Virtual Learning

Browns: Collect leaves in the fall from your yard or around the neighborhood and store them in bags or containers that keep them dry. Collect old newspapers from a local library, a local newspaper office, friends and family, Buy Nothing on Facebook, or other creative sources. Collect cardboard boxes from large retailers, liquor stores, bookstores, grocery stores, offices, someone in the area who just moved, etc. 

Greens: Collect your personal food scraps. Ask a local coffeeshop if you can regularly pick up old coffee grounds. Become a site on sharewaste.com or makesoil.org so that neighbors arrange to drop off their food scraps. 

It is not recommended to put cooked food scraps in as they may contain oil, grease, sauces, etc. These can be hard to break down and may attract pests.

Laser toner and printer paper should be avoided, same with glossy prints, as they use synthetic polymers to bind the ink to the page. Newspaper is fine for compost as they use vegetable based inks for printing.

Fresh manure can go directly into a compost bin / pile. 

• At this time, the FDA does not object to farmers complying with the USDA’s National Organic Program standards
• 120-day interval between the application of raw manure for crops in contact with the soil
• 90 days for crops not in contact with the soil.

Glossy prints use synthetic polymers to bind the ink to the page and should be avoided. Newspaper is fine for compost as they use vegetable based inks for printing.

No, do not place compostable bags in your compost. The compost does not get hot enough to break them down, and they do not add any nutrients to your compost. 

Bioplastics are not necessarily ideal for the compost pile as they are not  a great nutrient source for the soil microbiome. The best compostable ware materials are pure natural ingredients - pure palm leaf, bamboo, wood. PLA is supposed to be a good material also, though it will only break down in a hot compost pile. 

PFAS is found in molded fiber products, so avoid putting those in your compost pile. Many of the compostable bowls from restaurants like Chipotle and Sweetgreen have PFAS in them, which are a persistent toxin that is found in many industrial products and leaches into groundwater, contributing to chronic health issues.

Pine needles should be left where they fall as a natural mulch. They do not break down easily in a compost bin.

Pet waste can contain harmful parasites and bacteria, and backyard compost doesn't get hot enough to kill those organisms. It should never be in compost that is used for edible plants or near waterways due to health risk.

The Composter Recycler program is excited to offer FreeGarden EARTH 82 gal Enviro World Compost Bins at wholesale pricing of $45 per bin. Request one here.

To prevent pests, do not put in meat, dairy, bones, fish, and/or grease. If these are in your bin, be sure to remove them, mix your bin and add in some fresh materials.

Curing allows the compost to continue to breakdown at a slower rate, resulting in a more chemically stable end-product. Finished compost will no longer heat up even after mixing, smells like earth and will crumble in your hand. “Chunky” not fully cured compost can be layered on top of the ground, garden bed, around trees in a donut shape to finish curing.

ShareWaste.com or MakeSoil.org

This is only recommended for food scraps – more as a “digester” that gets harvested infrequently – most of the material is leached out or slowly taken down into the ground. A backyard compost bin should be 80 gallons or bigger.

If you know you are sensitive to Aspergillus - make sure you water the pile before you turn, to minimize dust and air particles, and wearing a mask is a good idea.

No. Backtyard compost bins do not get hot enough, long enough, for all of the contents to kill off weed seeds. What you put in you may get out so be careful adding weeds.

We do not recommend adding commercial activators. If you need to jumpstart a bin you can use urine. 

You do not need to add worms to your compost pile. Outside, composting happens with and without the help of earthworms. Worms will usually find their own way to a compost pile.

There are many different kinds of cardboard boxes. It is best to use plain brown cardboard for the bottom layer. It is a good idea to remove the tape if you can, but it usually will come up to the surface over time as the cardboard breaks down.

For large pieces of cardboard try contacting appliance, bed, home improvement, hardware stores. 

If you have gardens where your dogs go they may dig up food scraps. To keep away dogs and rodents it is best is to chop food into small pieces and bury deep in the lasagna garden so it can quickly decompose. 

As long as you feed the bin before you leave, the worms should be fine. 

For extended vacation sprinkle 1/4 cup of flour and cover

Yes, you can put in paper towels and napkins torn into smaller pieces.

There are many different options to use as a worm bin. It is more so about what works best for you. The CR program recommends two large plastic totes that are relatively easy to make. Here is a video on how to make it: Video. Other options include a wooden box, a cylindrical bin with trays called a Can O’ Worms, a bathtub, and many more.

Worm food sources include: fruits (no citrus), vegetables, coffee grounds / tea, eggshells. Grass clippings, green leaves, garden waste should go in a compost bin/pile or curbside yard debris cart.

Worms can live for about one year in the worm bin. If a worm dies in your bin, you probably will not notice it. Since the worm's body is about 90% water, it will shrivel up and become part of the compost rather quickly. New worms are born and others die all the time.

