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Finally admitted I was using my compost bin wrong for 3 years
I kept wondering why my compost smelled so bad and took forever to break down. Then a master gardener told me I was piling too much green stuff and not enough browns, so I started adding paper shreds and it fixed everything in like 2 weeks. Anybody else make this same dumb mistake with their setup?
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davidshah5d ago
Huh bet the heat killed off some bugs you didn't even know were there.
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david_palmer5d ago
Back when I first started composting I actually thought you just threw in anything green and wet and that was enough. I had this idea in my head that "more green = faster breakdown" because plants are green and grow fast so it just made sense. Took me a solid 8 months of awful smells and slimy piles before I looked up what browns actually do. Now I keep a bag of shredded paper next to the bin and add a handful every time I dump kitchen scraps. Night and day difference and I wish somebody had told me that from the start. Did you notice your pile heating up more after you added the paper?
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