GETTING STARTED

Simply start by filling the top chamber with kitchen and garden waste. Every 3 to 6 weeks or so, transfer the material from the top chamber into the middle and then lower chambers. The cycle will take 12 to 15 weeks to establish depending on the volume of waste and climate but once set up, the process becomes continuous and you can remove quality compost, whenever convenient, from the bottom chamber. One Earthmaker will 'digest' 1000-1500 kg of mixed garden and kitchen green waste per year producing 200-300 litres of top quality compost/mulch for your garden.

It is not absolutely necessary to "Read the Instructions" as your Earthmaker will work itself out any way, but please read the next two paragraphs which contain important advice. 

Do not add a large amount of wet and heavy material all at once when you first start composting. EARTHMAKER likes to be loaded gradually, as too much weight in the top without anything in the lower chambers, can destabilise it. 

Good quality compost requires a mix of carbon and nitrogen materials. "Browns" such as shredded cardboard, scrunched up paper, fallen leaves provide fibre and carbon. "Greens" such as fruit and vegetable peelings, grass cuttings, tea bags, plant prunings provide nitrogen and moisture. We do not recommend that Earthmaker be used to compost just one type of waste. For example, just fruit peelings or just grass cuttings. If in doubt send us an e-mail. The best ratio of kitchen to garden waste is between 1 to 5 and 1 to 10. ie 1 bucket of food scraps and 5-10 buckets of garden material.

INSTRUCTIONS

Site

After assembly, place your Earthmaker in a convenient position in the garden handy to the kitchen. As radiant heat helps composting, place the Earthmaker in a sunny and preferably sheltered spot. Make a firm level site where any liquids from the composting process can drain to earth and not run over the patio ! To ensure no vermin or unwanted visitors can burrow into your composter, the best base would be  bricks, paving stones, cobble-stones or wooden decking timber. Planting herbs around the base looks attractive and is useful.

What to put in

From the kitchen - anything organic: all vegetable and fruit peelings, salad leftovers, coffee grounds, tea bags, vacuum cleaner contents, small amounts of frying fat or oil, waste paper and cardboard (shredded). You can also include egg shells, shellfish and bones (which will all come out intact but 'clean' for the garden) and small amounts of cooked food if it is 'layered over' (covered by a thick layer of grass cuttings).
 
From the garden - grass cuttings, leaves (dry or green) and shredded organic material. Avoid large "indigestible' prunings or branches. Large amounts of grass cuttings all at once may make the mixture slimy, 2-3 catcher loads per time is plenty, (put any excess in a simple bin alongside Earthmaker and feed in every week or so). You can also add shredded paper, hay, straw and manure is great. Cold ashes only if from UNTREATED timber, as with saw dust.

If you are adding composting worms put them in the middle chamber when material has been moved down from the top chamber, ie after 3-6 weeks. (Note: Add the worms a little at a time and not all at once!). Follow the storage instructions from your worm supplier but we suggest they be kept in a moist, cool, ventilated darkish place.


The composting process

Begin by filling the top chamber with kitchen scraps and garden green waste. The mixture will heat up and compact down after a few days. When Earthmaker has been in operation for a few months, worms and composting microorganisms will be established (in the grooves in the shelves or baffles) and the process of organic breakdown will be faster. Do not wash the shelves and baffles clean when transferring material because the older decomposed matter serves to speed the process. After 3-6 weeks, depending on how much you put in and the climate (temperature), pull out the shelf and push material (with the Push-Pull Tool) into the middle chamber. Start with the material in the front. If you have really filled the top and material is tightly compacted, just push the front portion down, replace the shelf, then rake the back material in the upper chamber forward over the shelf, so this will be the next to "go down".

When mulch/compost is in the bottom chamber (usually 12-15 weeks or more after start up), remove when convenient with a long handled shovel before clearing the middle chamber. Take care not to hook your spade on the lower shelf and damage it. Put your compost direct on your garden, or around shrubs/trees or dig in if preparing for new planting. There should be lots of worms. The longer compost remains "stored" in the lower chamber, the better it will be.

Unwanted visitors

Composting always attracts visitors. Fruit flies (Drosophila) in some warmer seasons, are inevitable. Don't worry they are part of nature's process but if they bother you, grow daisies (pyrethrum) around the Earthmaker or break their life-cycle by covering the waste in the top chamber with grass cuttings or wet newspaper. Sometimes, in hot and dry climates, composting grubs will 'invade' the top chamber. They are whitish, 1cm or so long with a wrigley tail. They are not maggots. Just leave them to do their job and after a few weeks they will disappear and the compost will be more advanced. Sometimes Ants will invade your composter. These can either be ignored or baited. Try not to spray since you may poison helpful organisms in the process. Your Earthmaker will be vermin proof with the lid securely closed and sited on solid ground (see above). Avoid puttting raw or cooked meat in the Earthmaker. The smell will attract all sorts of unwanted visitors!

If you have any further questions, a "USER GUIDE" is delivered with the Earthmaker and can be downloaded from this site: USER Guide. Also our FAQ page on this website may help. Alternatively please contact us with your query .