Compost Containers
Aug0
There are various kinds of compost containers available in the market ranging from simply hand-made ones to more complex types.
We need to make sure two crucial points while buying a Compost Containers or building a framework for compost heap. Firstly, there should be adequate moisture content in the compost up to the very edges of the container. And importantly, it should be easy to get the compost out of container whenever needed into your garden.
Compost Containers are available depending upon the purpose of its use. Due to their small size some of them are unable to hold enough material for heating and are difficult to use. They can be sometimes very expensive and more attractive as compared to home-made bins. For instance, store bought containers made up of wood or plastic allow proper circulation of air due to presence of slatted sides in the built.
They can be made to a suitable size and accessibility is taken care of by Front panels provided with ventilation holes. While for small gardens, plastic compost bin is the best bet.
Gardeners generally try to build their compost containers using posts, chicken wire and cardboard. These hand-built containers are available in various designs and sizes depending upon the creativity of builder. They do sometimes opt for building Brick compost containers which are more permanent and have good insulation properties.
No doubt that it is the materials you have and the weather prevailing which decided the amount of compost prepared annually but there is a requirement of proper layering technique for getting a good compost.
One of the techniques involves use of straw to separate layers of compost heaps which need to be completely soaked with water beforehand.
Compost Thermometer
Aug0
Have you ever thought of knowing how hot your pile is?
What should be the appropriate temperature? The stainless steel made Comport Thermometer is the solution to your queries. It is used to gauge the core temperature of compost pile. It can measure up to 200̊̊ F and to continuously keep the pile cooking, three temperature zones are available in the compost thermometer.
The basic features of thermometer include 1-3/4″ easy-to-read dial, 20” stem, waterproof, plastic lens. The compost thermometer gives best result as it is highly accurate i.e. +/- 1% full scale and everything is welded with stainless steel.
The main purpose of using Compost Thermometer is to maintain a high temperature in the compost pile in order to speeding up the composting. It is always vital to keep a check on compost so that bacteria work under an optimal temperature favorable for composting. The suitable temperature for these bacteria is in the range of 120 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit and in order to break down food scraps they require fresh oxygen by not being exposed to too much cold air.
It basically avoids unwanted tumbling or turning of compost. It actually helps in saving of time by indicating about the cooling down of compost and whenever fresh air is needed to your compost, you may turn the pile.
Compost Thermometer is hermetically sealed and thus there is no fear of it fogging up even when pile is left outside for a night. It also prevents scalding and it gives indication when the compost is about to finish.
Go, and get one now.
Composting Tips
Aug0
Anyone can do home composting, known to benefit one’s garden and the environment, and it may be expected that composting tips be easily available. Well this self same document has the very purpose of suggesting such tips.
Composting tips need not be about trying to become familiar with elusive science-related concepts. A good idea is to increase the surface area of the material to be composted (i.e. chop stuff up). Commit yourself to retaining moisture by adding some water, but not too much. (When in doubt, use a watering can or just slosh it over by hurling it from an empty tin.)
To most people the most commonly known ingredients in a compost a heap are the likes of vegetable and fruit peelings, tea leaves, weeds, grass cuttings, paper and cardboard, manure, evergreen clippings and foliage, wood and wood shavings. However, the list includes hair, straw and hay, spent hops and even vacuum dust. Remember and spread this.
Furthermore: there are two kinds of compost: green compost and brown compost. Green material can comes in the form of food items, in the form of egg shells, tea bags and coffee grounds as well as those listed in the last paragraph.
Brown compost is born of paper and wood stuff: woody pruning, plant stems, twigs and egg boxes are just a few common examples in addition to wood shavings.
It can be worthwhile keeping a good mix of green and brown compost material, for the purpose of ensuring the right texture.
Composting Worms
Aug1
This article discusses types of worms used as composting worms. Probably the most common variety is that of Red Wigglers (Latin name Eisenia foetida). For it status as a species that thrives in rotting vegetation, compost and manure, it is an epigeic worm. It prefers conditions where other worms cannot survive. It belongs to the lumbicidae family.
