Rotline Question of the Week: All this rain has made my bin too wet!

Water is added to a Biostack during a rainless day.

Bin wetness from rain is usually a non-issue in San Diego County but recently, with the extreme rain that has fallen on our lovely County, outdoor compost bins are probably on the soggy side. Remember, optimum bin dampness is comparable to that of a wrung out sponge so if your bin is dripping, it is probably too wet!

Backyard Compost Bins

A “too wet” compost bin will naturally dry out over time as the water in the bin evaporates, but if it is rainy or cold outside, the bin may stay wet for an extended period of time. A bin that is too wet can lead to a smelly, anaerobic situation that most strive to avoid. To speed up the drying process, add additional browns (materials high in carbon) to your bin. Items like dead leaves, straw, shredded paper, and mulch will suck up the excess water, drying out the bin. Once the bin is back to the dampness of a wrung out sponge, the microbial population will increase, speeding up composting in the bin.

Worm Bins

Red Wigglers are terrestrial creatures. They will quickly perish if placed into a pool of water. If their environment gets too wet, they will wriggle for their lives, migrating to a safer location, probably out of the worm bin. To dry out the bedding, add shredded paper or cardboard. The worms will eventually eat the paper and in the meantime, it will absorb excess water. If space in your bin is at a premium and additional material cannot be added, placing a piece of cardboard or burlap on the surface of the bedding will absorb moisture and can be replaced if additional moisture needs to be removed. Make sure to also check the worm tea level of your bin. Most of the water in the bin will end up in the worm tea level. If it fills, it will saturate the lowest level of the worm bin. If the tea levels are high, drain the tea from the bin and use it as a liquid fertilizer on your plants! They’ll love it!

New Roots Community Farm featured in the LA Times!

The New Roots Community Farm in City Heights was featured in a great article in the LA Times this morning, heralding its efforts to provide refugees and low income families access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Please click here to view the article. Also, the New Roots Community Farm just so happens to be the location of a FREE upcoming composting workshop!

Free New Roots Community Farm Composting Workshop

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

10am-Noon

54th at Chollas Parkway in City Heights

To pre-register, please click here.

Free Manure Management Workshop!

Manure is a valuable resource – don’t trash it, compost it!

During this free workshop learn about:

• Manure management and composting basics
• The benefits of composting
• Applying compost to gardens and landscapes
• Land use regulations
• Protecting local water sources

Wednesday, February 3rd

7:00-9:00 pm

Ramona Community Center

434 Aqua Lane, Ramona

Pre registration required. Please register online at www.solanacenter.org or by phone 760-436-7986×222

This workshop is funded by the County of San Diego Watershed Department.

Del Mar Fairgrounds Worm Bin Harvest!

Del Mar Fairgrounds Worm Bin Harvest!

Thursday, January 14th, 2010
9:45am
The Del Mar Fair Grounds has a commercial size VermiTech worm bin that is going to be harvested for the first time in several years! Please meet in the Fairgrounds  West Parking Lot near the Grandstands Infield Tunnel  entrance and the group will head out on foot to the vermicompost bin in the Infield of the race track. Please use the Solana Gate Entrance off of Via de La Valle to access the West Parking Lot. No RSVP necessary, please just show up ready and excited about vermicomposting!

Master Composter Jesse Kerr checks out the Fairground's VermiTech bin.

Remembering Becky

Active Master Composter and Volunteer Becky Landes passed away on December 23rd, 2009 in a tragic car accident. She is survived by her husband, Jeff and her sons Ethan and Reid. Becky was well known in the environmental community through her hard work and dedication with Zero Waste San Diego, Solana Center Master Composters, and her children’s school. She will be mourned and missed. Memorials in Becky’s honor may be made to San Diego First Assembly Church, 8404 Phyllis Place, San Diego, California 92123 or FOCAS, P.O. Box 8375, La Jolla, CA 92038. Memorial messages may be written to the family by visiting www.jhenrystuhr.com.

Start the new year composting!

Saturday, January 9^th, 2010
8am-10am
San Diego Zoo Otto Entrance
(one block south of main entrance)

Learn how to create rich garden soil, save water, and reduce trash at the landfill by recycling your kitchen scraps and garden debris at this FREE workshop.

