Hot, Cold Composting, what? Free mulch and fertilizer, add worms? What the heck are you talking about..

  Most of us have heard of "composting", some of us are familiar with what the results are of piling up a bunch of organic material and letting it do it's thing. There are actually three types of

One of my bins is identical to this one with the exception
I installed "hog wire" across this side and re-used
a glass shower door for a lid. 

composting, I will describe each in this blog. Each of the three methods of composting depend on active live organism's rendering down organic material to it's basic nutrients usable by plants and other organism's. Bacteria is the most common com-poster's at work in the pile. Anaerobic organism's survive in an oxygen free environment, these are the guy's you don't want and are responsible for the compost emitting an offensive odor, they emit methane, ammonia and other nasty smelling odors. Other's are Aerobic, these guy's thrive in an oxygen rich environment, these are the good guy's. In addition to bacteria the other organism's active include:  Nematodes, Anthropoids, fungi, protozoa, molds and many others, all Aerobic organism's.
 
     Home composting are in three categories:
 
1)  "Cold" (outdoor) composting, by far the least labor intensive of the three it is based on piling organic material in a neat pile and merely adding material to it over the course of it's life. Cold composting can be accomplished in a "pile" in the yard, rake the leaves and throw them in the pile, the same with grass, weeds and garden waste. This style of composting is dependent on organism's that live in temperatures below 115 degrees F. This style mimics how composting is accomplished in nature, it takes a considerable amount of time, depending on the size of the pile, expect a minimum of 365 days until the compost is finished. The resulting compost is coarser, however there is a high carbon content which feeds the living organism's in the soil as it decomposes. No Oxygen is added to the pile manually, normally air is introduced by "turning" the pile, cold composting doe's not require humans to supply labor to the pile except at a minimum. Newspaper, cardboard, kitchen waste and all organic material make up a cold composter. Some compost piles are structured, that is a wire fence cylinder with a diameter of 3-5 feet and 4 feet high or higher is made to contain the pile. Some are wooden bins, some are commercially available bins it's up to the imagination as to a containment vessel. All composting piles need to be kept moist, add water weekly depending on the size of the bin. Oregon State has a good paper on cold composting, click here.

A "hog wire" hot compost bin, allows in a lot of Oxygen
a little cumbersome to turn over.

2) Hot (outdoor) composting, the second type of composting. Very much like the cold composting method with the exception of air being introduced to the pile by "turning" the compost over to allow oxygen infiltration. One advantage of hot composting is the speed of which the compost is made, it is possible to have completely composted material in 90 days, when done correctly. The organism's working in a hot compost bin live in temperatures of 130-160 F. This is considered high heat, it is needed to kill pathogens and weed seeds, sanitizing the compost in a way, the heat will accomplish the task of clearing the pathogens when the temperature is maintained for 3-4 days. However high levels of oxygen must be introduced to the material by turning, fluffing and rotating the top to bottom and bottom to top. Hot compost bins can be made of wire fencing material, pallets, reclaimed wood or a commercially available compost bin. One compost bin available is a rotating cement mixer type design, this style of composter is handy, simply rotate the drum with the hoop handle every other day. Hot composting takes dedication and consistency to accomplish composting in 90 days, ending up with a deep black fine organic compost makes the labor worth it. This compost pile needs moisture as well, water the pile once a week, depending on the size how much water is needed to keep it moist. Oregon State has a good description of hot composting, click here.

3) Vermicomposting (indoor), "Vermi" means worm, that's exactly what this implies, worm composting, sometimes referred to as "worm farming". Very common to both "hot" and "cold" methods with the exception of adding what sounds like a great quantity of worms to the bed. The carbon/nitrogen level must be maintained, carbon is organic material that has dried (browns), think autumn leaves. Nitrogen rich material (greens). Browns include: cardboard, paper, leaves and straw. Greens include: vegetables, fruits, peelings and cores. The pile is similar to other composting methods, however this one must be contained and kept in a cool, moist spot out of the sunlight. The bin must be covered and not allowed to exceed 80 degrees F, or below 40 degrees F. Insects, bacteria and organism's break down the materials making it edible for the army of worms. Some people start a worm farm to achieve zero household waste, instead of tossing garbage in a landfill, worms eat it allowing us at home to produce organic fertilizer while cutting down on landfill waste. Fertilizer and compost are the two main reasons for Vemiculture, very rich in nitrogen the casting's (compost in this bin is worm manure) can be made into a tea and

Worm farm arraignment, this is a bathtub, imagine it's a plastic bin they can be stacked
making it easier to move the worms.

sprayed liberally on your garden and lawn. Worm farms are available commercially, or can be easily made with buckets or plastic storage bins, however worms must be bought from a commercial worm farmer. The worms in your garden (dew worms) are no good for composting, "red wrigglers" are the Olympic champs of composting, "European night crawlers" are second by a substantial margin in my opinion. A word of caution, worms will produce what is fed to them, do not feed them meat, poultry or feces if the manure is intended to be used on vegetable's, pathogens are created and will make people sick when ingested. Earthworms are not native to North America, they were all killed during the last ice age, some worms may be illegal to introduce to the state you live in. Check requirements for invasive species before purchasing worm bin worms. (Honey bees are not native to North America as well, this has nothing to do with this blog but it is interesting.)
The water in a worm bin com poster must be maintained closer than the other two methods, worms need moisture to breath, eat, move and re-produce.

  I employ all three methods of composting, my preferred is Vermiculture, it's very interactive which I enjoy, educational and unbelievably interesting. It's said a touch of eccentricy is a much shared trait amongst worm farmers. I hope you found this interesting and enlightening, a step away from my survival niche. However it is related in the desire to become as self reliant as we can be. Make your own compost, design your own fertilizer (yes it's not hard to make), it is competitive with commercial brands with one exception. Worm tea and castings can not "burn" your plants due to it is 100% organic nitrogen, it's not synthetic as in the commercial "stuff". To read more about worm tea click here.
  Thanks for reading, this subject is near and dear to my heart I'd like to talk more about with you. Thanks.

jauquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com