Lumbricus rubellus is also well known as a species of composting worm – and like Eisenia foetida it prefers conditions where other worms are unable to survive. Other worms on the market include Lumbricus hortensis, Lumbicus terristris, Eudrilus engeniae, Eisenia andrei, and Perionyx excavatus.
Earthworms in general belong to a class of creatures called “annelids”, with the distinguishing trait of a cylindrical body, segmented both outside and inside. Of the approximately 4500 listed species of worms in the world, about 2500 are earthworm species.
Red worms are sexually mature at eight to ten weeks. They are a hermaphrodite species that mate at any time of year.
When worms do mate, the new worms are born from cocoons; the cocoons turn red when the new worms are about to emerge, and they are about the size of a grape seed. It takes about three weeks for a worm to develop within a cocoon once it is produced.
Although a cocoon can hold as many as ten eggs, in the most common scenario only three or four worms will be seen to emerge from one. West Country Worms is one company that sells composting worms.
Composting Yard Equipment
Aug0
If you are ready to compost, the first thing you require is composting yard equipment. There are different types of equipments available in the market depending upon your requirement. If you are looking for equipment to collect and transport the feedstock materials, we have trash collection vehicles as well as storage containers along with commonly used compactors and containers.
Yard trimmings collection equipments like Mechanical scoops use bucket like system in order to scoop yard trimmings or pincer like systems for grabbing yard trimmings.
Debagging Equipments are available to remove unwanted materials from the feedstock materials. The presence of materials like plastic bags deteriorates the quality of finished compost product. Even though manual picking up of plastic bags is commonly done, but commercial devices like slitter or trammel devices and augers are used for debagging which is usually done at the facility or at curbside.
There are sorting and separation equipments available which can remove non compostable materials and help in eliminating contaminants from the compost feedstock. Conveyors, Screens, Magnetic recovery systems, Air classifiers etc are equipments which separate non compostable elements mechanically on the basis of physical characteristics like size, weight, conductivity and magnetic properties.
In order to optimize several ingredients like moisture content, carbon to nitrogen ratio, pH, size of the particles in the composting feedstock, mixing is performed. It depends upon feedback and odor while considering special mixing. Equipments like Auger Mixers, Barrel Mixers, Drum Mixers and Pug mill Mixers are often used as mixing equipments.
Thus in order to create the best quality compost, industry specified composting equipments are designed and manufactured to meet quality standards.
Composting yard waste
Aug0
The topic of today’s article is composting yard waste. It may not seem like an important thing to do but Mother Nature needs our help to maintain the planet and any little thing that we can do to help is greatly appreciated by her.
She shows her appreciation by blooming the wonderful plants and trees that we all take for granted. If you don’t have the slightest clue as to how to go about composting we are going to offer you some steps that you can implement in your everyday life.
For example, you know the eggs that you make for yourself every morning? The shells from these eggs are a wonderful additive to the compost. You can crush up the eggs and add that into whatever else you have in your compost for the day and use this as a fertilizer for your garden.
That’s right, one man’s waste is another’s gold! Ok, that might not be the right saying to use for this particular subject but you get the picture right? As I said, you can use this for your garden and you will not believe the help that it gives the plants!
You will end-up with much bigger blossoms and if you are growing a vegetable garden, wow! The size of your vegetables will rival any other! So folks, this was just one example but as you can see, any little thing helps. Remember this quote: Man does not own the earth; we just borrow it for a while.
Home Composting
Aug0
The act of “composting” is common among many households, with many choosing to store once-living material in a bin, or simply in a heap, for the purpose of later using the resulting product to further plant growth and / or improve soil conditions.
Some companies sell special “compost bins”, although many will more quickly notice that it is an excellent way to reduce their amounts of household refuse, by up to a quarter, according to some sources. Meanwhile, gardeners and gardening associations everywhere observe that a lot of generated waste plant material is a sign of good garden management.
It may come as no surprise that local councils encourage the act of home composting – as indicated by the existence of green waste collection schemes. However, council policies on organic waste vary considerably over the country. There are those who will simply give it back to the community, while others will sell it or use it in landscaping schemes.
