Newspaper,yes, but NO colored ink… just black & white newsprint.
Why no colored ink, Gio? It’s all soy.
That’s in my manual, however if both black & white and colored is being used it ought to be offset with an equal amount of green waste such as garden clippings or vegetable scraps. And, as usual the paper should be shredded.
We allow colored paper for lining our paths under wood chips, just not glossy paper/ads. And yes, absolutely need a mix of “green” and “brown” but it sounds like the OP has the green under control.
1 Like
Colored ink on newsprint is fine. The old admonition not to use it was from the bad-old-days when they still allowed the use of lead in inks. It continued to be a component of colored inks for a long while after they had banned its use in black inks.
Glossy paper like magazines and cereal boxes is not recommended because of the junk they use to get the glossy finish. It won’t rot properly without some extra attention and may have some unwanted chemical components due to those processes that make it all shiny.
To my knowledge, there is no lead-containing ink used anywhere in publishing any more, but definitely not in newsprint.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2001-11-11/news/0111110385_1_flint-ink-color-ink-soybean-oil
2 Likes
I had a great compost pile going at my parents place in Iowa, but that relied on having a nearly limitless supply of grass clippings and leaves, with food wastes being a relatively minor addition. In California I’ve found a pile harder to maintain, though I did have a worm bin going pretty well outside one of my apartments. Since it’s so easy to toss all my food waste into the green bin that’s what I do these days.
But the other posters have a point about aeration and water. Does it have a door in the bottom, and if so is it any more like finished compost there than near the top? If so, take some out and use it, if not it isn’t composting much at all. The easiest way to aerate/turn such a pile is this toolthat is easy to stick down into dense matter (the wings collapse) but grasp the material when pulled up. Also, for keeping it moist just add water you might use to rinse out your container, or lots of moist coffee grounds. As for insects, there are less of the surface flies if you always have some yard waste (or newspaper scraps, though I find these to be slower to decompose and a pain to shred) on hand to cover up each layer of scraps.
I keep my compost pile very simple. It’s in the corner of my yard. I just toss in kitchen scraps. I turn it over rarely. When I need some for my veggie garden I dig down to the bottom. It’s all brown earth with hundreds of happy worms.
1 Like
I’ve an indoor compose bin. For the past week, there are always some dried up dead worms outside the bin when I wake up in the morning, 3-4 escapes per night.
They were new worms that arrived by post. For the first 2-3 weeks, they were staying inside happily, I wonder what is wrong now.
I’ve read that mint or aromatic herbs is in the ban food list. Potato and onion is a nono, I avoid putting fruits, as it will attract flies and ants. What else one shouldn’t put in the bin? How about rose petals and leaves? Skin of jerusalem artichoke? They don’t seem to like leaves of cabbages…(they started escaping…)
Good for you. Sorry about your mortality rate. I haven’t done indoor composting. In my previous home I had a 3m x 10m outdoor heap (yes, meters, not feet grin) pretty well stuffed with volunteer worms. I think the suggestions to avoid aromatics, onions, and potatoes is based on odor not worm health. I’m with you on fruits. Fruit flies (as opposed to common house flies) drive me to distraction. It’s taken regular applications of hot vinegar to our drains to keep them under control. Bah!
I suspect cabbage leaves per se are not the problem, just that cabbage must deteriorate sufficiently for the worms to manage and that will take a while.
It occurs to me that search engine results for you may be different than for me based on geolocation. The top return from Google here in the Eastern US is http://compost.css.cornell.edu/worms/basics.html . Perhaps there are hints there?
How wet is your compost? Worms can drown and they may be fleeing too damp conditions. That is a real guess, shooting from the hip.
For entertainment value, I once threw trimmings from dividing water lilies into the damp corner of my compost heap. Next Spring they bloomed!
2 Likes
I am not familiar with indoor bins, although I am familiar with bins to keep stuff until you take it out.
I have read about worm compost bins and vermicoposting, or something like that. The indooor stuff, like houseplants, sound too fiddly for me, but I know where to find resources.
Is this worm compost or vermicompost you are working on? Can you describe your bin, bedding and feeding?
Here is Planet Natural on that subject.
We checked everything again, the reason is probably a extra damp bedding, it didn’t look like that until I turned the bedding. We added a lot of paper and carton. We even added some grinder egg shells.
I would have preferred an outdoor bin, but we have limited outdoor space.
It’s vermicompost.
Bin is plastic, like this.
Bedding is cardboard, coconut coir, dirt, brown paper bags (no printing) etc. Feeding are daily, mostly leafy vegetables, once I fed leek and a few tiny bits of potatoes, coffee grounds, tea leaves and bags, cardboard and paper…
That’s attractive! Looks like an interesting project. I think the Planet Natural link mentions weekly feeding. Does the instructions for this one say how often to feed it?
Daily. The guide is below if you are interested. I read the link in your post, it was the only place that weekly feeding is recommended.
urbalive-guide.pdf (3.4 MB)
1 Like
Thanks! Sounds intriguing. How long have you been doing this? Wish I could be more helpful.
More than 1 year, the first worms are smaller and thinner in sizes, they aren’t doing much nor reproducing, we didn’t get any compost tea. We ordered some Eisenia fetida and they arrived 5 weeks ago, they are red and size are much bigger than the previous ones, and they are really alive and moving fast.
1 Like
Things seem to get better with the worms escape problem. We added a lot more of dried paper and carton in the few days. First night we put lights around the bin, no escape. Second night, lights off, 2 escaped, Third night, no light and no escape! For the time being, we believe it’s the bedding being too damp.
1 Like
Excellent. So glad getting you on track was fast.
What do you use your compost product for? House plants?
I suddenly find myself back into bonsai (not my idea) and am paying attention to compost again.
1 Like
Just to report back, the escape problem is completely solved now, no worms escape for months. An extra tray is added, meaning the top tray for papers, vegetables etc. Second tray, which in the past we’ve got rid of, consists of the compose, some worms are resting there. I guess they need some space for themselves, if they don’t have that, they try to come out.
3 Likes
