How to start composting quickly

Here is a helpful trick for getting your composting started, but first it is useful to understand how microbial composting works.

Different types of microbes need to be present for composting a heap of wastes but their activities aren't constant. Rather, they occur in a series of stages.

For each stage, certain types of microbes that like the available food flourish. They multiply to consume the food and as their food supply dries up, they wither to make way for the next lot of microbes to take over. Composting involves a successsion of microbial groups, or simply a relay of microbes.

The best trick to kick-start a microbial relay

Include helpful microbes when you start up your composting. These microbes can come from matured compost or garden soil. If unable to source them from family, friends, or a neighbour, you can use some soil from a nature strip. Another option is to buy some compost starter from a commercial supplier ^[1] .

Not all compost systems are created equally

Some compost systems allow the all-important microbial relay to work more efficiently than others:

Open ended bins - The waste breakdown in these bins slows during a changeover in the microbial relay. Add compost kick-starter each time you start a new batch in an emptied bin, e.g. a layer of matured compost or material not fully composted from the top of your previous batch.

Tumblers - In this system, regular tumbling is required to aerate the compost to avoid a sticky mess. Unfortunately, this means that older material gets mixed up with new raw scraps and disorders the microbe relay. Tumbled materials have uneven levels of maturity, so without further maturing outside of the tumbler, are of inconsistent quality. Add some kick-starter (e.g. 3-4 cups of matured compost) to help start every new batch in an emptied tumbler.

Worm farms - Place (purchased) compost worms on bedding material like moist coconut fibre in your worm bin. Spread wastes on top. Sprinkle some compost kick-starters to help pre-digest (or break down) the food for worms to swallow. Don’t overfeed- uneaten food in excess can stink.

Bioverter - This system is unique in that it allows you to harvest compost juice and solids from 2 trays at the bottom of the unit. Therefore, there is no need to empty or clear out a batch of compost and start again as you do with the other systems.

Bioverter maintains a stable population of microbes in each composting stage with regular feeding, resulting in:

• only one kick-start with 2-3 cups of matured compost or soil
• a continuous breakdown of your waste into harvestable products

Microbial composting is more consistent inside Bioverter than in standard compost equipment.