How to Use a Three-Bin Composting System

Dave Epstein: Hi I’m Dave Epstein this is Growing Wisdom. We are at garden in the Woods, Framingham, Masschusetts and we’re going to be talking with Scott LeFleur about composting today. Hey Scott what do you doing in the trash? Scott: Well Dave people throw away a lot of things that’s been composted like this apple core. There is over 230 million tons of trash every year in United States have thrown away. It’s about 4 pounds per person a day and a lot of it can go on to the composting bin and be use for fertilizer and other things that help our plants. Dave: I know you guys use a special system here tell me a little bit about that. Scott: We use a hree-bin passive compost system. We actually take our plant cuttings, our food waste anything else put it into bin number one, let that breakdown for about a month, we flip it over into bin number two when let that breakdown for about a month and then flip it into bind number three and that’s where our useful compost is. Dave: That sounds really interesting. Scott, can we go see that? Scott: Yes, go take a look at. Dave: All right. Scott: So Dave here we are. This is our three-bin passive compose system we used here at garden in the wood. [In Passive composting systems, bacteria break down materials over time, and no turning is required. Scott explains how the bacteria work] Dave: So there are three levels of bacteria, reload temperature level of bacteria which will start of in bin one. And then as that bacteria start to heats up and starts breaking things down you get into the second level of bacteria which is a mid-temperature bacteria somewhere around 68 to 88 degrees or so. And then you have a high level bacteria which comes into about 88 to about 160. We get about one batch of compose a season out of doing it this way. I have a barrel that’s right on the ground actually of two. I have one that spends and one that’s on the ground. How was this different on that? Scott: The one that’s above the ground isn’t having contact with the soil. So you’re not getting the microorganisms like protozoa and bacteria and fungi just coming into your compost pile on their own. You probably need to add a catalyst or some soil itself. The one that sets on the ground like this do allow the microorganism from the soil to come right on up and start doing the composting process. Dave: I just known have the space for this, can you make a smaller one? Scott: Absolutely. We have a home composting demonstration another part of the garden and I can show you exactly how to make one. This is really artful and decorative way to sort of build yourself three bin compose system. And as a home owner you can do this, this is all free. These are just branches and trees like to down the yard and all you’re really looking for is a 3X3 bin which makes a good size for it. The other thing you can also do is go to the hardware store and get some post and chicken wire, put that together free palates that you see all over the place. You stand those upright and screw those together as well. You don’t have to put a lot of money into making compose and you also save money from what you’re not spending on fertilizer and you’re also not damaging your environment that way. Dave: Scott, thanks. This is wonderful whether you make it commercially or as a home owner the three bin system something you might want to look into. Come back every week and look into all our videos here at Growing Wisdom.