Is it me or are composting bins a rip-off???

[Gresford]

I am looking to compost this fall so that I can have nice soil for spring planting. I have been searching online for a bin and they are charging hundreds of dollars for a plastic container. Maybe I'm cheap or ignorant but it just seems like a rip-off and I'm sure there is an easier, more practical, and cheaper way to make compost.

I live on 1/4 acre and my wife would like to have something smaller and discreet as a bin. Also, will flies/insects/vermin be an issue? Any ideas/advice are appreciated?

[jbowyer01]

Gresford, I didnt have the extra money to put out for a composting bin so my DH made one (actually two) for me. He took the large plastic trash cans ( I think they are 38 gallon) drilled large holes all over the bottom and about a foot up from the bottom and I placed them in a corner of the yard. I sprinkle a product called DE Diamaticus (sp) Earth (food grade) or I'll use stall dri on the ground and around them (to help control bugs and I havent had an issue with vermin) but not in the bins. I throw in my yard waste, chicken poo, veggie peels and etc into it every day, I spray it with the water hose if it gets to dry. Once a week I make sure the lid is closed and bungee the lid just to be safe and I roll it a round a little to stir it up. SO far it has worked great for us.

[kitaye]

The black square bins work well and only attract flies if there is to much green mass and vegetable scraps. The ones we use have a sliding door on the bottom so you can remove and rotate as required.

However, you can make a composting bin by building a square, 2x2x3 or 2x3x3, tower out of cedar planks. Leave a 1/2 inch between each board on each side for air flow and you can even set up a section at the bottom to be easily removed for dirt removal.

[Madame]

I knew some folks who made a compost bin with pallets.

[DQ]

mine is with pallets. you can also just use a section of welded wire rolled into a cylinder. The only benefit I see of a "bin" is that you can turn it (and the compost inside) easily and that speeds the process. I just dump new stuff on top and dig old stuff out from underneath or start a new one when one is full and let the old one finish. don't put animal products in and you won't have a problem with vermin. better to just bury the animal products.

[homesteadforty]

Mine is just a couple of piles... never saw the need to spend time making, or money purchasing, any kind of bin.

[gone-a-milkin]

ditto what homesteadforty said.

A pile and a pitchfork to turn it with, that's what I do. If you were worried about animals, you could put it in a circle of wire, chicken wire or fieldfence.

[mtfarmchick]

I throw everything right into the garden and then till in the Spring. The only problem I have with vermin is AFTER my crops start to grow and produce. I also leave all the plants in the garden instead of pulling them up after a freeze. They also get tilled into the soil in the Spring. I live in the country so there's no one to complain about the way my eggs shells and coffee grounds look in my yard.

[Cindy in NY]

Many years ago we bought a Rubbermaid composter for about $70. Best money we could have spent! It is doublewalled heavy plastic with a two sided removal lid (so you can get into it from either side). It really heats up in there! We get ready compost much faster than just putting it in a pile. After it cooks down, we transfer it to a bin that we made from plastic fencing. Not sure if they still make that composter but it would be worth looking for one.

[katydidagain]

With 1/4 acre, it sounds like you're stuck in a city or at least the 'burbs (as am I) so do a little research. My county distributes compost bins free of charge to residents. Most people don't know about the program; I just lucked into the information but I can pick up 2 for my address on each visit. These are black rubber cylinders with holes that stand about 3' tall; they come rolled up and you can adjust them up to about 3' across. I don't turn compost; I add a season's worth of "potential gold" then start filling the other the next year. They work well for me. I don't have flies but rats can be a problem.

[Bonnie L]

Originally Posted by homesteadforty

Mine is just a couple of piles... never saw the need to spend time making, or money purchasing, any kind of bin.

Our county composting expert had a thing on the radio recently & said not to bother with bins. Being open to the air helps the stuff decompose faster.

Years ago we had one of the plastic things with holes all over in it. It kept falling over & finally fell apart. We've been going natural every since.

[RVcook]

Originally Posted by homesteadforty

Mine is just a couple of piles... never saw the need to spend time making, or money purchasing, any kind of bin.

Yup...mine too. Just three piles; Fresh, In Process, Finished. Pretty simple...why spend the money to purchase a compost bin ???

RVcook

[Shrek]

Originally Posted by Gresford

I am looking to compost this fall so that I can have nice soil for spring planting. I have been searching online for a bin and they are charging hundreds of dollars for a plastic container. Maybe I'm cheap or ignorant but it just seems like a rip-off and I'm sure there is an easier, more practical, and cheaper way to make compost.

