole, and it is still only half full. Point is, Mother Nature was handling biological wastes very successfully, in all sorts of situations and conditions, long before human beings started trying to optimize the process. So, if you want to keep it as simple as possible, just throwing stuff in a pile will work well enough. It might take longer, or be non-aerobic, but it will happen, one way or another, all the same.

[@sbffsbrarbrr]

My kind of video. Short, to the point and packed with common sense (useful 😁) information.

[@gringopaul3423]

I live in Mexico, and have an indoor garden under grow lights. Don't ask what I grow. LOL. I've been composting by throwing organic kitchen waste into the strong plastic bags my soil came in. I didn't realize it needed to be turned and dried. DUH. Thanks for showing the correct way to do it.

[@johnlee7085]

We had great success with a double Rubbermaid bin vermiculture when we were in our condo but that was too many moves ago. Now we have a quarter acre of weeds. We’re scraping the top inch where we’re trying to plant, so we have lots of greens. There are enough trees and scrap wood from projects that there are plenty of browns also. Living in 9b means the surface of anything in the sun will be 130+. Hopefully, that makes this fool proof, but then I do feel like the curator of Brown Thumb Acres.

[@honestlynate7922]

My favorite thing is just to make a huge pile of leaves and fresh-cut yard clippings and other trimmings and just leaving it there until it becomes a pile of dirt. I put these all over and I find that the plants downslope benefit. I live on a mountain.

[@fearthehoneybadger]

I just threw whatever I had on hand into a pile. Worked just fine.

[@Reqwinn]

I have a question for the Berkeley method, how do you heat it up to 54-65 C?

[@sapientisessevolo4364]

If you think about it bugs getting to your compost is kinda like hiring employees. The bugs help break down the scraps, helping you get compost, and in return they get food. You just have no choice in getting wealthier in compost Also, to make that tragic fact from the beginning even worse, while 28% of food waste ends up in a land fill, in north america 1/3 of food bought is thrown away (even if it's good to eat). Why bring this up? It means those of us who can should compost as much as practically possible, it'll help you and help prevent climate change from getting worse from the lack of methane released

[@epicgardening]

Couldn't agree more!

[@wildalbalass4867]

Great stuff. A total newbie to composting here. Many thanks.

[@shaktibutterfly]

I have a bought plastic compost container in my small garden, this is very different than the ones you have and much slower to create compost unfortunately.

[@holisticheritagehomestead]

Great points that might encourage people who are reluctant to compost. Hardware cloth can be used certain ways to keep out unwanted pests.

[@MikeSpaa]

Mine keeps turning out too wet and resulting in a very sticky muddy compost. I've started to add more browns (cardboard, branches, wood chips) but I still have to see the effect.

[@epicgardening]

Might be a texture and matting issue

[@deirdreberger1363]

I live in Florida and it rains a lot. I use an enclosed open bottom container called Soil Saver. It stops the compost from getting too wet. The container also has horizontal openings to aid in aeration. It is an efficient home version. In any event, I find the best way to aerate, heat, and minimize too much moisture is using a shredder to shred perforated cardboard. The little holes and the heat keeps the compost from getting too moist. Just don’t use pizza boxes as they have chemicals in it.

[@MikeSpaa]

@@pickleslicesforall thanks, started yesterday with adding grass clippings!

[@MikeSpaa]

@@deirdreberger1363 thanks, I've started adding cardboard only recently and I'll keep doing more. Good to know I'm on the right track!

[@chrisgale5634]

Same problem!

[@elijah4606]

I was turning over my pile somewhat regularly, but I realized I didn't have enough material for hot composting. So I decided that I'll have two piles. One pile will be for all the organic matter I gather up for the whole year, mixed whenever I get around to it. The other will be from the previous year that I'm taking to use in the current year.

[@FrikInCasualMode]

There is also another benefit to having a composter. In my country (Poland), having a compost pile on the property means I pay lower rates for trash removal. I also don't have to pay for leaf removal. And less for paper refuse removal because all compostable bits and pieces land on the compost pile instead of trash bags. It adds up nicely.

[@deborahporter1170]

That is interesting! In Edmonton (Canada) we pay a flat rate for garbage/composting &recycling. I think your system is a great way to go! More people would likely do more composting if it meant saving money.

[@FrikInCasualMode]

@@deborahporter1170 Location is probably the key. I live in relatively small town, where many denizens have big enough backyards or gardens to make composting piles. But we also have neighborhoods with densely placed properties where it's not an option. Those folks pay flat fees and little can be done about it.

