Indoor McDee goes Organic

[McDee]

@WildBill how dry should i let my messed up compost get before I start again with it? I can't dump it out to dry, so I have been adding shredded paper & left it open to dry out. I have been composting in a lowes bucket, but it too must not be working lol. It's been like 2 weeks, and it doesn't put off any heat. I don't add water because most is fruits & vegetables and it's kinda wet. I shake/mix it around almost everyday, but still don't think I'm doing it right. Here are a few pics of my compost bin.

Here is the right side which is dryer.

Here it is after I spin it.

If you zoom in you can see all the bugs is was talking about. They used to be very active, now most appear to be dead with little slight movement. I think they ate all the food now they are starving to death. Plus fall is approaching and temps have been cold at night. Here is the left side more material in it taking longer to dry.

Trying to get this figured out before winter if I can.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I top dress through flowering.. after harvest, dump my pots complete with most roots and resident worms back into a tote and reamend it a bit... Open another tote thats had the same treatment and fill my pots and go again.. periodically add a bag of ffof and some rice hulls to the totes in storage just because and feed the worms some scraps occasionally.. and thats about it! Sounds like most of us are doing something similar..

 

[WildBill]

It's kinda difficult for me to tell you what to do with that just through pictures. I can't feel or smell. It looks like you can bust it up.
If you can bust it up and get it into finer particles, do so. If it's too moist after you bust it up, add some dry material.
I just realized yours is one of those tumblers. Did you wanna keep it I would just pull it all out bit up and then I would try to make more compost and add all that together and then put it in your tumbler. You have to protect that thing from getting rain into it.

If you can't pull it out try bus reaching in and busting it up as best as you can. I add more dry material to it for sure. That's mainly to soak it up the moisture level. Has to be done before you can go anywhere.

You can't just add fruits and vegetables. you have to add carbon material along with any fruits or vegetables.

 

[McDee]

It's kinda difficult for me to tell you what to do with that just through pictures. I can't feel or smell. It looks like you can bust it up.
If you can bust it up and get it into finer particles, do so. If it's too moist after you bust it up, add some dry material.
I just realized yours is one of those tumblers. Did you wanna keep it I would just pull it all out bit up and then I would try to make more compost and add all that together and then put it in your tumbler. You have to protect that thing from getting rain into it.

If you can't pull it out try bus reaching in and busting it up as best as you can. I add more dry material to it for sure. That's mainly to soak it up the moisture level. Has to be done before you can go anywhere.

You can't just add fruits and vegetables. you have to add carbon material along with any fruits or vegetables.

Yeah, lol I know just wanted to show the worms, and how many there were. I will see if I can break it up more I was going to do that, but the gardening shovel was all rusty that was there. I gotta find something else. I put cardboard, bread, pasta, egg shells, plant trimmings, sticks, dry amendments, leaves. I have more fruit scraps than anything, so it's made of a lot of that. I put everything I come across that's compostable. I now have a trap on my composter so it doesn't get water in it.

 

[hecno]

@WildBill 2 mains things I do - First and important , keep a eye on moisture content , and secondly , turn the soil once a month , I also agree with you that biologically activity is also very important . @McDee stick with it mate , it will be worth your while and you are going good so far , also don't worry about mistakes , you have to make to learn what not to do .

 

[WildBill]

@WildBill 2 mains things I do - First and important , keep a eye on moisture content , and secondly , turn the soil once a month , I also agree with you that biologically activity is also very important . @McDee stick with it mate , it will be worth your while and you are going good so far , also don't worry about mistakes , you have to make to learn what not to do .

Yup!
In either method, control of moisture is the absolute key.

 

[McDee]

Yup!
In either method, control of moisture is the absolute key.

I thought my bin was ok just to sit out in the open. Only a few tiny slits on the ends. I never thought that much water would get in hahaha.

 

[McDee]

@WildBill 2 mains things I do - First and important , keep a eye on moisture content , and secondly , turn the soil once a month , I also agree with you that biologically activity is also very important . @McDee stick with it mate , it will be worth your while and you are going good so far , also don't worry about mistakes , you have to make to learn what not to do .

I'll get it im not deterred! I really do learn more from failure than success. That's why it's no biggie to fail as much as I do lol. Always learn, or at least trying to. Just need it dry so I can start again. Nothing to it, but to do it!