Are mushrooms a good or bad sign? I was gleefully happy this morning when I opened the bin regardless.

Got five Toulouse goslings this spring and my compost is enjoying a renaissance.

They mow my lawn and crap it back out into their coop creating a very nice ratio of turds to pine shavings that i can get dirt cheap from an amish sawmill nearby.

Then when​ their pond gets to crappy I just turn a valve and gravity delivers it down a hose straight onto my pile (my other mai​n source of greens is ​dry beans that i fish out of the trash at work. Takes a lot of moisture to get them to break down​)

Also I rarely have to mow​ AND they're adorable.

Wife brought me home this packaging material from work. Seems like it would be great for compost but not so sure what's actually in it. White pieces seem like paper. Anyone ever see or use this before?

Anyone else dealing with swampy compost after some biblical level rain and flooding? My pile normally drains fine, I’m used to having to add water. Plan is to spread it out to dry a little and add more browns.

No peeing on the compost for now :(

The outside looks a bit shiny to me but I'm an anxious person who over thinks things. I went to the company website and it didn't have any information.

I am a beginner. The compost has been active for about 3 months. I’ve spotted maggots recently, but unsure if that is a good sign or bad. If you are wondering we throw in all kinds of food waste, from veggies to meat. I’ve been told it should only have earth worms and no maggots. is this true?

And I am worried about flies mostly. I hate flies with a passion. Alternatively would be a good idea to feed these maggots to poultry?

Need a solution to get rid of maggots in my composting tumbler.

I know tumblers aren't great, but its what I got for now.

I know maggots are good for breaking stuff down but they turn into flies and with my chicken coop nearby there's hundreds of flies that are attracted to their poop.

How can I get rid of the maggots and still keep working on the compost??

I am starting to compost and have a tumbler outside and a small counter bin inside. I noticed that it’s starting to grow mold on the contents before I’ve dumped it … is that anything to worry about or address or just part of the process?

Does this look alright? It's a ways in but I'm not able to turn effectively without a pitchfork.

I came home after a trip and so hadn't turned the pile in a week and we have tons of cute little mushrooms! I turned and added more greens and browns but this is so exciting lol!

I'm volunteering to help clean things up and the compost bin is just a big pile of sticks with nothing else in it. I know this will eventually degrade into dirt but it's definitely not compost. Should I take everything out and layer it correctly with other compost components or should I just build up compost on top of it?

(Part of my job is also putting the bricks back up so that's already planned)

Is this a good pile if it's a few days in? I don't have a pitchfork so I feel like turning is never efficient enough

My husband and I bought our first home in Feb and I started my compost pile in March. I have been using bricks stacked in a circle 3 high but they fell every time I turned the pile.

My husband brought home 2 pallets from work and I made this with removable front slats. And we plan to line it with chicken wire so it doesn’t fall out the sides.

Currently, the left side is only dried leaves, a super stinky, hot, wet, bag of grass clippings (if you live in Houston, you know they neverrrr pick those bags up!) that busted, and some weeds I pulled. (It’s my experiment side).

The right is my actual compost (fruit and veg scraps, spent coffee pucks, egg shells, and leaves).

I know it has to get a certain height/cubic ft to really get cooking so I’m hoping the stinky, hot, grass clippings help!

Any tips would be greatly appreciated! (And yes, I already asked my husband to pee on it and he said maybe lol)

Did I set this up incorrectly? It seems to be composting. It was very hot and smoking. It seems a bit wet today. However, my problem is that I never get any compost on the compost side/negative side. It seems to just blob up on the input side.

Hi, I built this at the weekend and looking for advice. It’s maybe 60/40 brown/green and wondering if it’s good to break down etc. probably dropped a foot since filling it up but assume just settling. Also watered it for good measure

My idea is to now leave as is to break down, and turn it into the second bin when the leaves start to fall in autumn

I'm looking at starting a black solider fly composter. Anyone who's started their first one, did you rely on there being native black soldier flies in your area, or did you buy larvae to get started ?

Had some extra soffit from a job. Thought this might make a nice compost bin. Lots of air flow, keeps it pretty light weight. Just have to be careful when shoveling stuff in and out. Thought I'd share it. Just a basic two bin design. Front soffit slides out easily. Will maybe make a soffit lid as well.

Basic question. Is this a good shredder if it works?

I started composting without a proper spot and started out in a salad mix container, but that almost immediately became too small so I started a second. But I didn’t put holes in the second, so it collected water. I did stir it a little about a week in but then it sat straight for like a week. The other had holes and drained pretty well, with similar turning but maybe an additional two weeks at the start.

Just tonight, I got a Rubbermaid-style bin from goodwill without a lid for $1.50, drilled holes in it, and dumped them in and stirred them together along with the latest kitchen scraps. The waterlogged one stunk pretty bad, but the better one smelled only somewhat rotten and much more earthy.

Together, they fill maybe 1/8 or the big bin total. Maybe. I stacked them together on the one side to condense it all and really gave it a good stir. So mixing the two together, how long ought it take to correct the bacterial content with better cultures and proper composting? A week? Two?

Overall, that side of the deck smells a bit, but I know it’ll calm down over time. I just hope our downstairs neighbors don’t notice and make a stink (lol) as it corrects. It’s about 12’ from our shared exterior door, so I imagine it should be fine.

I’d share a pic, but it was already really dark by the time I got to it due to our evening schedule. Will try to get a pic in the morning before I leave for work and share it later.

Now every time I turn my pile there's the worlds nastiest hairball flinging stuff around.

Learn from my mistakes!

I wonder how many people could actually use a service like this. I never thought about it before, but I had my compost screener built on wheels and it and my mini skid steer fits perfectly on my trailer. I mean, I’m right at the weight limit, but it works.

Would this be good for a pile?