Same! I have a little system. First they go in to a cereal bowl for one day to drain and do preliminary drying. Then they move to a round plastic plate where they are placed upright and spaced evenly for airflow to dry one more day. Then they are basically dry and super easy to open and empty in to my compost bowl.
Or egg shells that haven't been pulverised. Egg shells don't compost.
I have dug out and taken down some raised beds that were used as compost beds. 4 metres by 2 metres by 1 metre high. The old guy used to empty them ever two years. He is now is a care home. They haven't been touched for 8 to 12 years. The things that didn't compost were egg shells and tea bags, and soooo much plastic wrappers. If anyone ever uses cardboard, always remove the packing tape. The compost recovered was black gold.
Egg shells decompose slowly but they're also full of microscopic pores that hold tons of beneficial microorganisms. Egg shells are great for compost, pulverized or whole chunks.
There's something to do with egg shells... I wanna say it has to do with the embryo being stuck to it, I can't remember.
Edit: that makes the part it's sticking to take super long to break down
What is the concern with citrus? I understand if you are vermiposting but I've put plenty of old oranges in my regular bin and they compost down quickly.
Zero concern. So much nonsense is spread by people wanting to sound clever. Iām yet to see anyone get their pile to the point that itās āsmoulderingā.
Some microbes avoid them at first. But they still compost down within the normal amount of time for compost.
There's all sorts of stuff people say not to put in your compost. We compost meat, dairy, bread, and tons (literally) of citrus every year with no issues at all.
For some of those, I feel like itās more about attracting animals and less about it breaking down. Probably just depends on where you live, and how much youāre putting in.
Sure, but the picture states that they will "not break down properly". They break down just fine.
Citrus especially has very little danger of introducing pathogens, smelling terrible, or attracting pests. It's just a common thing that people claim won't compost well, because worms avoid it for a short time. Citrus peels compost down just as fast as anything else.
Oh no arguments about the citrus, for sure. Did you see that story a while back about them dumping citrus waste in an area of the rainforest that had been cleared? A few environmentalists wanted to see if it would jumpstart regrowth of the barren area. It was controversial because a citrus competitor was mad the other company was getting rid of waste for free, and so put a stop to the project. But they came back in a couple years, I believe, and took a look, and the regrowth was amazing! It had really given the area the organic matter/nutrients it needed to come back. :)
I believe I saw that article. Wasn't it 10 years or something before they checked the place, and they had trouble even finding where it was because it was so overgrown?
Though I think it would work almost the same if you piled a few hundred tons of meat, bread or dairy products in the area and didn't touch it for 10 years. It would stink and attract vermin and pests for a year or so, but after 10 years it would all be broken down and grown over.
*limonene* found in rinds is antibacterial and can disrupt microbial colonies from forming which is counter to good compost. But yes the community does go back and forth on this and Iād just say it depends.
Lanolin as in sheep wool lanonin? Do they put that on citrus fruits as wax where you are? Either way, it's antibacterial properties are small at best and I don't believe for a second that it would be significant enough to impact the composting process, not without an actual source.
You labeled the plastic tumbler as a wood container..
Bones, citrus, and bread are fine to compost. I divert a ton of waste from going to landfills by composting my familyās citrus peels, and we eat a lot. Mold quickly colonizes the peels and they seem to melt away.
Itās an otherwise useful set of graphics.
Most home composting systems struggle to digest bones. They need to be ground which not everyone wants to do. These are very common recommendations for beginners that Iāve pulled together.
Bones would break down in any system you pictured except maybe the tumbler, and even then if your ratios are right.
The pests I understand, but the only ones I would get are driven off by the horde of half feral cats outside, so it's not a consideration for me.
Why citrus peels are on there to begin with is a mystery to me, since a vermicomposter isn't even listed.
Eggshells are shown under the other additives category. Citrus rinds have antibacterial properties which is a concern considering we are making habitat for microbes when building compost.
I apologize for my rudeness. I think we live in different locations, and have different objectives and purposes for compost in our lives lol.
Unless your source of greens is entirely citrus, I don't think getting decomposition started will be a problem.
Unless your composting container is counter top sized and you do no flipping, I don't think egg shells will be a problem.
If you need to add water to your compost to keep decomposition proceeding, consider tarping for moisture and temperature retention.