The liquid that drains from the spigot is not worm tea, although some people do call it that. The liquid that drains from the bottom of a worm bin is more accurately called worm leachate or worm seepage.

The spigot that lets the worm leachate drain is a valuable safety valve. If you leave it open, you’ll know pretty quickly if your worm bin is getting too wet because you’ll see brown liquid seeping out. It’s important to know if your worm bin gets too wet because the material in an overly wet worm bin tends to get compact and that means air can’t get in. When no air gets in, the material goes “anaerobic” (meaning “without oxygen”).

There are three reasons you don’t want your worm bin to get too wet and go anaerobic:

• Anaerobic decomposition stinks — nobody likes a stinky worm bin.
• Worms need to breathe — anaerobic conditions can kill your worms, and
• Anaerobic bacteria are generally bad for your plants.

Since worm seepage only happens when your worm bin is too wet, and overly wet conditions lead to the production of bad bacteria, there is a good chance that the draining liquid will not benefit your plants.

What to Do With Extra Liquid

So what do you do with the worm leachate or seepage? If it smells bad, discard it. Pour it onto the driveway or your grass lawn. If the odor is not bad, you can dilute it with water 10-20:1. 

A pound of redworms can eat up to a 3.5 pounds of food in a week. Check the bin weekly and feed as necessary. Feed 1” layer weekly on one half side at a time. Cover with bedding. When you do not have enough bedding to cover add more. 

You do not "turn" a worm bin like you turn a compost bin. Worms are surface feeders and move upwards to the food which should always be on top covered by bedding. The worm castings will begin to fill the lower part of the bin.  When the bin is full it is time to harverst your worm castings. In extreme cases when your worm bin gets too wet and becomes stinky you should:

1) stop feeding

2) remove the cover

3) gently stir in dry paper / brown-carbon bedding material

It is not necessary to test for pH. In a small bin do not feed any citrus as that is acidic and can change the pH of you bin. If you are troubleshooting a bin you can use a pH meter or pH test strips. Take a couple readings in various spots for greater accuracy.

No, you do not need to put ice in on a hot day as it could be too cold for the worms. If you are worried about the worms getting too hot, you may want to move the bin to a cooler location. On especially hot days 90 degrees and higher do not feed your bin.

Worm castings, because they are filled with the beneficial bacteria from the digestive system of the worm, are great stuff for your plants. You can use them as they are, of course, but you may also decide that you want to use some of the worm castings to create some genuine worm tea.

Make Real Worm Tea

True worm tea is actually cultured or brewed, to help increase the number of good bacteria. Here’s what you’ll need to brew up a batch:

• worm castings, about a pound
• 10 gallons water  (if your water is chlorinated, let it sit for 24 hours before using)
• a fine mesh bag or nylon stockings or large sock with no holes and string to hold it closed
• 1 tbsp organic molasses (or other simple sugar, to feed the microbes)
• a bubbler (the kind used in an aquarium), and
• a 5-gallon bucket.

Fill the mesh bag (or stocking/sock substitute) with worm castings and close it up securely. This is your tea bag that you submerge in the 5-gallon bucket of water. Add the molasses and submerge the bubbler.

Let it bubble away for 24 hours, to make sure everything stays aerobic. After 24 hours have passed, remove the bubbler and mesh bag. Dilute the tea concentrate with another 5 gallons of water. Use immediately.

You can use the liquid to water special plants or spray it over your entire lawn and garden. (If you use a sprayer, be sure to strain the liquid well so no particles clog the nozzle.) The best time to spray is mid to late afternoon, after the heat of the day has passed.

Rarely if ever will you need to add water to a worm bin as the fruits and vegetables are made up of mostly water.

No, redworm compost should not smell at all. If you've noticed an odd smell, this is likely due to lack of oxygen within the compost, caused by too much moisture or compression. To resolve this, make sure you've mixed enough bedding material with your food debris. Plastic redworm bins are more prone this problem, since they don't soak in and disperse fluids.

Worms in a new bin may scurry, until they get used to their new home. Be sure you have the proper balance of food and bedding (ie newspaper, leaves or sawdust). I recommend keeping a small light on above the compost, to keep them beneath the surface. Within a few days, they will settle in. If you continue to have trouble, try adding fresh compost to your bin. This may help them feel more comfortable. 

A worm bin will self regulate based on 1 pound of worms per square foot of surface area space. You can continue to grow worms similar to growing a larger and larger plant by increasing the size of their space similar to repotting into bigger and bigger pots. 

If you keep the bin the same size the worm population will only grow so big. 

A worm bin will repopulate if you remove some to share with others similar to giving blood, your body makes more to replace it. The worms will grow back to the population of your bin size takoing into account the working conditions and amounts/types of food.