Gafusa — Home Composting Guide | gafusa.com
What goes in, what stays out, and how to hit the nitrogen-carbon balance.
Greens are nitrogen-rich inputs: fruit and vegetable scraps, fresh grass clippings, coffee grounds. They feed the microbes and generate heat. Browns are carbon-rich inputs: dry leaves, straw, cardboard, wood chips. They provide structure, create airflow pockets and absorb excess moisture.
The target is a carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of about 25:1, the point at which composting is most efficient. In practice, cover each green layer with roughly twice its volume of browns; this keeps moisture and odor in check without measuring by weight.
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Materials to keep out of a basic pile: meat, dairy and oily food. These attract pests and break down anaerobically, producing the rotten smell that signals oxygen below 5%. A hot, well-managed pile can handle more than a cold one, but a first-time composter is better served by a conservative list.
Watch the moisture. The mix should feel like a wrung-out sponge — wet enough for microbes to move, dry enough for air to circulate. Too wet means anaerobic pockets and smells; too dry means the pile stalls.
If the pile smells of ammonia, add browns and turn. If it is cold, check the ratio first: too many browns without enough greens slows the process to a crawl. The balance table on this page is the diagnostic tool.
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