Composting

Can anyone tell me how long it takes for the bag part of teabags to compost? I emptied my compost bin at the weekend in order to move it. I riddled/sieved quite a bit of the compost to remove the uncomposted parts and there were hundreds if not thousands of teabag skins.

PS. I have one of the plastic bins will a little door at the bottom. I find that the stuff at the sides composts a lot slower probably as the temperature doesn't get as hot as the middle.

 

You dont say how long the tea bags have been in there (and if there are thousands are you running a cafe??!). We do the same as you but our bins are open and there is no sign of our organic tea bags after six months. Maybe its something to do with the type used? or do you drink lots of different brands??

 

The teabags have been in for up to a year. We drink lots of tea!!, Morrisons own brand so probably not very eco friendly bag material.

 

Hi CS
How often do you turn your compost? We too drink lots of tea, & mine rot down fine. I have 2 bins with doors in front & unless you turn it, it rots down unevenly because, as you say, the heat tends to stay in the middle. I turn mine from one to the other after harvesting it (before I had 2, I used to fork it into a wheelbarrow & mix it up before bunging it back in. Also is your bin in a sunny spot? This helps with heat. Keeping it damp but not wet helps with decomposition ("Night soil" is good - if you can persuade someone to do it!!! LOL) I get about 4 good lots a year, it pays to keep a good mix of woody (carbon) & green (nitrogen)+ giving it a bit of TLC! :D

 

I have to admit I haven't ever turned it. Until now I've bunged everything in the top (a good mix of garden and kitchen waste) and when it's full I remove some from the bottom and give it a real good prod to get the top stuff to drop down into the space.(then putting any uncomposted back in the top) I always thought I got a reasonable amount of compost from it, but if you can get 4 lots then I'll obviously need to tend it a bit more carefully. Unfortunately the bin isn't in a sunny spot and I haven't got a suitable sunny place for it to go. I have in the past occasionally added 'nightsoil', easy when the kids are potty training, but harder to persuade them to pee into a bucket as they get older and my husband refuses!!