I Have Too Many Greens
Question
May 6, 2024
Hi, I live in zip code 87112. I attended John Zarola's composting class this past weekend at Hubbel House. My setup is this: I live in a condominium with really very little space to compost, I have been doing vermicomposting on my patio in a 10-gal rubbermaid storage bin, I got the worms from Soilutions. It has worked well for over a year, however I have far more stuff to put in than I dare to, in such a small bin. I would like to switch to a cold process tower bin composter. However, I have almost no browns to put in, I have only a LOT of greens, kitchen scraps because I cook with a lot fresh veggies and fruits, so I have a lot of off-cuts and citrus fruit peels. I can collect a few dry leaves and twigs, but since the landscape company does all the yard work around here, and hauls away the cuttings, I definitely dont have enough bowns to come anywhere close to the greens. My question is: what happens when one has a finished product very rich in nitrogen? Is it still useable compost? Any suggestions on what to do?
Answer(s)
Answer by JZ: Worm bin(s) - you might consider setting up another worm bin to handle your excess scraps. If you have not yet harvested the worm casts from your current bin, Iād suggest that you consider doing that if your casts are 4ā- 6ā deep in the bin. Otherwise you could end up with anaerobic (odiferous) conditions at the bottom of bin.
A tower bin is a useful choice. Yes, your green scraps have a preponderance of nitrogen, but do contain carbon as they are carbohydrates (carbon, hydrogen and oxygen) from photosynthesis. You may use fruit/veg scraps in the tower bin as long as you add coarse bulking material (which is a brown) as you build so as to prevent compaction of that moist material. For coarse bulking you could purchase a bag of wood bark chips at local garden center and/or collect twigs, sticks at you local park or hiking trail. All used paper products are browns and as you mentioned you could gather some dry leaves (at parks) and store them for future use. Some garden centers may carry small bags of wheat straw, which you could use as brown.
During the composting (decomposition) process some of the nitrogen in the mix will volatilize into the atmosphere, so that the finished compost will have an an approximate value of 1% nitrogen, 1% phosphorus, 1% potassium, which is useable addition to our local desert soil. Get back if you have questions.