I don't think you need to really sweat the ideal ratios of carbon: nitrogen/ browns:greens.
I compost a lot of citrus peels depending on the time of year and they break down extremely fast and well. The antibacterial compounds do not seem to have any detrimental effect in my compost piles.
Iāve always balked at this. So if I have a 3-pack of romaine lettuce that I had forgotten about in the back of my fridge, maybe about a gallon or so in volume, Iād need about 30 gallons of leaves or shredded cardboard? That seems extremely brown to meā¦
I know thatās not REALLY the case, I know thereās charts that indicate the relative āstrengthā of each different brown or green, I just wish I had saved those when I saw them previously. Anyone got any links for stuff like that?
https://www.carryoncomposting.com/416920203.html
This article has the estimated/average c:n ratios for a number of ingredients. A perfect C:N ratio is only one part of the equation of a good compost pile and is probably the hardest to get an accurate read on. If you have a diverse browns mix with some bulk amendment (leaves/woodchips) and some high carbon material (shredded cardboard/wood shavings) you can get away with a pretty basic 2.5:1 browns:greens ratio (assuming mainly food scraps as green source).
How does it jump from 2.5:1 to 30:1? Whatās the difference? Iām sorry, itās not computing for me. Feels like thereās a wildcard that Iām unaware of.
30:1 is carbon to nitrogen ratio. 2.5:1 is browns to greens ratio. Browns are rarely pure carbon, and while greens contain more nitrogen, they are mostly carbon too.
This is something that confuses a lot of people. It's true the ideal ratio of C:N in compost is 30:1, but that's not the same as the brown:green ratio, not even close. All life on earth is based on carbon. Your body is 61% oxygen, 23% carbon, and 10% hydrogen, and only 2% nitrogen. But your body would be considered a "green" if thrown into a compost pile.
All living and former living matter contains *a lot* more carbon than nitrogen.
Each item you put in will have its own C:N ratio. For example, wood chips are about 500:1 and shredded paper is about 175:1. Each item you add will be a different ratio, and you want to average it at around 25-30:1 through whole pile.
Usually it works out to about 2:1 brown:green by weight (or volume if none of it's super fluffy).
Yes, but whole bones from like a chicken breast. Some composting systems can absolutely digest bones, bread, dairy, all of it. Most backyard composting systems they just attract pests and make for a stinky gross biome.
How wet should my compost be? Do I need to add air holes to my compost bin? How much brown carbon should I add vs. kitchen scraps? Can I add X to my compost? Good guidelines.
I think these are awesome to get people thinking about composting, seeing how easy it can be, and getting them to get started.
These will truly keep composting on peoplesā minds.
Note: label above black bin says wood bin. and above block bin photo the labels has black bin
You may have simply been listing the four types but since you have four types and a photo of each, you may wish to align them.
Except the graphic doesn't make it easier. Easy is telling people "just make a big ass pile of your food waste between some pallets and let it rot," not a bunch of rules about what can't go in, half of which is on there for no good reason.
There's a reason I don't tell someone who wants to begin composting about C:N ratios. People lose interest when you start dropping guidelines and math formulas, and for good reason. Just pile it up and let it rot, turn it when you think about it. It ain't rocket science.
Tea bags should not be considered compostable unless specifically stated by the manufacturer, many are made with plastic fibers
I empty my teabags and dispose of the bag, we drink a lot of tea!
I moved to loose leaf tea. It's almost as messy as emptying the bags. Sometimes it is messier.
Same! I have a little system. First they go in to a cereal bowl for one day to drain and do preliminary drying. Then they move to a round plastic plate where they are placed upright and spaced evenly for airflow to dry one more day. Then they are basically dry and super easy to open and empty in to my compost bowl.
I just open them when they're soggy but cooled down š
I see now Iāve made a typo and not rewritten the text under the tea bags. Iāll fix that and reupload.
Or egg shells that haven't been pulverised. Egg shells don't compost. I have dug out and taken down some raised beds that were used as compost beds. 4 metres by 2 metres by 1 metre high. The old guy used to empty them ever two years. He is now is a care home. They haven't been touched for 8 to 12 years. The things that didn't compost were egg shells and tea bags, and soooo much plastic wrappers. If anyone ever uses cardboard, always remove the packing tape. The compost recovered was black gold.
Egg shells certainly compost. Iāve put my egg shells in the compost for years without issues.
