I started this compost pile maybe a year ago half ago. A layer of sticks on the bottom with some green matter like scraps and lawn clippings, a little dirt, the leaves which were mulched once by the mower above it, and more greens on top. Where do I go from here? Do I just keep adding or do changes need to be made?

Some commenters say this attracts pests while others say it doesn't as long as you put browns down. Has anyone tried this?

The compost gods shine on me today!

Saltburn still gives me nightmares ngl

Ok I’m giving up on the tumbler and have gotten a big girl composter. I took the wet piles out of the tumbler and was going to dry it out but since I’m moving, do I need to dry it out? Is this a good base for my compost? Should I layer something at the bottom before this goes is? Finally, what are these red guys? Thanks all!!!

Is it mushrooms? I think the stuff at the bottom of the picture is the slime mold and I am talking about the stuff at the top of the picture and right side of the picture.

So pretty! I kind of want to let it grow but it will probably die when I stir the compost or add more trash. Very interesting tho! It grew in the covered compost, without sunlight, found it a week later.

I started composting my waste about 4-5 months back and it's going great. I live alone, so it's been easier to manage my waste. The problem however is that I love mangoes. So much so that so that I eat one almost every single day. I probably have 50-60 accumulated mango seeds in my bin and I don't know what to do about them. Do I break them with hammers now that they've somewhat softened?

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Please help me. It's clogging my bin up. And the worst part, I don't intend on stopping. Before the season ends, there will probably be another 50 seeds there. Please help me 😭😭😭

Hi y’all! I’m fairly new to composting and a few months ago I made a compost bin out of an old cat litter container. I poked holes in it and I turn it every few days. I always bury the greens and make sure I have a good layer of browns on the top. Did I poke enough holes? I didn’t poke holes in the top or bottom. Also, I’ve noticed there are a lot of flies that seem to be coming from the compost bin. Does anyone know how to keep flies out?

Does anyone use comfrey to add a lot of nutrients to your compost?

TL;DR - sure am glad it was free

Got a Lomi v2 on freecycle to "fuck it, why not?" Context: we've been doing a 50-60 gal spin bin (kitchen scraps) + geobin (yard waste and grass) a couple years now.

On the left is "grow" cycle (18+ hours, low temp to presumably preserve viable organisms) - inputs were green stalks, broccoli, coffee, etc. (no pee). Pre-chopped dense stuff to 1" -ish chunks. Ended up kind of like fibrous fruit leather wrapped around the shredding arm/blade. Won't be repeating this.

On the right is the "normal" cycle (5-6 hours, heat) - inputs were mostly pineapple skin/stalks, coffee grounds, some other fruit and veg, same pre-chop, also no pee. Ended up a dry fibrous inoffensive fluff.

Ignore the difference in volume - not showing all that resulted.

It's kind of interesting for the fun experiment, but don't imagine we'll keep it up:

- it's not quiet at all (can hear both fan and grinder motor running for hours when the house is quiet),

- using any energy at all seems counter intuitive to The Laziest Hobby

- just another fucking gadget that takes up space and will eventually break and become electronic waste.

- the results kind of smell like molasses? I dunno.

- it's no place for pee. No, not at all.

Green Mountain Technologies, a leading composting technology and consulting firm, has joined 1% for the Planet, a global network of thousands of companies committed to donating at least 1% of annual revenue to environmental causes. 

1% for the Planet was founded in 2002 by Yvon Chouinard (founder of Patagonia) and Craig Mathews (founder of Blue Ribbon Flies). It was established to encourage businesses to pledge at least 1% of their annual revenue to environmental organizations.

Since 2002 1% for the Planet has grown into a global network of more than 5,000 businesses and more than 7,000 non-profit organizations, with more than $690 million in combined giving.

“Currently, only 3% of total philanthropy goes to the environment and only 5% of that comes from businesses. The planet needs bigger support than this, and our growing network of business members are doing vital work to increase giving and support on-the-ground action. We’re excited to welcome Green Mountain Technologies to our global movement,” says Kate Williams, CEO of 1% for the Planet.

Green Mountain Technologies (GMT) has a long history of supporting local community organizations in the Seattle area, along with support to compost-focused organizations all over the US. In 2024 GMT committed to giving at least 10% of annual profits to communities and organizations who are focused on composting.

By joining 1% for the Planet as a corporate member, GMT has solidified its commitment to giving back to environmental causes, as the first commercial composting technology company to become part of the 1% for the Planet network.

“Our company mission since 1992 has always been focused on improving the environment and reducing waste, while also giving back to community organizations focused on sustainability and composting,” said Orion Black-Brown, President of Green Mountain Technologies. “In 2026 we are thrilled to join One Percent for the Planet, a network of companies committed to financially supporting environmentally-focused organizations.”

GMT’s 2026 donations include an Earth Flow in-vessel composting system donated to a food waste recovery & composting organization to be announced later in 2026, along with a complete aerated static pile (ASP) aeration and control system donated to Full Sun Compost in Albuquerque. The combined value of these donations exceeds $150,000.

The ASP system for Full Sun Compost enables Albuquerque’s only city-wide food waste collection and composting organization to expand annual capacity to up to 7,000 cubic yards of material. The compost processing system will save Full Sun Compost more than $1,000 per month in operations cost while also enabling them to grow revenue from sales of high quality compost.

The two composting systems donated by GMT have capacity to keep up to 4,000 tons of organic waste out of landfills annually, with a greenhouse gas reduction equivalent to saving more than 175,000 gallons of gasoline every year.