Workshop is taught by trained Master Composters from the Solana Center for Environmental Innovation and cover how and what to compost using both a vermicomposting (worm) bin and a backyard composting bin.

Pre registration required. Please register online at www.solanacenter.org or by phone 760-436-7986 ext. 222. Limit 25 participants.

Click here to pre-register now!

A Day Without a Bag in Encinitas!

Join us for A DAY WITHOUT A BAG today, December 17th!!!!! Give up using single use bags for 24 hours!!!!

We will be giving away reusable bags at the following locations:
Encinitas City Hall 10am-6pm
Encinitas Community and Senior Centers 10am-6pm
Encinitas Public Works 10am-6pm
El Torito Market 4-6pm
Henry’s Marketplace, 1327 Encinitas Blvd. 4-6pm
Ralphs 125 N. El Camino Real 4-6pm
Seaside Market 4-6pm
Smart and Final 479 Encinitas Blvd. 12-2pm
Stater Bros. 1048 N. El Camino Real 4-6pm
Trader Joes 115 N. El Camino Real 4-6pm
Vons 262 N. El Camino Real and 453 Santa Fe Drive 4-6pm
while supplies last (one per household)

“Rotline” Question of the Week: What kinds of paper can be composted?

An inexpensive paper shredder is a great tool for shredding paper for your compost bin.

Paper provides a carbon source for your compost bin. Many kinds of paper can be added to your compost bin, even those with colored ink. The secret to using paper successfully is to shred or chop it and then moisten it before adding it to your bin. It is also helpful to alternate layers of paper with materials that provide more aeration (chopped branches, etc.) to avoid matting. For worm bins, a moist layer of paper on the top of castings and food can help keep away flies and also provide a carbon source for your worms.

Wriggle your way into my heart! Different kinds of worms that compost.

“Earthworm” is the common name for over 2,500 species of Earthworm. But not all species are suitable for vermicomposting or the compost bin. Earthworker worms do not eat a large volume of organic material, do not reproduce well in confinement, and do not thrive when their burrow systems are disturbed. Vermicomposting worms on the other hand, reproduce quickly, eat large amounts of organic material, and tolerate disturbance.

Red Wigglers
Eisenia fetida
Red wigglers are the most common type of vermicomposting worms. They are rust brown in color with striping between segments. Adults can grow to about 3 inches in length, they prefer temperatures between 59-77 degrees F, and cocoons hatch between 35 and 70 days. Red wigglers work well for vermicomposting because of their high reproductive rate, ability to survive in varying conditions, and because under perfect conditions, they can eat their body weight in food everyday. Red wigglers are not soil dwellers and will likely perish if added to a garden.

Red Tiger
Eisenia andrei
The tiger worm is a close relative of the red wiggler and shares very similar vermicomposting abilities. They are dark red or purple in color and can grow up to 3 inches long. They prefer temperatures between 64 and 72 degrees F and can process large volumes of organic material. They are often not separated from red wigglers by commercial growers.

Redworms
Lumbricus rubellus
This worm works well for vermicomposting and bait as well. It is said to be irresistible to fish. This worm is dark red to maroon in color with no striping between segments. They can grow up to 3 inches in length and prefer temperatures between 64 and 72 degrees F. Redworms cocoons hatch in 12 to 16 weeks. This worm can potentially do double duty as a vermicomposter and earthworker.

Nightcrawlers
Lumbricus terrestris
Nightcrawlers are not ideal worms for vermicomposting bins. Nightcrawlers are deep dwellers that can burrow up to 6 feet into the ground. Nightcrawlers do not like their burrows to be disturbed and prefer temperatures around 50 degrees F. They can grow up to 12 inches in length and prefer to eat leaf litter and mulch. Nightcrawlers are earthworkers, performing  an important role in soil mixing, taking organic matter from the surface into deeper layers of the soil.

For more information on worms, please check out The Worm Book by Loren Nancarrow or Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof (available at the Solana Center). For a list of worm retailers in the San Diego area, please click here.

