Can your trash also be your treasure? Yes, through composting! Home composting transforms your food waste, scraps, kitchen scraps, plant, and garden waste into a gardener’s black gold — fertile and healthy humus soil.
Though everyone should try it, we don’t all have the patience to wait out the natural composting period that, with an improperly balanced mixture, could take months to finish.
Luckily, compost starters help you get amazingly fast results by kick-starting the process. To learn more about this and to find the best compost starter for you, keep reading!
Backyard Boss Top 5 Best Compost Starter in 2022
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Why You Can Trust Us
It’s been years since we started our composting journey, but we still clearly remember our initial hiccups and mistakes — including our impatience when nothing was happening after weeks of trying!
Now that we know better, we want to help you have a smoother experience and that includes sharing what we know about compost starters.
To do this right, we not only used our experience and expertise, but we also consulted other experts and home composters for their advice. We also made sure to back up everything we said with factual data that you can use and double-check.
Best Pet-Friendly
This efficiently composts waste without endangering any curious pets or children, all while keeping your home smelling fresh.
- Indoor and outdoor usage
- Odor control
- Heats waste quickly
- Compatible with most composting systems
- Less efficient in low temperatures
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Why We Like It: This compost starter by Doctor Earth is an all-natural blend of alfalfa meal, seaweed extract, and beneficial microbes that boost your composting process. It’s a helpful accelerator that heats up within days after application. It also helps with odor control and can produce a pleasant aroma instead of pungent smells. It works with most systems and, thanks to its organic composition, it’s also safe to use around pets, though supervision is still recommended.
Who Should Buy It: Those with exposed composting areas could feel more secure in their children and pets’ safety when using this accelerator.
Best Organic
Jobe's Organics is a fast-acting compost starter that works amazingly even if you’re less involved with its upkeep.
- Organic granular formula
- 2-3 week composting period
- Contains Biozome to increase nutrients
- OMRI Listed for Organic Use
- Pungent odor
- Low yield (4 cubic feet of compost per bag)
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Why We Like It: This Jobe’s Organics Compost Starter is a four-pound bag of organic materials and granules specially formulated with important nutrients, ingredients, and Biozome, a beneficial three-strand microbe mix. This is made to improve compost quality, speed up the composting process, and show results within two to three weeks. Jobe's Organics is a well-loved OMRI Listed product that works efficiently even if you haven’t been turning it as often as the experts recommend!
Who Should Buy It: Jobe's Organics is convenient for those who often forget to manually turn their compost tumblers or compost bins and can’t balance their green and brown materials.
Best For The Kitchen
This bokashi compost starter can be used in a variety of ways, not just for composting, and is convenient to always have at home.
- Indoor and outdoor usage
- Odor-neutralizing
- Good for winter composting
- Organic and pet safe formula
- Incompatible with worm farms and open-air systems
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Why We Like It: SCD’s bokashi is an organic formula containing fermented bran and minerals that can be used in a variety of ways. As a compost starter, the bokashi compost has odor control properties that neutralize bad smells and also sops up liquid waste. This is meant to be used in fully lidded composting bins and would be a fantastic addition to kitchen spaces. These can also be used to absorb the odor of your cat litter and revive your indoor and outdoor plant health and encourage plant growth!
Who Should Buy It: Those who need to compost indoors will find a lot of usage in this.
Best Large Yield
After this starter dissolves in water, it’s very easy to use in big compost systems.
- 12 dissolvable organic accelerator packets
- 9 cubic feet of compost per packet
- 30-day conversion
- Compatible with most compost systems
- Packet can’t be divided for a smaller yield
- Needs to be used within 15 minutes of dissolving
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Why We Like It: The GreenPig compost accelerator comes in a bag with 12 dissolvable packets that, in total, produce 108 cubic feet of compost. Each packet is filled with enzyme-producing bacteria that activate in one to two gallons of water. After applying to your waste, you can expect to see gratifying results in as soon as 30 days. The GreenPig compost accelerator is an odor-neutralizing formula that helps you produce lots of compost without any hassle!
Who Should Buy It: This is great for those who need to quickly produce a large quantity of humus.
Best Odor Control
This fantastic accelerator efficiently breaks down your waste while neutralizing and reducing unpleasant smells.
- Over 60 active microbe strains
- 4-week conversion
- Free of animal products
- Responsive customer service
- Low yield (4 cubic feet of compost per pack)
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Why We Like It: Biomaster’s compost starter is an enzyme-rich formula that contains over 60 micro-organism strains. It comes in a spout pack to help you spread and distribute the starter more evenly over your compost. This is a chemical-free formula that’s made with odor-neutralizing properties that help control any smells produced. Fortunately, this compost starter is compatible with most systems and worm farms and is also great for beginners who are sensitive to pungent odors.
