Jul
20
Tips From the Home Inspector – Composting In’s and Out’s
Posted by Chris & Karen Highland under Columbia, For Buyers, For Sellers, General Information, Green Home, Home Maintenance, Loans
Composting Tips for Frederick Home Owners
Composting doesn’t need to be relegated to the great outdoors. There are ways to compost indoors without mess or odor using an electric hot composter, a microbial composter or even small worms.An electric hot composter uses heat, air, baking soda and sawdust pellets to create an environment conducive to composting food scraps.
The typical electric composter uses only about 5 kilowatts of electricity per month and can accommodate up to five pounds of food scraps per day. Some hot composters can accept some foods traditionally excluded from composters including dairy, meat and fish. Within two weeks, finished compost can be harvested. Because hot composters must turn regularly, they may produce some low noise.
If you prefer a non-electric composting system, a microbe compost system is a good choice. Often referred to as a Bokashi composter, a microbial system works by combining microbes with kitchen scraps. The microbes break down organic material resulting in compost fertilizer which is produced every few weeks. A Bokashi composter can be purchased or made from plastic bins. The mixture, called Bokashi mix, is typically made from molasses, wheat bran and microbes.
Worms Are A Garden’s Best Friend
Some composters are turned off by the idea of worm composting, but others find it a natural and interesting project. If you are in the latter category, you can use red wiggle worms to recycle food scraps and other organic material. In simple terms, the worms eat food scraps which pass through the worm’s body. The compost exits the worm through the tail and is called vermicompost. This compost is considered superior for plants, because the worms consume nutent-rich fruit and vegetable scraps, and turn them into nutrient-rich compost.
Worms can consume almost any organic material, raw fruit and vegetable scraps are the best. More complex foods take longer to break down. Orange rinds and other citrus fruit scraps should also be avoided because of their acidity levels. In general, the more vegetable matter, the better.
To construct a worm bin, a container, most newspaper and worms are the primary ingredients, along with darkness and warm temperatures. The red wigglers can be ordered from a worm farm. After 3 to 5 months, when the bin is filled with compost (and very little bedding), it is time to harvest the bin, or removie the finished compost from the bin.
Garbage In, Compost Out 
Outdoor composting requires two colors of ingredients – browns in the form of small yard leaves, twigs and coffee grinds, and greens in the form of grass clippings, vegetable waste, fruit scraps and egg shells.
The brown materials provide carbon for your compost and the green materials provide nitrogen. Water is added to provide mosture to help breakdown the organic matter.
To create a compost pile or bin in the yard, a dry, shady spot near a water source is ideal. Brown and green materials can be added to the pile, with larger pieces chopped or shredded for quicker break down. The materials need to be moistened as they are added. Once the pile is established, more grass clippings and green waste can be added into the pile, with fruit and vegetable waste placed beneath a layer of compost material. The top of the compost pile can be covered with a tarp or other covering to keep it moist.
When the material at the bottom is dark and rich in color, the compost is ready to use (this usually occurs within a few months.)
A guest post from:
David Goldberg – Home Inspector
phone: 301-913-9213
fax: 301-774-4554
Reliable Home Services, Inc.
PO Box 5159
Laytonsville, MD 20882
ASHI Member #101584
MD License #29322
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The Highland Group
Chris & Karen Highland *
301-831-9947
Real Estate Teams, LLC
Chris@highlandrealestategroup.com
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