Why should I compost? I’m not growing vegetables.

by: David Emmerson, LCCHS Science Teacher and Solana Center Master Composter

Kitchen waste, yard clippings, paper, coffee grounds, and other organic materials that are produced in the home are all considered “biodegradable”. This term has a positive connotation, especially to us environmentalists. It means that they can be broken down into their raw materials by a variety of living organisms such as microbes (helpful bacteria, protozoa and fungi), earthworms and many different arthropods. Many of our choices at stores are based on purchasing materials that will biodegrade or “rot”.  The theory is that the materials will then be reincorporated as plant nutrients and find their way back into the food chain in a healthy ecosystem.

Leslie turns a Biostack compost bin.

In the United States and in many other developed countries, we over-produce and generate a lot of waste. We have become a throw-away society, keeping our homes neat and tidy by either rinsing things down our drains or putting wastes in plastic bags out on the curb where it all goes out of sight, out of mind. The illusion is that we have solved our problems and shouldn’t worry because the waste will biodegrade on its own. We sometimes further the cause by putting “green” waste into special bins to be picked up separately to be kept out of landfills. However, most of us don’t realize is that almost all of the biodegradable material that we flush, rinse or throw out is going to end up breaking down in an anaerobic environment either as sewage sludge or in most cases in landfills. The separated green waste most often gets used as ADC, “Alternate Daily Cover” to top off the day’s trash which is then layered over the next day, so it gets buried anyhow. Locally, the cities of San Diego and Oceanside have composting facilities where green waste collected at the curb can be taken to be composted or mulched. But if you do not live in those cities or in an area where composting facilities are available, you do not necessarily keep it out of the landfill by separating it.

When organic material decomposes without oxygen, the microorganism can only partially break it down. One of the major end products of this type of decomposition is methane gas (CH₄). Methane makes up a little over half of the gas that comes from landfills. Global methane emissions from landfills are estimated to be between 30 and 70 million tons each year. Most of this landfill methane currently comes from developed countries, where the levels of waste tend to be highest. The EPA indicates that methane is about 10% of the green house gases released in the US each year. But it is 72 times more effective (over a 25 year period) at contributing to global warming than the better known greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO₂). Landfills are the second largest source of human-related atmospheric methane, almost one fourth of the methane we release now comes from landfills. Landfills provide ideal conditions for methane production, with lots of organic material and anaerobic conditions. The huge amounts of waste that are buried in landfill sites means that methane is produced for years after the site is closed, due to the waste slowly decaying under the ground. Having the waste we produce at home shipped to landfills means further greenhouse gas produced from the fuel burned.

The Solana Center garden abounds from the compost ammended soil.

By properly composting kitchen waste and yard clippings you can ensure that the waste will not sit in a landfill producing methane. Instead, it will go to work at creating healthy soil and reducing amount of water runoff. Several very effective composting methods are available for domestic use, with vermi-composting (using worms) being particularly effective at quickly converting kitchen waste into good quality garden compost.

Even if you are not serious about gardening, you will improve the water retention of your soil and improve the health of the lawn, shrubs, trees or other landscaping if you turn your organic wastes into compost and put it back into the ground. Healthy soil is an important factor in protecting our water resources. Compost increases soil’s ability to retain water and decreases runoff. Runoff pollutes water by carrying soil, fertilizers and pesticides to nearby streams and sewer drains. Compost encourages healthy root systems, which also decrease runoff. Healthy root systems mean healthy plants and thus better growth and carbon sequestration. If we use compost, we can reduce or eliminate the use of synthetic fertilizers (which come from petroleum). Many people add fertilizer to flowers or lawns even if they are not gardening. Only a 5% increase in organic material quadruples soils capacity to hold water. Not too interested in back breaking work with a shovel to turn the compost into the soil? Don’t want to pay for a roto-tiller? Good news for you. It has been shown that simply top dressing soil with compost helps retain the mycorrhizal fungi nets that assist plant roots. It may actually be the most effective way to assist the plants you already have around your house.

Whether you are trying to grow award winning tomatoes or simply want to help the environment around your own home, composting is the thing for you. You will also contribute to the health of the general community in which you live and cut the amount of pollutants that go into the atmosphere from the wastes you’ve generated. Thanks in advance!

http://www.ars.usda.gov US Dept. of Agriculture website

http://www.ghgonline.org/index.htm a green house gas (GHG) website

http://www.epa.gov/ US Environmental Protection Agency website

http://www.globalchange.gov/ the US Govt. website for Fed. Research on Climate and Global Change