In practice, the composting process requires air to take place. Where the heap is too wet or compacted, less oxygen can set and perform its expected function, giving rise to the act of anaerobic composition, which is slower and less efficient than aerobic composition, the most common form.
In response this, it is accepted as a common practice to “turn the compost” with the use of a rake. It can take between six months and two years for a compost heap to dissolve into the usable product wanted.
Organic Compost
Aug0
With so many talking about the activity of composting on the odd occasion, and with so many doing it or proceeding to it every single day, it seems almost instinctive to expect a discussion on the final product of it all.
This product may be formally named “organic compost”. Organic compost can be divided loosely into two types: green and brown.
Green compost is made by collecting left-over food items, from vegetable and fruit peelings to tea bags to coffee grinds to egg shells (…the list goes on and on) and assimilating it in a single place before “letting nature take its course” (i.e. just allowing the oxygen in the air to decompose the final pile of it all, over a period of several months.
Brown compost comes in the form of paper and other wood properties that has been allowed to decay by wholly natural means in the same way.
Research has made it possible for some non-biodegradable materials to take forms which are “more biodegradable” – polythene is the most well known example of this.
Organic compost is proof that so many materials can avoid ending up in landfill sites – anaerobic decomposition results in greenhouse gases.
A soil additive, like coir or peat, organic compost works as a tilth improver, supplying humus and nutrients to the soil it is made to come into contact with, much to the health of any and all plant and tree life residing in such a body of soil.
Worm Compost
Aug0
Worm compost is perhaps better known as vermicast, worm castings, worm humus or worm manure; it is the output of earthworms’ feeding on dead cell matter. Worm compost, well-known as a widely used horticultural product, is usually obtained from organic waste like raw and cooked vegetables, fruit, teabags, eggshells, coffee grounds and small amounts of cardboard.
However, meat, fish and dairy products should not form part of a body material that is to be made into worm compost.
In its status as a widely used horticultural product, there are many benefits attributed to worm compost: such as how it improves soil conditions and enriches it with micro-organisms by adding enzymes such as phosphatase and cellulose. (Water holding capacity is improved as well.)
This has its benefits for plants – technically, germination, plant growth and crop yield are enhanced; and it enables root growth and structure.
From an economic perspective, it means a lower waste flow to landfill sites and it creates low-skill, practical jobs in local areas. And it’s good for the environment in that it reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
There are a number of vermicomposting bins on sale, which can be made of old plastic containers, wood, Styrofoam or metal containers. However, there are types of wood which are avoided in worm bin construction: some cedars, Yellow cedar and redwood contain resinous oils that may harm worms – although Western Red Cedar has been seen to have excellent longevity in composting conditions.
Worm compost is recommended as fertilizer material.
Organic Gardening Compost
Aug0
Organic Gardening is one of the most environment friendly and healthy ways of gardening. It is beneficial to both your garden’s soil structure and plants.
Organic gardening compost is the integral part of organic gardening and is comprised of twigs, leaves, rotten fruit, manure and other natural wastes which after decay resulted into much needed nutrients for plants that can’t be even provided by best sandy loam soil.
Organic gardening compost is really vital for offsetting the soil by improving the soil structure, its ventilation and the ground water retention capacity. There should be a compost pit for preparing organic compost and you should be prepared with all garden tools to start digging. The size of the hold is matter of concern as it should be large enough to contain natural waste.
Organic gardening compost can also be prepared above the ground but it is avoided most of the times due to presence of microorganisms, insects and the smell which are hazardous for health.
When it comes to turn over the compost or carry the material to plants, composting equipments like a shovel or a pitchfork could prove to be handy. You need to ensure, while deciding about the location of compost pit, that you pay attention to the creatures like earthworms dwelling in soil which break down the organic matters and thus discharges the nutrients needed by the plants.
You may add coffee or tea grounds, eggshells, and cow’s manure to organic gardening compost in order to make ideal ground for gardening. You should keep your compost pile always away from bones, animal fat and trimmings infected with plant diseases as they may pollute the final compost product and may prove to be unfavorable for gardening.
