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Home Composting in a Balcony - Going Green

Discussion in 'Gardening' started by satchitananda, Aug 29, 2015.

  1. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Long ago, I had posted a picture somewhere in this forum - don't remember where - of my first steps in saving water and using the peels of vegetables for my potted plants. That, now that I look back, was my first informal step towards composting where the actual composting took place in the pot itself. Now that I have been composting for a while, I decided to have a separate thread so we could compile all the stuff here in one place. I invite all our friends to please chip in and contribute to this thread.

    Going Green - IL.jpg

    What I did then was collect the overflow water from the RO filter, mix in the blended remains of vegetable peels and use it to water my plants. It worked perfectly well.

    I had read about home composting, but had no idea how it would work in a flat or where to get the required infrastructure from. A visit to a cousin's place provided the answers I needed. Although he has an independent house with plenty of space I decided it could be tried out in my balcony.

    I picked up a khamba from Daily Dump and got started.


    Khamba Home Composting - IL.jpg

    Initially, I also got some 'remix' from the same people, which comprised of cocopeat and a starter culture. The process: Line the pots with paper at the bottom. Start filling the top pot with waste alternating with a layer of remix. When it is full, move it to the middle and move the middle to the top and start filling it up. When that is full, move it back to the middle and transfer the contents of the middle pot after sieving to the bottom pot and leave it there for a month or so to mature. The cocopeat absorbs the excess moisture and one needs to sprinkle just enough water to keep the waste slightly moist while ensuring it does not get too wet. If it gets too wet and smells mix in some dry leaves and some more cocopeat.


    First lot of matured compost.jpg

    This was my first lot of compost after maturing.

    It was amazing to see my daily trash being reduced by 80% after I started composting at home. It is now 6 months since I started composting. Have generated about 15 kilos of compost, most of which has been distributed.

     
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  2. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Soon enough I was not satisfied with the ordinary compost and had earthworms niggling and wiggling in my brain. In April when repotting my plants, I came across one in one of the pots and put it into a bucket of maturing compost in the hope that it would 'go forth, eat and multiply'. But nothing of the sort happened. The poor critter probably got composted in the compost and there was nothing to indicate that it had once roamed the pots of the earth.

    Soon I joined a composting group on a social site and got to learn more about the process. One good soul shared some earthworms with me which I smuggled into my balcony and started a vermicompost bin. I lined the bucket with wet coconut fiber, shredded cardboard and paper. I put the earthworms in, fed them with some bought out vermicompost as well as the compost in which they were growing earlier on. Also added some half done compost as well as vegetable peels after a few days. Earthworms eat only 'satvic' food. No onions, no garlic, no citrus .... They love tomatoes and as I later discovered, thrive on coffee grounds. I keep the bucket covered with a black bin bag punched with holes to allow air to seep in while giving them the darkness they love.

    Vermicompost - IL.jpg

    This was the first lot of vermicompost.


    Vermicompost crawlies - IL.jpg

    After watching some video on Youtube, I recently got a couple of buckets punched with holes. The inner bucket has holes at the bottom and the outer bucket has holes around the bottom below the level of the inner bucket. The earthworms are in the inner bucket. The vermicompost tends to be rather wet and so I got this system set up hoping that any excess moisture would drip out into the outer bucket. Also, this kind of system provides them with more air. I can't say it was very successful in that sense, but the earthworms definitely seem to be a lot healthier and seem to be multiplying. Besides the coffee grounds really help.


    Double bucket compost bin for vermicomposting - IL.jpg

    Sieved vermicompost - IL.jpg

    In the top half you see sieved vermicompost and below is the wet part which is being dried out (a bit tedious, but worth every bit of effort, nonetheless).

    After drying to a reasonably damp state, I mix the ordinary compost and vermicompost and allow it to mature it in a leave-it bin.


    Mixed compost and vermicompost in keep it bin - IL.jpg



     
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  3. MalStrom

    MalStrom IL Hall of Fame

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    This is amazing! Thanks for posting.
    I am going to forward this to my mom in Chennai. She has been wanting to get into composting for a long time and this will be perfect!
     
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  4. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Here are the happy fat fellas in the new bin.

    Happy earthworms - IL.jpg



     
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  5. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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  6. soumya234

    soumya234 Platinum IL'ite

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    Oh Satchi I used to just dump kitchen waste in a covered bin and after a week dump it in garden and cover it with a thin layer of soil. Is that efficient?

    I love what earthworms do to the soil but their wiggling makes me :shaking:. Thank you for sharing the steps.
     
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  7. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Soumya, never thought there would be a day when I'd call earthworms 'babies' and check them out everyday and squeal out in glee at the sight of those fat, happy, wriggly creatures. :rotfl

    As for what you are doing, I keep wondering about the length of time compost needs to be matured before use. Logically speaking, I don't see any reason why what you are doing is not right - isn't that what normally happens in Nature? However, I also read that it is a good practice to allow compost to mature before use. Anyway, whatever works is fine.
     
  8. vjbunny

    vjbunny IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi Satchi
    Very good post just like Soumya said I feel a bit yucky about earthworm as I get my hands dirtier may be I may grow to tolerate n will start on Vermicompost...
    the liqyid that oozes from the vermicompost u can use for plants and all ur plants will love it use it in the proportion of 1 bisleri bottle cap ful to 1 litre water n spray on the plants n few days u will see magic and to the excess u can add jaggery and store in fridge for a week
    Good luck dear very happy to see u progressing
     
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  9. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    VJ, I handle them with gloves. Unfortunately, though I thought the liquid would ooze out, it does not in my system. Probably not enough for that.
     
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  10. yellowmango

    yellowmango IL Hall of Fame

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    Satchi...the earthworms look very happy.
     
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