Small batch fruit and vegetable compost.

[Tom Tucker 313]

I've got a 5 gallon bucket containing the following:

Banana peels
Egg shells
Feather meal
Manure
Fish scraps
Worm castings
Coffee grounds
Parsley leaves
Rosemary
Tea leaves
Liquid Fulvic Acid
Orange peels
Lemon peels
Pumpkin skin
Bacillus and trichoderma

Should i seal it completely or should i open it periodically to give it oxygen? I plan to compost for 5 months in this bucket. From January to late May when ill use it in my soil mix.

 

[AnimalMother1974]

needs oxygen

 

[dubekoms]

Are there any carbon inputs? I feel like that mix is way to hot and will create an anaerobic mess. You want at least a cubic yard of material of material to get a good compost going.

 

[DonTesla]

Unless you're making a ferment, I would agree.

Although that is plenty enough to start a worm farm also..

 

[ShLUbY]

Unless you're making a ferment, I would agree.

Although that is plenty enough to start a worm farm also..

that's what i was thinking too. worm farm!

small batch composting is hard to do. especially in a bucket which does not breath properly for a proper aerobic compost.

also, i have been drying my materials that i don't have room for in my worm bin like: banana peels, coffee grounds, any green material (tea leaves, cannabis leaves etc.), egg shells (be sure to mortar and pestle them), shredded potato and whatever other skins. pretty much anything

you can find the NPK of these ingredients and then use them as a topdressing for plants rather than having to compost them. then you can store them dried (separately), and use them as necessary. they're just as effective cause they'll break down just as any amendment would right in the soil. (i mix my topdressings with some compost and just topdress that mixture, mulch, and water in).

 

[Tom Tucker 313]

Are there any carbon inputs? I feel like that mix is way to hot and will create an anaerobic mess. You want at least a cubic yard of material of material to get a good compost going.

I considered the worm castings to be carbon

 

[ShLUbY]

I considered the worm castings to be carbon

i don't think it's going to do what say a pile of leaves, or bail of straw, etc would actually do for composting. you're better off using the castings for your grow and not for composting. A small amount is good for inoculating organisms into your pile, but beyond that, i'd say it's not worth it

 

[MustangStudFarm]

Should i seal it completely or should i open it periodically to give it oxygen?

The sealed bucket is for Bokashi, don't get them mixed up. Compost=aerobic & Bokashi=anaerobic... You could bokashi the stuff that does not go in the worm bin or compost like the citrus peels. I have been testing my soil and potassium toxicity is a reoccurring problem with my compost, just a thought...

 

[MustangStudFarm]

Oh, you will def want to bokashi the fish!!! I think that the Japanese developed this method because they do use a lot of fish... Here is a cool article, I am sure that you could make one big bokashi bucket and include fish along other food wastes.

http://theunconventionalfarmer.com/recipes/fish-fertilizer/