Embedded Files
Go To Daily Dump Trouble Shooting
1. Is there anything I can do to speed the decomposition process?
Shredding or chopping the materials going into the compost system, regularly turning your compost to add oxygen, and adding nitrogen rich products such as nettles, coffee grounds, small quantities of grass cuttings all can help to speed up the decomposition process.
2. There are hundreds of flies in my compost?
Keep the compost pile completely covered by dust such as remix power, saw dust, dry leaves, etc Also cover it with newspaper.
3. My compost smells, what can I do?
Your compost should never have an offensive smell. This may happen if your compost is too wet meaning that there is not enough air available to the composting process (remember the 50:50 mix of green and brown material). If your compost is offensively smelly look inside the unit. If the contents look slimy and wet add “brown materials” such as remix power, sawdust, straw, shredded paper or cardboard to the unit to soak up the moisture. These should be mixed in as thoroughly as possible. If it’s not too much work, you can lift the whole bin off the pile and turn everything back into it, adding the dry materials a little at a time as you go.
On the other hand if your bin is too dry, then the composting process will be very slow. This can happen if the weather has been warm for a while. To moisten the contents, simply water the material with a watering can slowly and thoroughly, turning as you go to ensure consistent wetting throughout
4. My eggshells aren’t breaking down in the compost system, why?
Eggshells are made up of a protein membrane and a calcium carbonate (lime) coating. The lime is valuable in your compost or soil, but cannot be digested by the bacteria, fungi, and invertebrates that do your composting for you, so the shells remain whole and visible for a long time. Crushing your eggshells will make them less noticeable in the compost you harvest. Alternatively putting your eggshells in the oven for 10 minutes will make them brittle and easy to powder (but please don’t waste energy by turning on the oven specially for this – just pop them in the bottom when baking something anyway.
5. How will I know when my compost is ready to harvest?
You will know when your compost is ready to harvest as it will look like a dark brown, crumbly soil and you should not be able to recognise any vegetative food scraps or garden materials. It should also smell good, like rich soil or the smell of the forest on a wet day. If your compost smells bad, do not use it as it will be harmful to plants. Turn it and leave it for longer, as it has not gone through the whole process yet.
6. How to compost hard, big seeds like mango seeds?
You can dry up seeds in sunlight completely, make few holes in it and put it in compost pile. After few days we can see seeds become brittle and eventually turn into soil.
7. How long does it take to compost?
Depending on how carefully you manage your pile for the correct conditions, composting takes from 1 month to 2 years. A pile turned every week or so and carefully managed for all the right conditions may compost in a month or two. A pile not turned or managed will take about six months to two years to fully compost. It is not essential to compost quickly. It's really up to you if you want compost for your garden as soon as possible or if you'd rather wait for nature to run its course. Just be sure to compost responsibly and turn your pile if it starts to give off foul odors.
8. Do I need to shred or grind organic materials to compost them?
Shredding or grinding organic materials helps speed composting by increasing the surface area of the compostables, making them accessible to decomposers. But shredding is not essential, except when adding woody materials such as sticks that will take years to decompose unless they are shredded. One word of caution: shredded and ground materials tend to have less air flowing through them, so they should be turned more often if you are an active composter.
9. Should I add lime to my pile?
Do not add lime to a pile because it may cause nitrogen to be released from the pile as ammonia gas. This gas smells bad and leaves your compost with less nitrogen, an important plant nutrient for your garden. You don't need to worry about the pH of a compost pile. pH, being a measurement of alkalinity or acidity, will generally adjust itself and, when compost is mature, the pH is usually around neutral (7). If you need to adjust the pH of compost, do this after it has completed its composting. First test the pH of your finished compost and adjust it as needed.
10. Should I put my compost in the sun or shade?
It's best in the shade, dry compost slows down composting process.
11. What percentage of household waste can be composted?
About 50 -70% of Indian household waste generated is organic in nature and can be used to make compost.
A family of 4 in a city produces anything from 750 grams to 1.5 kgs of kitchen waste daily.
12. Can cooked food waste be composted?
Yes, you can add cooked waste food to your dump – just make sure you cover it with enough Remix Powder – so that flies do not have anything to get attracted to.
13. What is a composting accelerator?
Any additive that speeds up the process of decomposition can be called an accelerator.
Remember however that you can make compost without any of these – just by making sure you keep the dump moist and aerated. Mixing a fresh pile of waste with a pile of semi-composted material also speeds us decomposition. Compost eventually…………happens! (You can slow it, but cannot stop it!) Daily Dump supplies many different kinds of accelerators such as Microbes powder and Remix Powder.
14. Why do I need to add Remix Powder?
You need to add Remix Powder because kitchen waste discharges a lot of water when decomposition happens. This will make the pile over wet if it is not balanced out with dry organic material. Also microbes need carbon to do their work of decomposition. Remix Powder has the right mix of carbon and microbes that help decomposition and reduce bad odour. Using Remix Powder ensures you do not need to stir and waste your time!
15. My basket has foul odour and lot of flying insects in the basket.
Handle it by applying short term and long term solutions
Empty the compost pile on a thick bed of newspapers. Spread it evenly on the entire surface of newspaper bed. Leave it for couple of hours to remove excess moisture. Then add cocopeat or dried leaf powder. Use cocopeat or dry leaves in abundance. Use hand gloves to mix cocopeat with the entire compost. Break any lumps or big chunks by hand (use gloves). You might see a lot of maggots when you break these lumps. Then add 6-7 table spoonful of turmeric or neem powder. Again mix it well by hand using a glove.
Above steps should sort out odour problem immediately.
On a long term basis, make sure that -
1. you add enough cocopeat or dry leaves
2. Add neem powder every week
3. Mix/rotate the pile every 3rd day
16. What can do to get rid of small cockroaches in compost n garden
रामबाण उपाय - tried and tested.
Small insects enter through the holes drilled in the bucket. So to ward them off, follow below steps-
1. Apply neem tel (available in medical stores) on the holes
OR
Most effective one 👇🏻👇🏻
2. Take few pinches of tobacco. Wet it with little water. Now rub this wet tobacco around the holes on your compost kit. Also around the lid of the compost bin. Let it dry. That's it.
17.How do we avoid lizards? We have observed a lizard hovering around our khamba to eat the fruit flies
Google Sites
Report abuse