Green Living
JenD1018
member
#1 12.11.11
#2 10.23.13 EDD
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Three composting questions
in Green Living
Does anyone have a lot of gnats in/around their compost bin/pile? Do you try to get rid of them or are they pretty harmless?
Are the cardboard pint/quart containers that fruit comes in compostable? What about the cardboard pots that I got from the garden center that contained some annuals?
My friend makes beer and he offered me the used grains and said he read somewhere that they are supposed to be really good compost. But I keep reading about the horrible smell that can happen. Anyone try to compost grains and have a good result?
#1 12.11.11
#2 10.23.13 EDD
Re: Three composting questions
1) If you have gnats, try adding more "brown" material to your compost, like leaves. Whenever I add fruits or veggies, I immediately cover the top of my bin with leaves. If I don't have any brown material available, I work the fruits and veggies into the middle of the pile. Haven't had a problem with gnats in a very long time. I don't think they'll harm your compost, but I know they're very annoying.
2) Yes, you can compost cardboard. This is considered a "brown" material
3) Sorry! I'm not sure about composting grains, but I'm sure someone else on here can help you with that one.
I have gnats/fruit flies, too. I just moved my bin outside to the porch because I thought they came with the hot weather and there was nothing I could do about it. Adding lots of brown matter to see if it helps. Hoping to see results soon, because I don't think my neighbors and the company next door approve.
I've composted rice and barley, not hops. No issues w/ odor. Try mashing it up as best you can with a fork (it's soft now, right?) to make it faster to break down.
GL!
1.) Ditto PP on the browns. Flies/gnats are also a sign that your pile is too wet, so if you can direct water away from it that would be good. Flies/gnats usually means the pile is too wet, ants means it's too dry. We have ants, so we've been trying to water our compost more.
2.) Yup, cardboard is a "brown" you can compost it. Just be sure to tear it into small pieces so it will break down.
3.) I don't have any advice on the hops, sorry! We've never tried it.
I don't have gnats here in Fl, but my sister mentioned earlier that she is getting them in AZ. That's a really good suggestion about adding more brown. I found this great list of compostable things:
http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm
I'm not sure how accurate it is - and I think it's meant to be a little funny too - but it'll give you an idea of what can and can't go into your compost. HTH. :-)