Mr. Boxy
|
There are two types of material that can be composted:
"Green" high nitrogen materials: Lawn clippings, recently picked weeds, vegetable and fruit scraps, and tea bags.
"Brown" high carbon materials: Fall leaves, coffee grounds, sawdust, wood scraps, small twigs, shredded newspaper, and cardboard. Tree limbs will compost, but this can take a very long time. Manure from herbivores can also be added.
Mixing equal parts brown and green is a good place to start, but you may have to vary it depending on your particular mix. You may hear of ratios of 30:1 brown to green: this is the actual amount of carbon to nitrogen in the mix. Since all organic matter contains carbon, it takes a lot more green to balance out the brown in this ratio.
The compost should be turned every week or two to ensure plenty of air is reaching the bacteria. If your compost smells vinegary, there isn't enough oxygen, forcing the bacteria into anaerobic production. There are special compost drums on the market that let you rotate the whole batch with a couple turns of a hand crank, or you can turn it over manually with a shovel.
 Posted 5398 day ago
|