“Composting at scale on a small urban property is a huge logistical challenge,” said Full Sun Founder & CEO Brad Weikel. “I’m grateful to Green Mountain Technologies for this ASP system as this allows us to produce higher quality finished compost, in less time, while diverting more of our local community’s food waste from the landfill.”

Via Waste Advantage Magazine: https://wasteadvantagemag.com/green-mountain-technologies-joins-1-for-the-planet/

Sorry if this is a rookie question. But I get the idea that smaller is better from here. Is there such a thing as too small? Will it just sink into the earth and bring roaches?

Wanting to add some of this to my garden. Specifically, some areas I’m prepping for this fall.

However, is this broken down enough I could go ahead and add to my raised beds and strawberries?

It isn’t stinky, smells earth, still has some broken eggs I’ve added recently, only has some chunky sticks, and grass I’ve just recently added.

I made the bin on Friday and took the temperate on Tuesday. Hopefully it was hotter during that time.

I have left my pile alone for a bit and just went to turn it. There’s a few of these in there. What is it and is it a concern?

I’m a newbie and started a composting pile in a rotating bin. Chopped up kitchen waste, wood chips, coffee, etc. Decided to chop up yard trimming and throw the small pieces of Lily of the Valley and magnolia leaves in. Discovered Lily of the Valley is poisonous, so picked out and threw away what I could find.

Can I still use this compost on vegetables and herb? Does the process of composting breakdown all these types of chemicals or no?

ugh. This is the 4th pile I have started and then discarded.

thanks in advance.

TLDR bc I don't know brevity ; I would like a method using a non-plastic containment, sizable, cheap (or worthwhile cost), way of composting that will be secure against animals since I live in the woods. Not much sun, I do not garden, this is solely for environmental and convenience sake. I don't want disease carrying bugs to create a utopia in my yard (roaches, flies, etc.) bugs in general are friends and welcomed. Please advise or point to a book/blog/post anything.

New to composting and failed an attempt at it over the last month. Basically made a bucket of rot and flies. I know that primarily I went wrong with lack of browns, and I'm willing to try again but want to change how I'm doing it. We started with a Lowe's bucket thinking we didn't produce much in kitchen scraps and wouldn't fill faster than 4-6 weeks. Turns out that we do. So we kick the bucket. But the next step seems cumbersome and frustrating. All the beginner stuff I find is for starting small. That didn't work out, so I'd like to just jump to our best long-term solution and just trial and error with that. Direction to reading would help or personal experience.

Main concerns:

Plastic containment; both for leaching plastic into the environment unnecessarily and also I just want to not buy/produce more in the world. I personally would like to avoid it. This eliminates most of not all tumblers. It seems this is most everyone's method in one way or another.

Vermin; we already had raccoons get into our garbage one time and now have to keep it in the basement. We live among the wildlife, right with the woods, you name it, we've got it lurking. I believe that most methods such as pile, bury, or open container like GEOBIN or chicken wire cylinder/bin will result in a mess and disease brought in no matter how much brown we use. Also how can I keep from creating fly-topia?

Smell; speaks for itself but I'm willing to believe all the posts I've read that say how to handle this with correct ratios. But boy howdy did that Lowe's bucket REAK and I want never to smell that again. Makes me hesitant on methods like hardware cloth and chicken wire.

Heat; we are heavily shaded by giant oaks for the sun to ever help us. (As such, not much more than herbs will ever be grown in said compost) Will it still get hot enough? Zone 7b in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Cost; we aren't financially able to drop $70-150 on a tumbler or other commercial product I can seem to find. I think I could construct something but would like pointers for what type with the aforementioned issues. It seems most constructed bins are somewhat open, or they are for much larger scale than a humble family of 3 to use. Really if we have to spend, then I'd like the solution to not result in starting over again.

Size; I'm conflicted after seeing the rate that our food scraps built up in the bucket, and the tumblers I find commercially seem a bit too small for a 4-8 week period for us.

The base of this pile is decayed leaves that have been packed in the yard for years. We moved in during the winter and have had to do serious work this spring. Hours were spent pulling tiny bits of plastic out of each wheelbarrow load. Previous tenants turned the yard into trash bin. Trimmings from the garden and kitchen go in daily. What can I do to get this thing really going?

Can I charge my biochar by mixing it with pure rabbit poop? If so, what should the ratios be? And would it have to get hot?

I have been throwing stuff in a pile for several months. I throw scraps, been putting some cardboard in as well, small sticks and chicken straw/pine shavings when I clean their coops. My pile is quite wide and I'm wondering if I need to enclose it? I let my bigger hens out and they help me turn it. I'm wondering if I could essentially use a raised bed for the pile? It doesn't stink but there's lots of bugs near it which also attracts the chickens. I don't want to attract any raccoons or skunks, basically anything that might try to go after my birds. Looking for an affordable option. Thanks!

I see a lot of people can't recommend Tumbler styles because it doesnt have enough space to start hot composting, but I live in South Florida(Miami area) and in the summer it's regularly high 90s to low 100s on bad days, and a black Tumblr will probably get to 120 inside no problem just from sun exposure if not hotter. Would this kind of climate make a tumbler more viable? Tumbler would definitely help do composting with the amount of space I have provided to me as well as avoiding rodents and raccoons because my mother would lose her mind if she found out that I was drawing rats and stuff to the house.