Indoor Composting During the Winter

Stick with mild food, like banana peels, for your indoor compost bin.

Composting transforms decomposing organic waste into nutrient-rich humus. Traditional composting methods, such as pile composting and bin composting, typically require too much space to take place inside, but worm composting provides an ideal option for winter composting indoors.

Considerations

Keep your worm bin in a dark location that has temperatures between 55 and 77 degrees F, such as a basement, suggests Loren Nancarrow, coauthor of "The Worm Book." Use a proven compost worm species, such as Eisenia fetida, and bed the worms down on moistened shredded newspaper. Stick with a plastic compost bin to keep potential leakage problems to a minimum.

Size

The size of your indoor worm compost bin plays a key role in ensuring successful winter composting. As a rule, provide approximately 1 square foot of compost bin surface space for each pound of weekly food scraps that you want your worms to consume.

Warning

Indoor composting in winter requires careful monitoring of your compost bin to prevent potential foul odors. Check the bedding moisture level once daily to ensure that it remains about as damp as a wrung-out sponge. If the bedding becomes too moist, add additional shredded newspaper to soak up the excess wetness. Stick with mild food scraps, like fruit waste and vegetable peelings and always bury it under 3 to 4 inches of bedding to minimize pest-attracting smells.

References

• "The Worm Book"; Loren Nancarrow & Janet Hogan Taylor; 1998