Composting in India

My apologies for not posting pictures for this. I’m cut off my my camera for the moment :( .

For the past few days I’ve been brooding over creating my own compost. The horticultural society sells it for Rs. 15 a packet and though it’s not too far, I don’t feel like cycling over regularly. More importantly, I want to be self sufficient and since our place has the space and the resources, I thought it would make a lot of sense for me to do this on my own.

None of the videos and sites on the Internet relating to compost deal with Chennai, or India for that matter. But I learned that the basics are the same. Though I was skeptical at first, I found the relevant bacteria are indeed present even in our garden – the heat generated was proof enough. So composting in India is pretty much the same as composting anywhere else in the world.

Following this great video on making compost, I went out and bought 30 sq ft of wire meshing from a hardware store @ Rs. 10/sq ft. For 300 bucks I made a 3 foot x 3 foot x 3 foot enclosure and placed it in an out of the way area in the garden. I went with my caretaker Mani on the bike and he helped me get a good rate for it.

Compost Bin
Compost bin wire – bent so I can lean over and mix it

The next step was to get “brown” material high in Carbon. Dried leaves, twigs and shredded old newspapers were easily available. After this, I needed “green” stuff that was still somewhat fresh. These are rich in Nitrogen. Eggshells, potato peels and other kitchen refuse go into the pile.

The “brown” stuff provides carbon and the “green” stuff provides nitrogen. I’ll turn this over daily and water it without getting it so wet that it hampers air circulation. I learned that the pile is going to heat up to 70 degrees!

Browns and Greens mixed up
Browns and Greens all mixed up

It’s been a day now since I’ve set up the compost pile, and it’s already getting hot. I turn it over frequently to replenish the oxygen supply and allow the edges to participate in the decomposition. This morning I picked out a handful and it had a fresssssshhh earthy smell :) I wish I could post smells here so others could get an idea of how good it was. It’s exactly the aroma you get when it begins to rain. Awesome.

Just to clear up a misconception. There is no odor whatsoever with aerobic composting. If anything, the smell is of clean fresh earth. Anaerobic composting however, does indeed smell bad. And that happens when there’s not enough oxygen. With aerobic composting, the by product is carbon dioxide. Anaerobic composting generates methane hydrogen sulfide and ammonia instead. Hence the stink. We also need to get the carbon/nitrogen proportion right. Too much of green fresh stuff and it’ll begin to rot and smell.

It feels very right doing this. Looks like composting in India is easy. It’s an outlet for all the kitchen waste except for lime, egg yolk and dairy products (those attract rodents, and acidic lime kill bacteria) Recycling at its very best! And it costs virtually nothing and gives me the black gold I need for my plants.

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16 thoughts on “Composting in India”

  1. I am vermicomposting in my balcony and I am so jealous that you can make a hot compost pile. I use earthworms. It is good enough, I guess, but there is something about working directly on the land….

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