Sorry, the subject hasn't come up around here...
Rethinking Composting
- Thread starter TromboneAl
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Our composting is very low tech. I bought a 10 foot roll of 3 ft wide hardware cloth, connected the ends together to form a 3 ft high, 3 ft diameter cylinder and set it on the ground next to the garden shed. We have a ceramic, covered container in the kitchen into which we throw vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and eggshells. It is lined with cornstarch-based little disposable bags. When the container is full, we dump the little bag and its contents in the compost pile. We also put in garden scraps and leaves. Occasionally, I aerate with a pitchfork, but mostly it just sits there. Sometimes we water it as we water the garden. When we want compost, we lift one edge of the wire circle and scrape some out from the bottom of the pile with a hand trowel. It takes minimal effort, never smells and makes enough compost for our square-foot gardening needs.
kyounge1956
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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Is there a garage or outbuilding at your lake house that stays above freezing? I think they would be OK if you moved the bin in there for the winter. Or just keep it in there all the time—they don't mind not freezing.
harley
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When I first joined the site here Nords was talking about vermiposting. I did a lot of research on it. I'm pretty secure in saying they will not survive even a Mid Atlantic winter outside. But supposedly they don't have any odor issues, so a garage will work unless it gets really really cold in there. We decided not to go with the worms because we are traveling so much, we weren't sure we would be able to add enough garbage to keep them alive. I'm considering reconsidering, because we aren't having much luck with our regular composting due to our HOA making us keep our bin in a cool shady area. I've got 2 year old debris in there that hasn't composted yet. I'm a little lazy about turning it, and the idea of getting annelids to do the work for me is attractive.
Ah, I have answers for these issues.
No odors. We actually kept ours in the kitchen for a couple years-- very convenient. Even in a lush tropical environment with all sorts of other critters running around the kitchen, we had no problems.
At the scale of a Can-O-Worms, the population regulates itself pretty well. It takes several months for them to work through a full tray, and as they start to run low on food then the worms begin to die off. If you add more food then the population obligingly explodes to handle the new load. If we were leaving for a month I wouldn't do anything to our bin (it usually has several inches of fruit waste in a tray). If we were going to be away for two months I might toss in a few bananas and a shredded newspaper-- worms consider newsprint to be yummy.
fisherman
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You can buy worms for fishing online and make your own worm farm in a 20 gallon or bigger tote and just keep that in the garage if it does not freeze as that is what we did. Plans are available online. We did this for years and just feed them coffee grounds as they like them and the grounds do not give off an order. Through in the paper filer also if you use them. We had to collect the grounds from a few other people to keep them feed at times. We used a drain on the bottom of the tote to collect the tea for plant watering and would take the rich dirt out as fertilizer as needed for the potted plants. The worms will multiply pretty fast to provide bait.
fisherman
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We use Rid X to treat the septic tank at the lake house. We also used it at our previous house. Our current home is on city sewer. We have never had a tank pumped but we also have not had a home with a tank much over seven years. Does anyone know if treating the tank is worth it for sure?
OP
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TromboneAl
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I asked the guy at the septic tank inspection/cleaning company, and he said that treatments were a waste of money.
fisherman
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I have wondered that but I also wonder about his motives. Time will tell as I am not going in to check the buildup level!
Khan
Gone but not forgotten
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If you want to get into serious knock-down brawls online, start asking about septic tanks and additives.
REWahoo
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My septic guy (inspects/repairs aerobic systems) says treatments are a waste. His comment was that septic systems work because of bacterial action and the human body dumps (his term) plenty of bacteria into the system. No need to add more by buying additives.
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TromboneAl
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But I did find this advice online:
Never add dead chickens, roadkill, raw hamburger, or other poultry or meat to your septic tank.
Never add dead chickens, roadkill, raw hamburger, or other poultry or meat to your septic tank.
Or, fresh farmed fish vs. frozen wild fish.
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/nm-18796-2.html
haha
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I had an extremely slow septic tank and getting it pumped was expensive. I used an additive- can't remember at the moment what it was, and never pumped again for 10 years and the tank righted itself and continued to function well.
IMO, much cheaper than the pumper truck.
And as far as arguing, be my guest, use additives, don't use additives, eat fat, don't eat fat, use Crest, use Colgate, it's all the same to me as long as YOU are happy.
Because happiness is the goal.
Ha
IMO, much cheaper than the pumper truck.
And as far as arguing, be my guest, use additives, don't use additives, eat fat, don't eat fat, use Crest, use Colgate, it's all the same to me as long as YOU are happy.
Because happiness is the goal.
Ha
