Indoor composting: save money and the environment – Part 2
Part 2: The Key Ingredient
Every time I mention to people that we started an indoor composting bin, their first reaction is always: “Really? Doesn’t it smell?”. I guess if your idea of composting is to let your trash bags sit around, then of course it would! But this is different: vermicomposting using red wiggler worms is a much faster process, you only compost certain materials (no meat or dairy), and you bury your food scraps under a layer of paper bedding that filters out any smells.
If you followed the last post and already started your bin, then you’re almost good to go! It’s best if you let the bin sit for a week, or at least a few days. Worms don’t eat fresh food (have you ever heard of someone’s garden being attacked by earthworms?), so the scraps need to start breaking down before they’ll be eaten.
Whether you ordered them online or picked them up in person, grab your pound of worms and bury them near the food scraps. Worms like to stick to what is familiar to them, so they might either huddle around the food and soil they were transported in, or they might feel out of place in the new bin and try to look for their old home. In the rare case that they might try to climb out, Sandi [wirfarm@yahoo.com] instructed us to put our bin near a nightlight for the first 2-3 days while they’re adjusting. Worms hate light, so they’ll stay in the bin. We put ours below the microwave since that has a nightlight, and we had no issues. Also, burying them near the food scraps will make it easier for them to find the food when they’re still adjusting to their new home.
We’ve had our worms for a few weeks now and we’re starting to get a feel for the right amount of food, air, and moisture that’s needed. We set the lid askew in order to have some air circulation, but that caused the bedding to dry out quickly and after a few days, the worms were hanging around the bottom to stay moist. We added two cups of water to the bin and we’ll be drilling holes in the container this weekend so that it doesn’t lose moisture as quickly.
One of my coworkers mentioned that he tried vermicomposting once but he used a wooden container. The wood absorbed so much moisture from the bedding that it dried out and his worms died. So be sure to keep the mixture wet enough for them to move around and eat. It’s also bad for there to be puddles of water at the bottom of the bin. If that happens, put in some more bedding to soak it up. Some people like to put drainage holes at the bottom of their bins and then set them on a tray to catch the liquid, but this isn’t necessary if you maintain the water content of the mix.
They say that red wigglers can eat up to their weight in food each day, they can live up to a year, and a mature worm can produce 2 to 7 offspring per month. Their population will adjust to the surface area of your bin and their numbers will increase or decrease depending on the amount of food available. Since we eat a fair bit of fruits and veggies, we plan to eventually start a second bin and transfer a handful of worms into it. Sandi gave us a standard range of how much food to put in the bin, but it really depends on how fast they’re eating at the time and how many worms are in there. We checked the bin after 5 days and we were surprised to find that two-thirds of our food scraps were already gone, except for the paper scraps. The coffee filter, tea bag, and paper towels were bunched up and too thick to get at, so we grabbed some scissors and cut those into smaller pieces.
By April or May, we should have a bin full of nutrient-rich compost to mix in with our soil and by then it will be time to start over and / or start our second bin. Since worms don’t like light, you can harvest your compost by putting your bin near a light and then picking off the top layer of soil every 5-10 minutes. They’ll keep digging down to the bottom of the bin to avoid the light. The bins we have are roughly the same size as a bag of soil, so we’ll be making about one bag’s worth of compost every 3-4 months.
Do a search for potting soil and you’ll find it ranges from $5 for your basic stuff (which doesn’t give the best results) to $15 for an organic blend based on worm castings. Our startup cost for a pound of worms, 30 minute training session, and two containers was $32. By mid- to late-summer, we will have generated enough compost to break even and after that we’ll have a free supply to use, give away, or even sell. The amount of trash we throw out has dropped significantly as well, which gives us a warm fuzzy feeling that we’re doing our part to help the environment.
So if you can handle the thought of keeping some critters in your home, composting is a wonderful thing you can do to help the environment, feed your plants, and save some cash!
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When James isn’t working to save the environment, he is producing high-energy dance music that you can hear on iTunes or learn more at www.jamesroymusic.com.
Photo credit: James Roy.
Hi James – I’m so interested to hear the results of your composting adventures when the black gold is finished cooking. I’m not really a fan of creepy crawlies, so we just compost without worms.
Two composting tips that have really helped us speed up the decomposition process:
1. Put those hard to break down items (citrus peels, avocado peels, broccoli stems) in the food processor and give them a good whirl before you throw them in the compost bin. You’ve just sped up the composting process 100x.
2. Shredded paper! We don’t have a yard – we just have a patio container garden. Consequently, we don’t have any yard waste to throw in the compost for the “brown” materials. Shredded paper is the trick. Just don’t use glossy paper and you’re all set. If you have a diamond cut shredder that chops the paper into tiny little bits, it composts even faster than the long strips.
Happy composting!
Hi Serena!
Ah, I was wondering how long it would take for the avocado peels to break down, thanks for the tip! We got a food processor in December but I’ve only been using it to shred cheese so far. Now it has another use 🙂
As for the paper, you got it – that’s exactly what we used for the bedding. Having a strong diamond-cut shredder makes the process go so quickly! From now on, only compost-friendly paper goes into our shredder bin. We set glossy / plastic-coated paper aside to be shredded directly into the trash.
I don’t want to come across as being totally snobby, but I have a separate food processor for the composting stuff. But only because I got one for a Christmas gift even though I already had one. I never would have done it on my own. But it’s actually pretty handy because then I don’t have to worry about dulling the blade too quickly (if that’s even possible . . . I don’t know.)
Hey Serena – that makes sense, it lets you keep your main blade clean & sharp for food. We don’t have that luxury, so we’ll probably chop up the peels while they’re still fresh and avoid anything too stiff. Another alternative is to use a pair of kitchen shears. A bit more time consuming, but easier to clean and sharpen. As a last resort, we can always harvest the good stuff from the bin and leave what’s left to start the next bin.
James, another option is to use the bigger pieces of compost that haven’t broken down as mulch. But if you’re doing container gardening, that might not be an option.
As far as mulching, one tip I got from a gardening class is that nut hulls make excellent (and attractive) mulch for containers. Just be sure the nuts aren’t salted and you’re in business.