I live on 1/4 acre and my wife would like to have something smaller and discreet as a bin. Also, will flies/insects/vermin be an issue? Any ideas/advice are appreciated?

It not a rip off as much as an example of P.T. Barnum's analogy. If folks want to spend that much, its their choice and there really are some born every minute.

The vermicompost bins like can o worms , worm wigwam , and worm factory often sell for up to $250 when the same can be assembled from buckets or totes for under $25 including starter worm stock from local sources.

Here is a inexpensive vermicomposting bin easily built at home

http://www.whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Easywormbin.htm

[highlands]

They're a rip off. Get four pallets for free and make a super simple compost bin. Or just make a pile. It works.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

[meanwhile]

We make ours out of pallets (free from behind Lowe's or Home Depot). We pick a spot (we currently have 2 compost bins passively composting and two active bins), nail three pallets together, one each side and one back, then put wire fencing over front to keep dogs out.

We also use two cheap trash cans, holes in sides, lay them on sides, put a bit of dirt inside and damp it down a bit, we rot hay in these, toss in the hay, roll it around now and then when we remember it, then in a few weeks, take out the compost.

Good luck -

NOTE: We do a lot of composting and that is why we have so many bins. You can get free grass clippings, free wood chips, kitchen scraps from fruit/veg stands, free coffee grinds from cafes or any coffee shop, and rotten hay from farmers. We also get free cow poop from a farmer. Look around and see what free clean material you can get to boost your compost materials.

[Bentley]

Unless the compost is needed for something specific, such as greenhouse flowers, or such, why not just till it into the garden soil directly?
That's all I've ever done. After I've harvested a particular crop, I'll run through it with the lawn mower which shreds it nicely, and then till it into the soil. Within a few days/weeks, depending on the crop, it's already breaking down and doing its fertilizing job, and ready for the next crop.

If you need compost for something specific, I've seen nice compost bins made from cinder blocks. But, you'll only obtain a small quantity of compost from anything you can grow on a 1/4 acre lot, unless you have outside sources of raw material. If that's the case, just buy yourself a bag of compost from the big box stores a few times a year....which would be cheaper in the long run.

Tilling it directly into the soil is the best/easiest way.

b

[katydidagain]

Does nobody have a clue just how small 1/4 acre is? I do. I live on 1/3; there are buildings on 1/3 of that and I have a driveway the same size so I don't have much room for anything green much less mountains of scraps working but using valuable growing space. (Where would I put the results anyway?) I cannot compost in piles here; if the OP's wife wants neat and tidy on her postage stamp lot then a bin of some sort is desirable. if pallets can be made to fit her requirements, that's fine.

I was in heaven this summer visiting Bill; he has 8.4 acres! And he composts--in piles--except finding it wasn't easy. If his property weren't for sale, we'd have constructed 2 long bins. Instead we filled some of my "stupid cylinders" which are neat, tidy and ensure you can find your goodies when they're done cooking.

[ptannjr]

There is a honey plant here that sells the big 55 gallon metal barels for $4 with no lid. i could make a lid and drill it for compost. but i wound up getting some truck loads of the wood chips from horse stalls used and well soiled. I know that it will take longer to compost but i can mulch with it in the mean time. Anyway i just piled it and wil be watering and airating with a pitchfork. This is my first time ever composting. So to me there was no need to buy a bin or even build one. I even have a dozen or so pallets here i got for free to build one but passed. I really do like the idea of the round barrels you can just roll around as needed. I had thought of getting a barrel and building a stand for it to be able to roll it in one spot, that may be good for small lots. You could maybe use a pair of saw horses to set it on and put some rollers on top of the saw horses. that could be simple and easy to use on a small lot like the OPs.

[MELOC]

i have an idea of how small that is. my vacant cottage in disarray sits on a 100 x 110 foot lot. there is room for a compost heap, but probably because the cottage is small. 300 feet of privacy fence leaving only the road frontage open may be an idea... at least that is my idea to thwart the nosey neighbors. i could grow lots of pole beans on 300 feet of privacy fence.

[peacebaker]

I have a similar-sized lot. I think the bins might be nice--say if you have a picky neatnick neighbor--but there's no real need. I used a circle of garden fencing for years (to keep the pile neat) and eventually built one out of cedar fencing panels (cheaper than regular cedar lumber). It's about 4 feet square and I turn once or twice a year. You can move it around and plant in the very fertile ground where it was sitting!