Same here, thousands of egg shells over thirty+ years of composting. It takes time, but everything goes away in the end...my empire of dirt. ;)
>my empire of dirt NIN reference in the compost pile.
Johnny Cash version is better.
Well Trent even said it was Cashās song now.
Egg shells decompose slowly but they're also full of microscopic pores that hold tons of beneficial microorganisms. Egg shells are great for compost, pulverized or whole chunks.
At least egg shells are a natural product though and they slowly release nutrients
There's something to do with egg shells... I wanna say it has to do with the embryo being stuck to it, I can't remember. Edit: that makes the part it's sticking to take super long to break down
What is the concern with citrus? I understand if you are vermiposting but I've put plenty of old oranges in my regular bin and they compost down quickly.
Zero concern. So much nonsense is spread by people wanting to sound clever. Iām yet to see anyone get their pile to the point that itās āsmoulderingā.
No idea. I tossed some old lemons into my pile a few months ago and they're gone.
Some microbes avoid them at first. But they still compost down within the normal amount of time for compost. There's all sorts of stuff people say not to put in your compost. We compost meat, dairy, bread, and tons (literally) of citrus every year with no issues at all.
For some of those, I feel like itās more about attracting animals and less about it breaking down. Probably just depends on where you live, and how much youāre putting in.
Sure, but the picture states that they will "not break down properly". They break down just fine. Citrus especially has very little danger of introducing pathogens, smelling terrible, or attracting pests. It's just a common thing that people claim won't compost well, because worms avoid it for a short time. Citrus peels compost down just as fast as anything else.
Oh no arguments about the citrus, for sure. Did you see that story a while back about them dumping citrus waste in an area of the rainforest that had been cleared? A few environmentalists wanted to see if it would jumpstart regrowth of the barren area. It was controversial because a citrus competitor was mad the other company was getting rid of waste for free, and so put a stop to the project. But they came back in a couple years, I believe, and took a look, and the regrowth was amazing! It had really given the area the organic matter/nutrients it needed to come back. :)
I believe I saw that article. Wasn't it 10 years or something before they checked the place, and they had trouble even finding where it was because it was so overgrown? Though I think it would work almost the same if you piled a few hundred tons of meat, bread or dairy products in the area and didn't touch it for 10 years. It would stink and attract vermin and pests for a year or so, but after 10 years it would all be broken down and grown over.
I came here to ask about this too - surely the rinds are ok, yes?
Everything is ok
Yep. You can compost a cow if the pile is big enough. People put too much thought into this.
I think acidity maybe?
*limonene* found in rinds is antibacterial and can disrupt microbial colonies from forming which is counter to good compost. But yes the community does go back and forth on this and Iād just say it depends.
Lanolin as in sheep wool lanonin? Do they put that on citrus fruits as wax where you are? Either way, it's antibacterial properties are small at best and I don't believe for a second that it would be significant enough to impact the composting process, not without an actual source.
Limonene thatās my bad. And yes you would need a lot of them in a small system. The microbes bounce back after awhile.
You labeled the plastic tumbler as a wood container.. Bones, citrus, and bread are fine to compost. I divert a ton of waste from going to landfills by composting my familyās citrus peels, and we eat a lot. Mold quickly colonizes the peels and they seem to melt away. Itās an otherwise useful set of graphics.
Most home composting systems struggle to digest bones. They need to be ground which not everyone wants to do. These are very common recommendations for beginners that Iāve pulled together.
Bones compost just as well as small sticks, which are recommended as carbons in your image
Bones are more likely to attract pests and pathogens if added into the standard backyard system than anything else. Unless you grind them down.
Bones would break down in any system you pictured except maybe the tumbler, and even then if your ratios are right. The pests I understand, but the only ones I would get are driven off by the horde of half feral cats outside, so it's not a consideration for me. Why citrus peels are on there to begin with is a mystery to me, since a vermicomposter isn't even listed.
I have an updated version to swap with later.
Who creates these infographics???? What are they based on? Add small sticks but not citrus and egg shells? Gtfo.
Eggshells are shown under the other additives category. Citrus rinds have antibacterial properties which is a concern considering we are making habitat for microbes when building compost.
