Moisture is defined as the content of water in the composter with respect to all the matter inside. It is much more common to express it as a percentage, since it will indicate the proportion of water with respect to the entire compost mass.
But what is the right amount of water in the composter? How can it be determined?
Moisture Determination
Always check the humidity in the center of the composter. The upper part and the sides are not usually too representative, since they have greater exposure to the outside and are always modified. Experienced can be determined by appearance, but initially the croquette method is probably more effective. It consists of taking a small proportion of the sample by hand (latex gloves can be used so as not to stain our hands, for example) and squeeze these remains, doing as a kind of croquette with the hand. Then three things can happen. The first, that, when squeezing the sample, it begins to drip. This would mean that there is an excess of moisture . The second, after squeezing the sample, when you open your hand, it is moistened but does not drip. It would be the best possible situation, since the humidity would be correct. The third case would be that, when opening the hand after squeezing, it was dry and the croquette was undone. It would indicate a lack of water. But can there be problems if water is missing or left over? And if so, how can it be solved?
Lack of water (Humidity less than 40%)
When too much dry material is poured into the composter , if it gets too much sun or if the remains are turned over, it will probably be detected that the process slows down a lot. This is caused by a lack of water that means that organisms cannot live well, and therefore do not perform their functions. As a result of this lack, the rise in temperature characteristic of the degradation will not be detected and we will see that the remains remain dry, without decomposing.
The solution is simple: add more water. First, we will try to increase the humidity by pouring more wet remains (kitchen debris and green vegetation) and decreasing the proportion of dry remains. If, even so, the humidity is still low, then we can moisten the composter with water, always trying to distribute it well throughout the composter (a shower can be used) with a subsequent flip of the material, to distribute it even more.
Excess water (Humidity greater than 60%)
Too much water is usually accompanied by another nuisance: bad smells . Water forms a thick film around our organic waste and does not let oxygen reach the material to degrade it. In addition, the aspect of compost is that of a mud.
In this case, to solve the problem we will have to add more dry material (dried leaves, crushed branches, untreated natural wood shavings, wood ashes without additives ...). You can also stop pouring kitchen debris for a few days, until the humidity drops. Old newspaper is another option, as long as the pages are black and white, since color inks have more toxic components that can affect the composer's living beings. In any case, it is always advisable to have dry reserve material (to solve specific moisture problems). You can accumulate dried leaves or crushed pruning or leave a part of the lawn to dry and store it. After adding the dry material, it is necessary to remove. In this case, removing brings two advantages: on the one hand it distributes moisture and, on the other, exposing the compost to the atmosphere to dry it. It is advisable to turn and aerate the remains more often when the humidity is high.
And if there are very dry areas and very wet areas, what should be done?
You will have the two problems explained in the previous two sections. Probably the overall humidity is correct, but what happens is that it is poorly distributed (layers or areas with different humidity are observed). It is very characteristic to find the sides of the composter drier than the center, because they are more exposed to the outside. In this case, the solution is much simpler: it is necessary to homogenize, that is, mix the dry material with the wet one to compensate for both humidities. If after doing this the composter is dry or wet, consult the previous sections.
What does moisture depend on?
The location of the composter is one of the conditions. For example, if you get a lot of direct sun, you will have a tendency to be dry. If the problem is location, probably the best solution is to change the composter, as long as that is possible. With the passage of time, you will learn what is the correct proportion of dry and wet materials for the composter and what are their specific needs according to their location.
Similarly, weather conditions can also condition humidity. For example, it is common that, after a rain, the humidity of the composter has increased.
Finally, the humidity also depends on everything we introduce into the composter, that is, the organic waste. If it is not taken into account that both dry and wet material have to be poured, the humidity of the composter will probably not be well controlled. Suitable proportions are three parts wet by one dry approximately.