[@elliewellie_YouTube]

Well I'm officially out of excuses to not start my compost pile

[@jonathanlee8709]

I have small space and do have the front yard. I did experience making compost but result in many small flying bugs. Then what I do to solve it is to mix the compost with the compost I bought, then put in the bottom in a container, and put the "finished compost" at the top to fill up. I do see it works as its covered and no smell nor bugs, and air is still able to get in. This works in a "lazy way". I do not know how long it takes to decompose this way, but it works as I check after months.

[@sophiemercedes1]

It's been a year since i started composting with red wigglers, inside my apartment (zone 5a) and i LOVE IT. Some weeks i'm a bit too tired to take care of it and i just remind myself to do it later that week. It's getting a little to heavy for me so i need to find a solution for that. Otherwise it has reduce my city compost bin from SO MUCH. I keep some veggies scraps for stocks. The other stuff goes into the worm bins. And the no goes go to the city. It's just amazing and i get casting every 3-4 months. My plants love it.

[@sophiemercedes1]

I also have lots of random plants growing in there and have used some in my garden. :)

[@FishingForLife28]

My compost bin is just a 50 liter tub. I fill it with all of my prunings, coffee grounds, newspaper, dried leaves, green kitchen scraps and such. Dont really think to much about ratios. If its to wet I add browns, if its to dry I add greens. And each year I have just enough compost to refresh my container garden

[@dr.chrisstar3527]

Do you get mold? Is it harmful?

[@FishingForLife28]

@@dr.chrisstar3527 Never, always smells fresh

[@maryellenrose1764]

I have joint issues. I can do a little digging and turning but not much.

[@Nocare89]

I used to play in the woods as a kid and my compost smells like that. I love it so much. The dirt in general took on that smell when spring came around. My compost isn't big enough to get hot. Worms all over it doing their job. It's not a speedy pile but it does break down and I am actually producing more than I am using. It sat through fall and winter and I used some for filler in spring. I turned it a bunch in fall but not winter. My thing is that I simply cannot justify throwing away all the nutrients locked in yard/garden waste away. If I remove that from property i'm going to have to buy more nutrients and pay a premium for it. I only help myself by not depleting the land. Compost what grows. Compost things that come into house from outside. Positive flow. It's really easy. Takes like 5 minutes to flip my compost after I got a little more muscle doing it. Good excuse to go do a healthy activity too.

[@ziggybender9125]

Here's my current method on my journey into composting. I use open bottom plastic bins my State county provides for free. I throw in things that are gonna take a while to break down but worms love eating when they start breaking down like coconut husks, papaya tree's that have been cut down, banana trees that have been cut down, sugar cane that has been cut down, along with a ton of fruit tree leaves, cardboard, and any and all kitchen scraps including meats and fats. I also always add some home made bio char as I layer stuff in as well as watering each layer to get a nice moisture content to start things off, then I cover the bin for the hot phase. During the hot phase once a week I'll plunge a steel rod down the middle of the pile and work it around a bit to create an air funnel in the middle of the pile but not waste my time mixing the pile. Once the hot phase is mostly over the things I added that take a while to break down are still pretty solid, at this stage I start adding in thick layers of grass clippings over a few weeks or months (ignoring what they say about thick layers of grass clippings matting), I generally spread the grass clippings out on the lawn for a few days to dry out before adding and at this stage I always leave the lid off as I find leaving the lid on adds a bunch of predator bugs into the pile in this stage. Red Wiggler worms love the new temperature of the pile and love eating the grass clippings and start to multiply in the pile, keep feeding them grass clippings along with leafy kitchen waste and then comes the next stage. The tough to break down ingredients are now soft and breaking down, I keep adding small layers of dried leaves or dried grass clippings just as a top layer of mulch to keep the worms happy with the temperatures and the worm population that has been multiplying starts going to town on the tough ingredients. It's a slow process but the end result is magnificent mix of compost turned into a worm factory.

[@jayaline]

Epic video on composting. Wish I knew this when I started composting!! Instead I made my mistakes for the first few years before I slowly figured it out !!

[@laurarampersad6070]

We started composting in the later part of last year and was so excited for some good stuff in my garden. Now I'm so depressed with my garden. I have an infection on German cockroachs in the compost that is eating my tomatoes along with moth and butterfly caterpillars. I live in Florida and has not been able to spray for caterpillars due to the rain we've been having. Does anyone have any suggestions to get rid of these pest. I'm thinking just get rid of all my plants. Also I have a lot of Glasy winged sharpshooters . 😢😢

[@jmodified]

We pit compost all our kitchen scraps and fish carcasses using a posthole digger (and deep holes to keep raccoons from digging it up). It breaks down in one to four weeks depending on the temperature. After a year of doing that in a 10x10 foot plot, the soil which started out being quite sandy is really nice. Logs and sticks go at the bottom of raised beds and take a few years to break down.