| Composting Ingredients |
| This fuller listing of ingredients for your compost pile is more comprehensive than the primary list in the previous Compost Snacks post. However, it is still not wholly definitive. It all comes down to carbons and nitrogens. Once you start to look upon your compost heap as a living, breathing entity and not so much a pile of dirty dirt, you will begin to appreciate the actual value of your stack. The microbes in the compost pile are split into two main camps, Bacteria Camp and Fungi Camp, which work cohesively together. Still, they concentrate very specifically on the two areas. The Bacteria Camp comprises 80-90% of your compost and consumes and eats the nitrogens. At the same time, the Fungi Camp swallows the carbons and makes up the remaining %. The fungi camp also contains yeasts and moulds. Below is a more comprehensive listing of ingredients you can safely add to your compost pile. Many composters have strict rules regarding what can and cannot go into their specific compost heaps. Some will not allow meats and bones, fish and dairy products and so on, but these ingredients can be added, and indeed, l have added them in the past myself when managing a ‘hot composting system’ instead of a ‘cold compost pile’. My compost heaps have been managed under a ‘no rules system ‘ [which l shall discuss in time] as opposed to more conventional methods. Everything breaks down – if a forest has a fallen dead bear, fox, cat or dog which is not buried, does this mean it will not decompose? No, it will rot down. It will also be ravaged by vermin, insects, flies, and so on – BUT it will rot and decompose into the ground where the very same microbes will feast on it. Falling leaves from the trees above will cover them, and they too will eventually rot down, and new life will sprout from the spots of the fallen because of the enriched soil fertility. The differences come down to management – a cold compost heap with very few turnings will rot down slower and can become problematic. Some products are more likely to attract vermin and scavengers. In contrast, a hot compost heap with frequent turnings will build up an incredible temperature and speed up the decomposition process through heat and burn-off. |
| It will all come down to The compost method adopted The size of the heap itself The location of the heap The compost style being used The frequency of turnings/turn overs of the content Whether end product is sieved/unsieved The composter’s/gardener’s outlook |
| One of the reasons there are so many rules, conventions or traditions if you wish is that non-composters or new composters can be enthused, encouraged and or motivated to start composting. I get that. We all start somewhere, and we need guidelines to follow. Sometimes the guidelines come across as too demanding or too expectant from those who wish to throw all their organic wastes into one pile and see what happens. However, these topics will be discussed in more detail in other posts. For the time being – the list below is comprehensive, not definitive as said but not far off or out either. |
| Unwaxed Cardboard/Cardboard Egg Boxes Scrunched up or in small pieces – better damp to wet. | Newspaper Shredded, in strips, scrunched up. | Kitchen Paper Towelling Only that which has been used on non chemical clean ups. |
| Flat beers/wines | Old spices Both dried and fresh varieties | Pet bedding – Think Herbivores Hamsters, Gerbils, Rabbits, Guinea Pigs … |
| Old jams Just empty contents into the pile – not the glass! | Dry Pet Food Kibbles | Wood Ash Not Coal Ash |
| Hair and Nail Clippings Yours or your pets | Sawdust, wood chips Untreated by chemicals | Eggshells – Ground to dust, crushed, broken or just leave them in as two halves. |
| Grass Clippings Add thinly and not as one great heap. | Fruits – All fruit* | *Citrus Fruit – skins and pith, juicings and fermented can be composted but ensure it is distributed eveningly and shredded or cut up. |
| Tea Leaves/Coffee Grounds Make sure tea bags and or coffee filters are made from natural materials. | Vegetables – Add in whole, sliced, diced, torn, shredded, blended, chopped, fermented, reduced to pulp or slurry. | Crumbs and dust particles from kitchen work tops. Hoovered hair. |
| Paper Bags – Shredded, strips, torn up | Cooked Pasta/Rices | Soiled breads, yeasts, crackers, old aotmeals |
| Seaweed and kelps | Blood dried | Human Urine |
| Old Bills/Bank Statements/Non Glossy Flyers and Junk Mail Shredde | Envelopes [minus the windows if present] Shredded | Sticky Notes/Non – Glossy Business Cards Shredded |
| Weeds* Hot composting kills seeds/Take off roots and chop | Leaves Green/Brown/Old/Wind Swept | Animal Manures – Think Herbivores Chicken, Horse, Cattle, Goat – best well rotted. Fresh is too strong and burns. |
| Old vegetable plants With brassicas – break down stalks | Dead houseplants /flowers/Dried Floral Arrangements/Natural unscented potpourri | Toilet rolls or inner cardboard rolls. Cut/Tear into smaller pieces |
| Natural Festivity Wreaths | Chicken Manure Pellets/Worm Casts/Volcanic Rock Dust | Old rotted hays/straws |
| Feathers from birds | Mushrooms/Fungis | Fruit Tree Twigs/Branches Best results shredded |
| Burlap Sack Material Break into very small pieces | Old Hemp Ropes/Twines | Pine Needles Slow to break down/shredding helps – they have a pH of 3.2 and this makes gardeners wary, but small amounts distributed through various piles will not damage overall soil results. |
| Used Matchsticks | Bee Poop | Hops Small amounts NOT huge piles |
| Bird droppings from caged/captive healthy birds | Raw Fish* Compost will eat this, but this will attract animals – so break into small pieces, blend and distribute across heap, cover with compost and not just leave on top. | Leather scraps Tear/cut/shred into smaller pieces. |
| Molasses | Sugar Beet Waste/Pulp Break into small pieces. | Old aquarium natural plants |
| Vegetable peelings | Fish Meal | Limestone fragments |
| Lobster/Crab Shell | Apple Cores/Apples | Herbal Tea leaves/bags |
| Corn on the cob Break into smaller degradable pieces | Blood Meal | Jellies [Gelatins] |
| Garden soils From previous seasons containers | Snails/Slugs | Old compost Recycle older compost |
| Old tobacco [not filters] | Moss/Algae | Lints from washing machines and tumble dryers. |
| Rabbit/Guinea Pigs droppings | Alfalfa/Comfrey/Clover/Nettles | Grapefruit/Oranges/Lemons Break down and do not add in huge quantities |
| Sugar Cane Waste [Bagasse] | Onions/Garlic/Leek | Soya Milk/Beans |
| Rotting natural woods and bark | Dead Starfish | Old/Soiled Yoghurts |
| Soiled Cheeses Within moderation as additions | Sawdust/Shavings from untreated woods | Clover/Comfrey |
| Pine Cones – break/crush | Dead rats/mice – animal carcass [non-chemical death] | Ingredient Diversity |
| I hope you have enjoyed this article, thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time. Till then, have yourselves a terrific day! The Autistic Composter |
| Earthly Comfort Designs available on my Redbubble Store. Collections – Earthen Wurmin, Inspired By Nature and The Autistic Composter Please Pop Along and Check Them Out. |
Earthly Comforts 