Bin, worm and problem logs
Three logs: what goes into a bin or batch and what it does, how a worm bin is doing, and each problem with the change you made and what happened.
For a first pass, the bin log is essential if you run a bin, a tumbler or a hot pile; the worm log is essential only if you run a worm bin; the problems log is for when something goes wrong, and Troubleshooting asks you to use it once. The others can stay empty.
Bin and batch log
One row per visit. Temperature only matters for a hot pile; leave it blank for a cold bin. Record what you saw; decide elsewhere.
Worm bin log
One row per feeding or check. Write food in pounds or cups, whichever you measure.
Problems and fixes
One row per problem. Change one thing at a time, then check again in a week and write the result.
How to use these logs
- One row per visit, not per day. A cold bin may get a row each time you add scraps; a hot pile gets a row each time you read the thermometer.
- Greens and browns in gallons. Use the same container each time so the numbers compare. The totals show your ratio over the period.
- Record, do not conclude. The moisture, smell and temperature columns hold what you observed. Causes and fixes belong in the problems log.
- The example row is fictional. "Load example rows (fictional)" adds it; clear the sheet before you add your first real row.
The bin log's example row is Tomás Reyes's (a fictional person) first addition: half a gallon of greens covered with a gallon and a half of leaves, moisture right, smell earthy, no temperature because a cold bin needs none. Ingrid Sorensen's (also fictional) hot batch would carry a temperature on each row: 138°F at the center on days 3 to 6, and turns on day 8 and day 16.
A log shows what happened to your bin. It does not show why, and one reading at the center of a pile is not the pile's temperature everywhere. A temperature column cannot tell you your compost is free of pathogens or weed seeds; The hot pile explains what a reading does and does not mean.