A Gardening Controversy Part 4 - The Learning Curve
I have been using the Reencle indoor composter for about a week and I wanted to share the experience up to now.
So far, I really like the Reencle. I keep finding myself peeking into it to see how far it has come with breaking down foods. It is pretty neat, and I have to remind myself that not everything breaks down within a day. Starting off with carbs, pieces of bread and rolls are gone within a few hours. Noodles took about a day. More complex stuff like meat takes a couple of days.
Things I have learned:
You sometimes need to add more water. The mixture can sometimes get too dry, so you occasionally have to add some water. About ever other day I have had to add water. I figure this is related to using a lot of bread for the initial week. Once I start adding more vegetables and fruits, the moisture levels will adjust, at least that is what I am figuring. Much like outdoor compost, it needs to be damp but not saturated.
Dry Microbes
Damp microbes
The Reencle customer service is phenomenal. I have been asking a lot of questions of their Facebook person and they have been very helpful in answering them. Even more scientific-based questions, they were more than happy to send me test results and get answers for me. As there is an obvious learning curve with using the Reencle, excellent customer service is a big bonus.
Patience is a virtue. It will take time for the compost to get to a point of looking like soil, so patience is a must. Reencle indicates it can take about a month for the initial microbial bed to look like soil. I also have had to remember that not everything is broken down within a day. It will take time for the compost to reach the fill line due to mass loss related to composting. However, it is still a super sped-up process vs outdoors.
Reencle compost- from Reencle Customer Service Person
There is some 'lost in translation' things. This item was originally released in Korea in 2019 and what is being released internationally is the new model. So there are some things missing in the instructions. The instruction supplied states to only add carbs and small amounts of protein for the first 4 weeks. Even after a week, I was wondering how to find more carbs. We usually don't have a lot of carby leftovers in my household. So I reached out to customer service. I was told that it was ok to add in other items as long as the microbes are breaking everything down well. I was told that when they initially released the original Reencle in 2019, there were people adding all sorts of strange things and were having issues, so they tried to add some restrictions for the first month in the instructions. Additionally, customer service indicated that as long as the daily limit amount (2.2 lbs/day) is not exceeded consistently and the microbes are not in a "bad" state, then it is ok to add in any of my food waste. Note: Microbes in a "bad state" are able to be fixed. They have instructions on their youtube on how to do this. The whole point is not to be buying more microbes.
Reencle Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClIRR0FGKu3RhLNFeP0UAcA/videos
For those interested, here is the Reencle early bird page: https://reencleus.com/collections/reencle/products/reencle-food-waste-composter?sca_ref=3223740.gI4UstVn7r
Bad Microbes-photo from Reencle Youtube video
The learning curve. Everyone's household is different. So it is a little bit of a learning curve to recognize how the microbes should look and when is it too much or not enough. So that takes some work on my part to pay attention to it. I will say that this is NOT like the other composters like the Lomi and Vitamix where you just toss things in, turn them on, walk away and let them grind it all down for you in a day. This composter does take some time depending on the food items put in. Meats are more complex than bread pieces and they can take a couple of days to break down. The microbes need time to work on the foods. However, I actually appreciate that, as I have it in my head that the microbial breakdown process is the most like outdoor composting vs heating, dehydrating, and grinding of other indoor composters. I have seen some videos of the end product of other indoor composters and it often looks like ground-down, dehydrated bits of food that still need to be officially composted, but as I am not an owner of one of these machines I can't really give a side-by-side comparison.
Final thought:
I am really liking the product thus far. It is way easier than trying hot compost outdoors and issues related to food scraps rotting outside in my suburban neighborhood. I also love the idea that I am not just tossing these things into the garbage to be whisked off to a landfill when I can make compost at home. I feel it really adds a piece to the puzzle I was trying to solve in my suburban garden. While it is a bit more involved than other indoor composters, I think this may be worth it as it really provides the feel of an actual composting process vs the others.
I will give myself more time and then be back to share more of my experience with the Reencle for those of you who have followed and read. Until next time!
For those interested, here is the Reencle page: https://reencleus.com/collections/reencle/products/reencle-food-waste-composter?sca_ref=3223740.gI4UstVn7r
Part 5 is linked here: https://www.minds.com/theminiatureprepper/blog/a-gardening-controversy-part-5-overall-impression-1453568868952838158