Composting Questions
Can 3D Printed PLA be composted in the Subpod?
PLA, also known as polylactic acid or polylactide, is a thermoplastic made from renewable resources such as corn starch, tapioca roots or sugar cane, unlike other industrial materials made primarily from petroleum. Check with your source of PLA ...
Can I compost waste from Smart Cara in the Subpod?
Yes, you can add waste from Smart Cara to the Subpod. There are however a few things to note when using your Smart Cara to generate waste for your Subpod: If you run the full cycle on Smart Cara, the resulting waste would be added to your Subpod as ...
Adding urine to the Subpod
We strongly advise against urinating directly into the Subpod. The high nitrogen levels present in fresh urine will burn the worms. We also do not recommend adding urine to finished vermiculture compost. Instead, we advise that you dilute it at ...
Can you compost coffee filters?
Coffee filters are fine to compost in your Subpod. Just be sure to avoid adding coffee filters lined with plastic coatings to your Subpod. Although they will break down pretty quickly, a good tip is to tear them in half to compost faster.
Can I compost peach and cherry pits?
While peach and cherry pits will not harm anything in your system they will take much longer to break down, and you will find that the rest of your compost would be ready before the pits. They will be fine to add to your Subpod as they won't fill up ...
Can I compost dead worms?
It is fine to compost the dead worms in the Subpod. However, we recommend having plenty of bedding to dilute the rotting carcasses. This will ensure that your Subpod environment is still comfortable for the living worms still in your system. Luckily, ...
Can I compost beer waste in the Subpod? I’m going to be brewing my own beer and there is leftover waste from hops, yeast and some liquids.
Yes, you can definitely compost your beer waste in the Subpod. It can be good worm food provided you pay attention to a couple of points. At the initial stage of making the wort; the hops and spent grain or residual malt extract can go in, just be ...
Have you had any Subpod installations at small breweries? Can you compost spent grains exclusively?
Composting spent grains exclusively will likely take a little experimentation with getting the ratio of grain to dry carbon right. In our experience, a lot of grain can heat up a system from the fermentation process by microbes. Adding enough ...
How do you turn the compost?
To turn your compost we recommend that you use a compost aerator. You can purchase this through our webshop or you can purchase at garden shops and hardware stores. https://subpod.com/collections/all/products/subpod-compost-aerator When you add your ...
Do you still need to add carbon in Subpod? Do you have other suggestions for carbon other than leaves, dry grass clippings, or newspapers?
It's true it's important to have carbon in any composting system. Although Subpod is a little more relaxed with this rule because the worms and microbes can take carbon from the surrounding soil. We still suggest placing a handful of carbon every ...
Can compostable bin bags be composted in Subpod? Any brands you can suggest that would be fine to throw straight into the Subpod and mix up?
We have been experimenting with different bin bag liners and at the moment we are finding they are taking a while to break down, probably due to the Subpod composting system being more of a cold composting/worm system rather than a hot composting ...
I have a garden cabin which has a bucket toilet which we empty manually. Will the Subpod handle human shit/faeces/poo/poop?
The Subpod is perfectly capable of composting human faeces and other manures as long as sufficient dry carbon is added to balance the moisture and the high nitrogen content of the faeces. We recommend you have a separate Subpod that you use solely ...
Can Subpod remove the odour from decomposing human faeces that have been turned into sludge to provide nutrients for plants near the house?
It’s likely that the human faeces turned into sludge are smelly because they were composted anaerobically (low oxygen) and/or mixed with urine. This smell will quickly disappear if the sludge is mixed with enough dry carbon-rich material (dried ...
Can cat/kitty litter be composted? https://www.petbarn.com.au/trouble-trix-crystal-cat-litter this is what I currently use.
This cat/kitty litter can be composted just fine. Mix well with other organic waste and dry carbon-rich material for best results. This will work for both the clay and silica type kitty litters. We recommend for safety that compost generated ...
Can dog, cat and other animal faeces be composted?
For health reasons, and to be on the safe side, we advise that you compost animal poop (fecal matter) and anything that comes into contact with animal poop in a separate Subpod to your normal Subpod (Subpod for growing human food). Or that you only ...
