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Soil, Compost & Mulch

Does size matter?

15 years ago

Hello there!

I'm a relative newbie when it comes to composting. Our city does collect yard waste and any plant material once a week but I wanted to have some more readily available and to also know exactly what is in it (btw - the city is genius - we pay to have them collect our goodies and then we pay to buy it finished and bagged). My dh built me this compost bin. It works well for us as we live in a suburban area and we don't have a lot of yard space. It also keeps out mice and other such critters that we and our neighbors don't exactly want around ;)

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Here's a pic of some soon to be compost after about a month this spring

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Anyway - I add to it daily mostly with veggie scraps and UCG. I also turn it once or twice a week. It seems to be breaking down nicely - however it never seems to get "hot" There are lots of worms and pill bugs and centipedes but the temps seem relatively low. Is this just not big enough to create the amount of heat needed to correctly compost? I'm thinking about heating so seeds don't germinate later on when I use it as a top dressing. Thanks for your input!

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Comments (6)

fertilizersalesman
15 years ago
Larger is better for maintaining heat. I think a general rule of thumb is that you need at least a cubic yard.
robertz6
15 years ago
My seven mesh bins are either 4' in diameter and 18" or 24" high; or 4' by 8' and 18" or 24" high. The core temp can reach 160F in the core with the right mixture. These sizes are easier to turn, and I like them better than the often-quoted 3'x3'x3'.
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louisianagal
15 years ago
Yes I think you are right it is not big enough to make alot of heat. but so what? it is making compost and very quickly it seems. if you are mostly using veg scraps and UCGs you will not have to worry much about weed seeds. if you are weeding the garden and the weeds have gone to seed then you will have to worry about that. perhaps just discard those items. but even if you toss in a weed and it has not gone to seed yet it will be ok. seems your system is working well.
laurie
tannabanana
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for your replies. Louisianagal - you're right I am getting compost at a reasonable speed. I'll just make sure not to add any weeds with seeds or even spent perennial seed heads - I'll let the city take care of them. In the future, if we can get some acreage, I'll look forward to building a large three bin system and compost everything - it really is a lot of fun!
Kimmsr
15 years ago
Volume does make a large difference and is needed to generate high temperatures. Current research has shown that high temperatures does not necessarily kill "weed" seeds, instead it is the length of time they are composted that kills them.
fertilizersalesman
15 years ago
robertz6,

Certainly small amounts can be composted, but with larger volumes there is more 'core'

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