This is a quick followup to post #1921, where I dumped some winter pond maintenance bacteria into one side of my tumbling composter, to see what would happen. The question was whether or not that would keep my composter working in the cold of winter.
Now, one month later, the short answer is, not. There is no detectable difference in the level of (un-decomposed) compost, between the treated and un-treated sides.
The upshot is that the only way I’m going to be able to keep that composter working throughout the winter is to heat it. A little passive-solar-heated shed didn’t do the trick. These cold-loving bacteria didn’t do the trick. And having an electrically-heated outdoor composter is a total non-starter, for me.
At this point, I give up. I just won’t compost kitchen scraps over the winter.
