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Banana peels in bins

12 years ago

Does anyone else find that banana peels tend to last longer than most other foods in a bin?

They seem to last a long time in my bin. Maybe it has to do with the fact we go through two or three bananas a day typically.

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Comments (7)

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equinoxequinox
12 years ago
Just the two inch fiberous tubes that used to be the stems.
morgan_3
12 years ago
I kept the same worm bins going for years and when I finally dumped one entire bin the bottom section was full of banana stem strings as equinoxequinox mentions. These stings had loads of egg capsules intertwined in the stem strings. I no longer use the stems and I blend the peals along with the other kitchen scraps prior to feeding. There is very little residual food after two or three days.
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The word is "Hugelkultur". That's what my mom used to practice, on a small scale. When preparing a vegetable bed, she would strip the area of all the top vegetation - weeds, ferns, shrubs, saplings. She then strips the layer of top soil and put this aside. Next she would dig a trench in the ground - orientated north-south lengthwise. How deep this trench is depends on how difficult the soil is to work on. In this trench, she would throw in all the woody twigs, small trunks, and rotten debris. Next, she would cover this with the weeds/ferns/saplings that she collected from clearing the area. She compacts this down with a "hoe". She uses the top soil she had previously set aside to complete the final layer. The final result is a long mound on which she would grow her spring onions, pak choi, chilli, etc. The mound usually ends up about 20 feet long, about 3-4 feet wide, and approximately 2 feet high. It often ends up not looking all that pretty - it would be crooked, and the height and width would vary. But, boy didn't it produce good crops!! (She would grow sun/heat loving crops n the west side of the mound, and the less sun tolerant types on the east side.). She uses fern leaves to mulch the soil. A heavy tropical down pour would easily wash away the top layer of good soil if left unmulched. I did not know, until recently, that this technique of vegetable growing that my mom used to practise more than 40 years ago actually has a more fancy name "Hugelkultur", done on a much larger scale. Now-a-days, in addition to maintaining a compose bin, I collect the larger chunks of organic waste by setting them aside in a pile through the growing season. In the winter, I trench the beds, throw in all the organic materials, together with any kitchen wastes that may be sitting around, and build up my "Hugelkultur" bed - albeit on a small scale.
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Puravida is correct. The worms eat the micro organisms that work to break down the food. They'll also reprocess the (ahem) waste from other bugs and organisms like springtails, fungas gnats, mold mites, etc. Ants can be a big problem especially in the warmer climates (adding your zone to your profile can help when we answer your questions), but almost always if the bin is sitting on or near the ground. I have a large flow-though bin that sits in my garage on cement blocks on a cement pad and haven't had any ant problems in the bin for the 3 years it's been there. If you can put your bin on somthing like this so it is elevated off the ground and then use that sticky stuff (mostly sold for trees) to paint bands that the ants can't cross, you may have less trouble. Good Luck!
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mr_yan
Original Author
12 years ago
I've been throwing food in whole. Without starting what can be a long and ugly thread; morgan you tend to like small particals when feeding and find they get converted quickest? How about particle size verses freeze/thaw to break down the cellwalls?
PeterK2
12 years ago
You can throw the stems back in if you find one not finished. I only rarely find a stem semi processed. But the thing is with the Inn, things seems to get processed all the way down and for longer as everything you pull out (unlike harvesting bins) is the oldest stuff you have. They do break down eventually.
11otis
12 years ago
I let banana peel sit in a bucket until they get really dark and soft and yuk before feeding them to the worms. I have noticed that some bananas lasted longer than others on my kitchen counter (didn't pay attention dole, chiquita or any other brand but not organic) and I believe this might be a result of spraying.
""How about particle size verses freeze/thaw to break down the cellwalls?"" Not sure which one is faster, interesting question that I've never asked myself. But both will definitely speed up decomposing.
boreal_wormer
12 years ago
Like PeterK2 I just throw any partially rotted stems back into the bin when I find them. Until I began worm composting I didn't know that banana stems were made that way - it's kinda neat.
morgan_3
12 years ago
mr_yan, freeze/thaw works just as well as blending. My only reason for not doing this is we have four freezers for storing garden surplus, game and fish...and not an inch of space to spare.

The freeze/thaw process will dehydrate significantly during the thawing process which may be a good idea for some. I blend my fruit and vegetable scraps using rain water or gravel syphoned aquarium water, and still I have to add additional water to the bins. My bins in the winter lay on a concrete floor in an unheated attached garage. In order to maintain proper heat the four bins sit on a carpet with a 6-ft long, heating strip from Growers Supply in between. This heater is operated with a toggle type timer which allows 15 minute on/off settings for heat control. The only problem with this is maintaining proper hydration which can get tricky if your not careful.

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