Compost in a Bottle {Science Experiment}

With Fall  on it's way for my friends in the northern hemisphere and spring down here I thought I would share this easy experiment any one can do any time of the year. Earlier this year Sir N and I spent a delightful day out at Barwon Waste Management Education Centre where we helped in an experiment called Compost in a Bottle.  This is a wonderful experiment you can do at home and watch over the year to see what happens.

You will Need

1. Strips of news paper
2. Blood & Bone (garden fertilizer)
3. Bread
4. Grated Carrot
5. Grated Potato
6. Soil
7. Two or Three 2.25 Lt cold drink bottles (we used Coke bottles)

Method

• Clean the plastic bottles well. Cut the bottle around the top leaving a small part to act as a hinge.

• You will need fruit, vegetables, soil, paper and fertilizer.  In order to make all the bottles identical I chose to grate carrots and vegetables and use a cup measure when placing into the bottles.
• Follow the recipe (a picture recipe)
• Layer soil, vegetables, fertilizer (only a tablespoon per layer) and paper. Each bottle needs to be identical.
• Spray each layer with a little bit of water.  Do NOT soak.  Only a fine mist spray.
• The original experiment required two identical bottles. We made a third bottle without fertilizer because we wanted to know how well compost worms work in comparison to fertilizer in a compost bin.
• When the bottles are full tape them shut.
• Mark the side of the bottle with a permanent pen showing the different layers.
• Place one bottle on the windowsill, and one in a dark cupboard.  We placed the one with the worms in the dark cupboard as well.

Seven Months Later ...

Left - Windowsill bottle
Middle - Dark Cupboard with worms
Right - Dark Cupboard.

What experiments have you done with your families recently ?
Blessings
Chareen

This post is part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew Fall into Nature Blog Cruise. (Goes up on Tuesday 22 October)