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I live in an apartment building and would like to have an indoor composter (not vermicomposter). This idea is not addressing drainage, this looks promising but expensive and Bokashi mixture is not sold in my area.

I have once tried a window box flowerpot, but the contents dried-out pretty fast.

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  • What do you want to use the resulting composted material for?
    – Bamboo
    Apr 12, 2014 at 11:29
  • to use it as an "additive" for indoor plants, mostly spices.
    – Sparkler
    Apr 12, 2014 at 11:32
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    If your composting system is not a hot, aerobic one, then its not recommended you use the compost in pots - needs heat/air to kill off any pathogens present in the mix. There is a way of using bokashi style compost in planters though, but not round existing plants.
    – Bamboo
    Apr 12, 2014 at 11:36
  • Would this cold anaerobic system be good for anything else? How big must the container be to get aerobic, hot mixture?
    – Sparkler
    Apr 12, 2014 at 12:05
  • Minimum of 3 x 3 x 3 feet for ordinary composting. I think you'd be better off disposing of your waste as rubbish and buying decent fertilisers for your plants, although to be honest, herbs generally don't require much feeding anyway. Even making compost tea is difficult in an apartment.
    – Bamboo
    Apr 12, 2014 at 12:10

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Yep, we are back to your original question! I reckon bokashi is the best way to go, but you'd have to order the bokashi bran on line, and it's not particularly cheap. Otherwise, your first suggestion, the one where you thought drainage might be a problem, has to be the cheapest, easiest way to go. You just need to get a large tray beneath and dispose of any fluid that builds up. There always is fluid with composting, but of course, outside, on open ground, it doesn't matter, and any form of composting requires a fair bit of attention, unless you've just got a heap in the corner of the garden on which you chuck stuff occasionally.

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  • A really determined person can produce their own Bokashi bran, which makes the process much more affordable. My company, West Coast Seeds, published this book last fall, which explains how to do this.
    – user3333
    Apr 14, 2014 at 17:08
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I've not (yet) tried it myself, but recently I read about a 'worm bin', which seems to be a good solution for indoor composting.

The idea is that you have a bin of multiple layers. You fill up a layer with materials, and the worms will do the composting for you. When the layer is full, you add new layers. The worms can travel between the layers because of holes in the bottom. This also makes sure that excess fluids will be drained. This fluid is very potent as well and can be used as a fertilizer when mixed with water (otherwise it's too strong).

After a while, the bottom layer will be fully composted and you can use the contents from that layer, after which you can put it on top to fill it again with new material.

You can buy systems like this, but they appear to be pretty easy to make yourself too.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Worm-Compost-System

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