Welcome to Composting Guide
Composting 101 Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Common Problems With Composting At Home
from:Composting at home is a great idea. Taking waste products and turning them into usable compost to improve the quality of soil is an ingenious and environmentally responsible way of dealing with the waste you produce. You keep the world a little cleaner, landfills do not have as much unnecessary waste, and you get your own homemade compost. Still with all these advantages, there are some problems that arise with composting at home.
Composting at home is bound to have its problems, but if you learn to identify problems and their possible causes then you can get back on track to productive composting at home in no time. All you have to do is figure out what the problem is and then know what to do next.
What’s That Smell?
What if your compost heap is producing an unpleasant smell? This could be caused by a scarcity of air in your heap or by an overabundance of moisture. If your compost heap is low on air then all you need to do is to turn or fluff the pile to increase the amount of air in the mix. If there is too much moisture then the addition of dry materials should do the trick. They sound like easy solutions, but if your heap starts to smell then you will be glad you know what to do.
Covered In Flies
Another problem of composting at home is when the pile is drawing flies or rodents to it. That means the pile has bones, meat, fatty foods, or other similar ingredients in the mixture. The solution to this is to change the types of materials that you put into the pile. Put the remains of fruits and vegetables into the middle of the compost heap. This should help the situation. You can also put such materials beneath 8 to 10 inches of soil to keep them from drawing in unwanted attention. A final option is to compost these materials in a worm bin.
Slugs
If a pile is infested with slugs then you will want to take out the slugs and their eggs. You may even want to relocate your compost heap. The slugs may have found their way into it from your garden if the two are close together. Separating them may solve this problem. You may even want to erect some sort of barrier to keep the slugs from re-entering your compost heap.
Composting at home is a good idea, but it is not without its potential problems. If, however, you are aware of the potential pitfalls, you can either avoid them before they happen, or you can rectify any situation that arises before it develops into a bigger problem.
Composting 101 Specific links
Composting 101 News
Civics 101
COMPOST CLASS Austin Resource Recovery hosts the first in a series of free composting classes. Go online to sign up and learn more about valuable rebate offers on compost start-up kits.
Read more...Ag Center to host series on winter gardening
A winter gardening series will begin Feb. 13 and continue Feb. 20 and March 5 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Berks County Agricultural Center, Bern Township.
Read more...Northern Technologies International Corporation Reports Increased Sales and Earnings for First Quarter Fiscal 2012
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Northern Technologies International Corporation today reported its financial results for first quarter of fiscal 2012. Highlights of NTIC's financial and operating results include:...
Read more...Hearing airs pros/cons of hog project
The rights of Hancock County land owners clashed during an Illinois Dept. of Agriculture hearing Wednesday night, Jan. 4, on construction of a hog confinement system in the northeastern part of the county.
Read more...What’s going on today
‘Under the Circumstances’: North Central College students present this original production about (in)fidelity and how people surprise themselves and those they love. The performances will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13 and 14 in the college’s Madden Theatre at the Fine Arts Center, 171 E. Chicago Ave. Tickets are $5/adults, $3/students and senior citizens; call 630-637-7469 or visit ...
Read more...