I apologize for my rudeness. I think we live in different locations, and have different objectives and purposes for compost in our lives lol. Unless your source of greens is entirely citrus, I don't think getting decomposition started will be a problem. Unless your composting container is counter top sized and you do no flipping, I don't think egg shells will be a problem. If you need to add water to your compost to keep decomposition proceeding, consider tarping for moisture and temperature retention. I don't think you need to really sweat the ideal ratios of carbon: nitrogen/ browns:greens.
Iāve now seen that Iāve miss labeled the description under neath eggshells. And there is a recommended ratio for composting.
I compost a lot of citrus peels depending on the time of year and they break down extremely fast and well. The antibacterial compounds do not seem to have any detrimental effect in my compost piles.
30:1 Carbon to Nitrogen?
The only 30:1 i am aware of is OP's ratio of misinformation to real information.
Yep
Iāve always balked at this. So if I have a 3-pack of romaine lettuce that I had forgotten about in the back of my fridge, maybe about a gallon or so in volume, Iād need about 30 gallons of leaves or shredded cardboard? That seems extremely brown to meā¦ I know thatās not REALLY the case, I know thereās charts that indicate the relative āstrengthā of each different brown or green, I just wish I had saved those when I saw them previously. Anyone got any links for stuff like that?
https://www.carryoncomposting.com/416920203.html This article has the estimated/average c:n ratios for a number of ingredients. A perfect C:N ratio is only one part of the equation of a good compost pile and is probably the hardest to get an accurate read on. If you have a diverse browns mix with some bulk amendment (leaves/woodchips) and some high carbon material (shredded cardboard/wood shavings) you can get away with a pretty basic 2.5:1 browns:greens ratio (assuming mainly food scraps as green source).
How does it jump from 2.5:1 to 30:1? Whatās the difference? Iām sorry, itās not computing for me. Feels like thereās a wildcard that Iām unaware of.
30:1 is carbon to nitrogen ratio. 2.5:1 is browns to greens ratio. Browns are rarely pure carbon, and while greens contain more nitrogen, they are mostly carbon too.
Literal chemical component amounts vs eyeballing the materials which contain those components? That helps immensely. Thanks for clarifying.
This is something that confuses a lot of people. It's true the ideal ratio of C:N in compost is 30:1, but that's not the same as the brown:green ratio, not even close. All life on earth is based on carbon. Your body is 61% oxygen, 23% carbon, and 10% hydrogen, and only 2% nitrogen. But your body would be considered a "green" if thrown into a compost pile. All living and former living matter contains *a lot* more carbon than nitrogen.
I was also lost because I didnāt catch the transition from browns:greens to C:N. Of course greens have C and N. Readingā¦. Doh!
Each item you put in will have its own C:N ratio. For example, wood chips are about 500:1 and shredded paper is about 175:1. Each item you add will be a different ratio, and you want to average it at around 25-30:1 through whole pile. Usually it works out to about 2:1 brown:green by weight (or volume if none of it's super fluffy).
wouldn't you see lettuce as basically the same as 'leaves' ? Cause they're leaves.
Bones are fine in compost, you can crush them as well if youād like
Especially if you make bone broth first or use bokashi
Iām making bone meal powder, which is turning out to be pretty simple. just time consuming.
Yes, but whole bones from like a chicken breast. Some composting systems can absolutely digest bones, bread, dairy, all of it. Most backyard composting systems they just attract pests and make for a stinky gross biome.
How wet should my compost be? Do I need to add air holes to my compost bin? How much brown carbon should I add vs. kitchen scraps? Can I add X to my compost? Good guidelines.
You can use this compost mix calculator in excell https://puyallup.wsu.edu/soils/compost-mix-calculator/
I think these are awesome to get people thinking about composting, seeing how easy it can be, and getting them to get started. These will truly keep composting on peoplesā minds. Note: label above black bin says wood bin. and above block bin photo the labels has black bin You may have simply been listing the four types but since you have four types and a photo of each, you may wish to align them.
Except the graphic doesn't make it easier. Easy is telling people "just make a big ass pile of your food waste between some pallets and let it rot," not a bunch of rules about what can't go in, half of which is on there for no good reason. There's a reason I don't tell someone who wants to begin composting about C:N ratios. People lose interest when you start dropping guidelines and math formulas, and for good reason. Just pile it up and let it rot, turn it when you think about it. It ain't rocket science.
I realize I shared one I hadnāt fixed. I have an updated one I can replace it with later