Can the hay that is used in my guinea pig pen be put into my Subpod?
You can compost the hay that is used for your guinea pigs just fine in Subpod. The hay will be a source of carbon and also nitrogen if it’s covered in the guinea pig poop. For health reasons, and to be on the safe side, we advise that you compost ...
What can be composted in Subpod?
You can compost a lot more things in Subpod than compared to an ordinary worm farm. You can compost food scraps, including citrus, onions, and after 4 months of active use even small quantities of meat, fish, dairy, and spicy foods. Carbon items ...
I’ve heard you shouldn’t compost onion and garlic. What about if it’s cooked into a meal? Or the skins?
Onions, garlic and skins are fine in the Subpod. At the start, when your Subpod system is beginning, you should only add small amounts. Over time you will be able to add more onions and garlic to your Subpod (after 4 months). If the system is ...
Whilst the compost is breaking down in my garden bed will it be drawing nitrogen and nutrients from my existing (luscious soil(, in order to break down?
The good news is that the food waste that you put into your Subpod supplies plenty of nitrogen to feed the microbes that will be decomposing it. There is no risk of depleting the nitrogen from the surrounding soil while the compost is being ...
Do you still need to chop everything up quite small for the worms to manage? Chop all the thick stems of cauliflower or broccoli, avocado skins etc! Crush eggshells? Leave out seeds?...
You don’t need to chop everything up small for the worms. Chopping simply speeds up the process so the food breaks down more quickly. Composting will still take place in the warm, moist environment if you put in larger chunks. The worms will just ...
How long does it take to turn waste into soil, compost and worm castings in a Subpod?
It will take around 17 to 22 weeks to convert waste to soil, compost and worm castings (for a full Subpod). It takes around five weeks for each level, and then once it gets to the third level you leave it to sit for two weeks. If you would like to ...
Can you compost horse manure in Subpods?
You can compost horse manure in Subpod but you need to make sure that the horses have not been treated with deworming agents as these will hurt or even kill the compost worms that try to consume the manure. There could also be a risk of weed seeds ...
Can I compost commercially compostable food packaging? (they say to be only compostable in commercial composting systems)
Most compostable food packaging says - compostable in commercial composting systems. These are different from normal household compost systems and Subpod systems. The compostable food packaging that is only compostable in commercial composting ...
Can I compost grass clippings in Subpod?
Fresh grass clippings are similar in their makeup to food waste if we compare their carbon C, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (Ph). Food waste averages 49.5% C, 3.8% N, and 0.51% Ph. Fresh grass is 44.9% C, 3.4% N, 0.2% Ph These percentages are so ...
Can I compost coffee grounds?
It’s no problem to add your coffee grounds into the Subpod as part of the mix with your other kitchen waste. In fact, worms thrive on the nutrients still present in the spent grounds. If you are thinking of composting all the coffee grounds from a ...
How much citrus peel can I compost in Subpod?
4-5 fruit peels per week are no problem once your system is fully functioning after about 3 months of feeding. Best to cut the peels into at least 4 pieces to compost faster. The worms can move to the other side of the Subpod if they don’t like the ...
Can dog, cat and other animal faeces be composted in Subpod?
Yes, you can compost animal poop in a Subpod. If you choose to do this however, you will not be able to use any of the worm castings or worm tea for fertilizer on plants that will be eaten by humans. You will need to put a warning on your Subpod to ...
Can I compost meat in Subpod?
It is possible to compost meat in your Subpod after 4 months. Start composting with fruit and vegetables, and once your Subpod is strong, you will be able to slowly start adding meat to your Subpod. We will be adding information to our Subpod Grow ...
Can I compost tea bags in Subpod?
Tea bags can be composted, but there are some things that you may like to take into consideration. the tea bag string can get caught in the aerator when you twist the aerator - not a problem, just a bit messy the label may not be compostable the ...
Can I compost bones? Can I compost bones that I have used for bone broth? Can I compost bones that are left over from cooking, the dog, etc?
We do not personally have too much experience composting large quantities of bones, but we have done some research into composting bones, and we have also considered the material bones are made out of. We therefore think that you can put bones in ...