Shoutout to finally getting my compost bin to not smell

I spent like 3 months trying to figure out why my backyard compost in Phoenix was attracting flies no matter what I did... turns out I was adding too much green stuff and not enough brown leaves. Added some shredded cardboard from my work file pile and the smell cleared up in about a week. Anyone else have trouble balancing their compost ratios at first?

3 comments

3 Comments

evan_cooper731mo ago

Had a buddy in Mesa who swore his compost was cursed, turns out he was dumping a whole bag of grapefruit peels in at once and the acidity plus heat was making it stink like rotten fruit salad. Told him to layer in shredded newspaper every time he added scraps and the smell was gone within a week.

caseythompson1mo ago

Kept adding too much kitchen waste to mine here in Tucson and wondered why it was getting slimy and gross. What finally worked was shredding up those brown paper yard waste bags from the hardware store and mixing them in layers every time I added food scraps. Also stopped dumping citrus peels in there all at once because I think the acidity was messing with the smell. Now I keep a stack of torn up cardboard boxes next to the bin so I can grab a handful whenever I throw in coffee grounds or veggie peels. It really is ALL about that carbon to nitrogen balance once you figure out your local climate.

samflores1mo ago

@caseythompson you hit the nail on the head with the brown paper yard waste bags. I started tearing up old Amazon boxes and mixing them in every time I add food scraps here in Phoenix and it made a huge difference. The slime disappeared within a couple weeks once I got the layers right.