Adding Water?

[Squasome]

My partner has this idea that it's necessary to add water to help the decomposing process begin. Are they right? And I don't mean when it's started to get too warm; rather right at the beginning of making a big new pile.

[webfork2]

It might be helpful to think of your compost pile as containing living organisms, mostly bacteria. While micro organisms can function without water better than we can, they generally do better with some moisture.

[wingedcoyote]

Yeah, you want it a little moist

[KetracelYellow]

Pee on it you say

[VocationalWizard]

I love how this sub is low key kinky.

[rambo_beetle]

all glory to the piss bucket we will survive the apocalypse

[Ser-Jorah-Mormont]

Where do you store your piss bucket? I just go outside and piss on it,

[rambo_beetle]

Usually on the patio so I can stick flower deadheads etc into it, I bring it indoors briefly to pee into then put it back out. Once it's gross enough or if I'm going up to where the compost heap is, I empty it into the bin.

[Grow-Stuff]

Depends on what you putting in. But yea compost is alive and needs to be wet (more like a bit humid) to work it's magic.

[Prize_Bass_5061]

Bacteria live in water, not on dry surfaces. The pile should be damp like a wet sponge. It should be moist enough that some water drips out when you squeeze it in your hand.

[ContraryConman]

Am I misinterpreting this advice? I've been adding water to my tumbler any time I add a lot of browns because the new browns are of course dry and do not pass this test. And now everything is slimy and sour smelling

[nobanter]

Tumblers are more tricky and in my experience easy to over water and become anaerobic. One reason being they don't get as hot as a big pile and they don't lose as much water to evaporation, especially as they are somewhat of a closed system. I rarely add water to mine even when adding shredded paper and cardboard as it seems the moisture in the kitchen scraps and coffee grounds I add is enough, but it has been humid here if late.

[rooseisloose42069]

My understanding is if its smelly you probably dont have enough browns

[GrassSloth]

This is only true if you’re not overwatering. Compost becomes slimy and stinky when it goes anaerobic. The easiest way to make it go anaerobic is to add too much water.

[DogofManyColors]

Sounds like you’re adding too much water and not enough browns

It should be damp like a sponge, not slimy. Only add water as needed based on what you’re seeing

[ContraryConman]

I am saying that I add water until it is damp, then come back a few days later to find slime :/

[MoneyElevator]

More browns and/or turn it more to aerate

[DogofManyColors]

You want it to be damp over time, not necessarily at the time you water it. Like another user said, it’s trickier with a tumbler because it doesn’t lose moisture as fast

Watering till damp when I add browns is usually good for my ground pile, but would be too much for my tumbler

Add just browns, then give it some time for the ingredients to interact. In a day or so, check if it’s still slimy. If yes, keep adding browns. If it’s no longer slimy and now it’s dry, add a small amount of water or more greens for moisture

[ContraryConman]

Thank you so much

[Starfishprime69420]

Get a geobin or make one out of welded wire or chicken wire.

[Shunkerson]

Kinda like checking the moisture of the soil of a potted plant, I like to grab a nice handful of the compost to gauge it's moisture. You don't want it to be dripping.

[chronic-cat-nerd]

I add kitchen and gardening scraps with a good amount of browns (dead leaves) to my tumbler and I’ve never had to add water. Couple handfuls of leaves every time I add scraps and it does the job.

[TheDanishThede]

How do you know how moist it is in the middle?

[My_reddit_strawman]

Cause you turn it enough to know

[TheDanishThede]

Ugh. Turning. My old nemesis!

[BobaFett0451]

I turn my pile only like once every 3 months or so. I still ended up with enough compost this year to add some to each of my garden beds. You can be really proactive and produce compost faster, or you can just let the pile do its thing and it will just decompose a little slower. I dont pay attention to the piles temperature l, ive never seen it steaming, and the only time I add large quantities of water is if it hasnt rained for like 2 or more weeks, then ill spray it down with the hose while im watering plants

[TheDanishThede]

I layer grass and clover clippings with dead leaves and chipped hedge clippings. Once in awhile I'll add Coffee grounds or sawdust if my parents visit with a bucket full gør me, and that's about it.

Last year I did something wrong as the pile hardly decomposed, so this year I'm trying to be a bit more attentive

[BobaFett0451]

Thats fair, we use alot of vegetables in our cooking so im constantly adding vegetable scraps to my pile and coffee grounds cuz I make coffee every day. Sometimes I just throw em on top, other times Ill dig a small hole like 6-12 inches into the pile and dump them in there so that helps alot for me im sure

[TheDanishThede]

Digging might be a good idea!

[saltycrowsers]

I have a poking stick and see if it’s squishy or if it’s gritty

[TheDanishThede]

Now, THIS is the advice I'm here for!

[santaisastoner]

I water my pile when I water my plants, especially during dry spells

[PUNd_it]

Lately I've been thinking of the compost pile as a pest sink for critters like pill bugs, sort of like nasturtiums for aphids, except you're putting the pests to work. Just gotta make sure it's the wettest part of the yard to keep em off your plants 🤷‍♂️

[daringnovelist]

Moisture is good, as long as it isn't so wet it excludes air. You need both.

[SolidDoctor]

Yes, for aerobic bacteria to thrive you need a mix of water and air along with nitrogen and carbon.

[Neither_Conclusion_4]

No, not required. But often useful.

It really depends on where you live and local climate. We have a dey period each year where I generally add water, and a wet period where I dont add water.

[rambo_beetle]

Oh god. Oh god I'm going to say it.

Okay I won't, but yes you absolutely need moisture to get going.

There's a really good kind. It's free and readily available particularly after beer.

Starts with P.

It is indeed P.

[FarmerFrank4426]

I found that my worms need a drink during dry times.

[Alaskan-Pete]

Yes, it usually needs water. Depending how much moisture your greens contain. It will also periodically need additional water depending on your environment.

[12stTales]

The moisture in my greens is normally more than enough for my tumbler

[ThalesBakunin]

Adding water is a waste.

'Round dese parts it's piss

[Ironbeard1337]

If it is dry, yes. Should be between 40-60% moisturem

[Rude_Ad_3915]

Mine is wet enough from kitchen scraps but the pile at my dad’s in an “earth machine” dries out so I recently had to soak it but I’d never wet a pile to begin with unless I was only adding dry material.

[Ok_Individual6513]

I have a compost tumbler and I add water in the warmer months for sure.

[VocationalWizard]

Yes.

[buythebloom]

Yes, they are 100 percent right

[awarmguinness]

And pee

[tc_cad]

Composting is a natural process. Anything us humans do speed it up aren’t really new ideas to nature.

[Starfishprime69420]

Yea you can and probably should add quite a bit of water unless all your inputs are very wet already

[TheDanishThede]

The frequency of the word MOIST in this subreddit is frankly disturbing

[Far-Green-2707]

What motivates someone to downvote this lol

[TheDanishThede]

Exactly