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The winner of the 2024 compost challenge was the Continuous Flow vermicomposter and the Compost in Placer. Pros and Cons of the different designs and the scoring systems are given in this PDF.
Update from 2025: we found rats in both the Continuous Flow vermicomposter and the Compost in Placer! Hence, both systems will be decomissioned. The search for the perfect rat proof DIY home compost system continues.
Worm composting system that uses 5-gallon buckets as a worm habitat. The worm castings are dropped in the lowest bucket.
Worm composting system in which all worm activity happens in the same chamber. The worm castings are harvested from the bottom.
Composting system that feeds earthworms and sits atop a garden bed. Compost is harvested by scooping it out from the system.
The tumbler is an unofficial contestant in the challenge. It serves as a compost standard by which other systems can be compared to and is fed on a small-home scale.
Feedings
The compost maintenance crew feeds every system weekly with veggie scraps, sawdust, and coffee grounds. Refer to the video below for specific information on feeding quantities and method.
Veggie scraps are chopped up into small, easily decomposable pieces before being added to the composters. The measuring unit for the feedstock is a compost pail which is roughly 20 cups.
Greens and browns are sprinkled in an even layer over the top of the bedding.
Veggie scraps are collected from New Leaf grocery store and have mainly consisted of lettuces, parsley, corn husks, radishes, and berries.
If the compost is too wet, sawdust or coffee grounds are added to absorb excess moisture.
Acidic foods such as citrus fruit, onions, and hot peppers which can be found in the veggie scraps are avoided since they can be harmful towards the worms.
IMG_0113.movRodent Control
Compost systems are monitored for rodent activity using Bushnell motion-detecting security cameras.
Mite Activity
The only composter that had mites was the 5-gal bucket system.
To deal with the mites, diatomaceous earth was sprinkled over them before every feeding. This did not fully get rid of them, but it did stop them from growing in number.
While mites are not harmful in reasonable quantities, we found it important to make sure the number of mites was not growing.
Takeaways Using Sawdust
Takeaways Using Sawdust
While sawdust worked well for us and the worms enjoyed it for the most part, we did realize that it can also create complications. We found that it may not be an ideal brown input for several reasons:
1
Sawdust can be more expensive and difficult to get as opposed to other browns such as paper, dried leaves, and cardboard. Other browns may be more easily at your disposal.
2
Sawdust takes a long time to break down. The compost will take a lot longer to finish if using sawdust instead of other, less sturdy browns such as shredded paper and dried leaves.
3
Carbon-rich browns such as sawdust and wood chips may pose moisture issues for compost systems that are sensitive to high moisture levels if attempting to feed within a target C/N ratio.
Sawdust is very high in carbon, and if you want to keep the ratio of C/N within the ideal range of 25:1 - 30:1, then only a very small amount of sawdust can be used. Using a C/N calculator, we calculated that the proportion of greens to browns we should be feeding the systems is 8:1 (If using greens other than food scraps, the feeding proportions will vary). This means that for every compost pail of greens added, we add in only an ⅛ of a pail of sawdust. For some systems, this quantity of brown material may be too small to absorb the amount of moisture that will be created from the greens.
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