One of the most fundamental principles of creating compost in the quickest fashion in aerating your pile. Also, one of the reasons your kitchen scraps compost in the landfills at extremely slow rates is because they compact everything so much it doesn’t allow for aeration. Let’s not make that mistake ourselves. Here’s what you need to know to make the most out of the air around you.

Different composting methods allow for different methods of aeration. The most notably air friendly composter is the tumbler.

Named after its wonderful ability to tumble your compost in the midst of plentiful air and mix the two together, it is the most aeration friendly composting device you can have. Just give it a swift nudge and your compost is aerated. There are also air holes on the tops and bottom to allow air to move freely through the contraption, and some have compartments to capture excess liquid or “tea” to keep the compost at the right moisture level.

Now as far as using something more like the Simple Style Composter:

Aeration techniques take a little more effort. For this I use the same technique as a tumbler, but without the other bucket being attached. I just dump from one bucket to the other every other day or so. The negatives of this style is you often lose some of your dirt outside of the rim of the bucket when you flip, so you need to make sure it’s in a bigger container or have a tarp under it which you can easily catch stuff and put it back in the bucket. One thing I like about this technique other than the cost is you can experiment with features. Try putting a coat hanger through one of the holes to de-clump the compost when it gets too wet.

Whenever your pile is clumpy and wet it is not getting enough air! Dry out your compost with the lid off as quick as you can and break it into parts with the most amount of surface area as soon as you can. This will greatly add to the quickness of your composting. Not to mention stop it from smelling.

If your pile is too big to flip or you’re using a worm bin you need to make sure to get in there with some kind of stirring rod. I use a spoon made for wine making.

And manually lift up your compost, check out your worms to make sure they’re doing OK, and just make sure that things are as light and lofty as possible. If they’re not and your pile is too big to aerate with just your spoon than it might be smart to look at investing in a pitch fork the right size for the job. Aeration is that important.

Some other things to keep in mind while aerating your pile is to allow for airflow from the bottom. Make sure there are ample holes at the bottom of your bin, try lifting them onto some wine bottles skewed to different angles, or cans with the tops of them cut off with a can opener. Having something that can catch the liquid “tea” is an added benefit. Also, worms will be less likely to escape.

Posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 9:18 am under Composting, General, Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.