Who Should Buy It: Those who are sensitive to odd odors will find this very comfortable to use.
How Do Compost Starters Work?
There’s a frustrating misconception that home composting works by simply throwing your kitchen waste in a pile and coming back in a couple of weeks to fertile compost — but that couldn’t be more wrong!
Compost is made from the decomposition of a mixture of green nitrogen-rich ingredients and brown carbon-rich material. This is an involved process needing lots of planning, balancing, and usually a six to eight-week wait. It’s deceptively easy to get wrong but, fortunately, that’s where compost starters come in.
Compost starters, also known as activators or accelerators, are typically formulated with nutrients and microbes to kickstart the natural decomposition process and help troubleshoot composting mishaps. They’ve been around for thousands of years — even the Babylonians used compost activators, specifically blood, to improve their gardening.
Nowadays, commercial compost activators are designed to give you faster and healthier results even if you don’t understand what you’re doing yet.
Image credits: Oregon State University via Creative Commons
Things To Consider Before Buying A Compost Starter
Although they have the same purpose, not all compost starters are made equal. Before you pick one, think about these factors first to ensure you make the best choice for your needs.
Type of Starter
Knowing the type of compost starter you’ll use will help you choose one that’s best for your system. When talking about formula, there are mainly two types of commercial compost starters: nutrient-rich activators and enzyme activators.
Nutrient-rich compost activators work by feeding the present bacteria in your system through added nutrients and minerals. Enzyme activators, also known as inoculants, contain water-activated microorganisms that increase the number of bacteria feeding on your waste.
Composting System
The composting system you use can influence your starter’s efficiency and effectiveness. Depending on the starter’s formula, some won’t be compatible with worm farms or open-air systems while others can have less noticeable changes when using a tumbler.
Odor Sensitivity
Adding a compost starter to your mixture can both negatively or positively affect its stink. Some starter formulas are made with odor neutralizing properties while others come with a strong, pungent smell. If your system is near areas you often stay in, it’s important to find an activator that can control its odors.
Budget
Compost starters are regularly used to top up fresh waste layers. Calculate the yield you need with the recommended application schedule for the starter you’re interested in to be sure you can sustain this purchase. If not, it’s better to opt for a budget-friendly compost starter and mix it with a handful of soil or old compost to improve its performance.
Pets and Children
While children and pets should never go unsupervised around your compost, slip-ups can happen. If you have mischievous children or pets that like to go near your bin, it’s best to look for pet and children-safe compost starters to be more secure.
Image credits: Justin Snow via Creative Commons
Benefits Of Compost Starters
If you still have reservations, these are three of the countless ways a compost accelerator can benefit you.
- Quicken The Process - A compost starter speeds up your waste’s decomposition to produce organic and fertile humus much faster than normal. If you’re impatient to see results, a starter is your best hope.
- Forgive Composting Mistakes - Compost starters also make up for imbalanced mixtures of brown and green matter, especially when topping up your bin. However, it’s not a miracle worker and you still have to make sure to only put in things you can compost.
- Higher Quality Results - A compost starter in your mixture ensures that your end product will be fertile and healthy. This is a zero-waste, cost-effective, and organic alternative to fertilizers which usually have mysterious chemical formulas.
How We Picked
The compost starters we included were all carefully chosen using a thorough research process that looked deeply into each product’s formula and performance.
Starting with market research, we studied the different compost starters available and narrowed down our list by seeking the sound advice and opinions of experts and the consumers of each starter. After those consultations, we then personally tested the activators with the most potential and took note of their benefits and disadvantages.
That process gave us a complete look at each starter on this list and we’re sure you can enjoy any of them while you compost!
Our Top Pick of the Best Compost Starter in 2022
When you can’t find the right balance in your mixture, compost starters save the day and help you turn your waste into valuable humus for your garden.
If you asked us, our undeniable favorite from this list is the Dr. Earth 727 Compost Starter. It has everything you want in a starter— an organic, fast-acting, nutrient-rich, pet-safe, and odor-neutralizing formula. It’s hard to mess up with this in your bin!
That said, it’s not perfect and it might not be the best option for you. Always choose the one that’ll make your life easier and matches your needs best.
After learning all of this, you know everything you need to choose the best compost accelerator for you to help turn your trash into gold again!