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

Katy, I bought 4 of the black roll things your probably talking about to raise potatoes, That was what they sold them to do, either potatoes or strawberrys. I tried them with taters, they didnt work. Perhaps I didnt add enough water. Daughter used them with strawberrys. Didnt work, and she has all kind of water, but she had them in shade

Thanks all! Not sure what I will do but I do know now that spending hundreds of bucks on a bin is truly a rip-off. Wish me luck!

Check with your county extension office they may have them for free or a nominal fee.

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I ask for so little. Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want. Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave. Jareth, Labyrinth

I met someone through HT that made those tumbler-style composters out of old water heater tanks. He made legs to prop them up on and drilled holes in the sides so he could spin them around a pole that ran through the middle.

Thats why I suggested vermicomposting. I started mine while living in an apartment and kept it in the livingroom covered with a tablecloth at the end of the couch as an end table and fed the 150 worms in it on shredded paper and pureed kitchen wastes.

A top layer of peat moss with a little charcoal briquet dust kept the odor down.

With monthly harvesting , I ended up with two compost bins and 10 cubic feet of vermicompost for use on my patio container garden the next spring.

Twenty years later I have 5 coffin sized bins in the back room to produce fertilizer for my indoor garden and plant nursery and am moving back toward the simpler time of my small apartment gardening days.

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I bought one years ago....it still sits outside in the yard...I prefer to just put all the clippings in a square area, and keep turning it myself, so much easier than trying to turn that big drum....then they want you to buy enzymes to break down the material...forget it, you can do better without one.

I understand how small 1/4 acre is... I'm on about 60x100 so it's absolutely expansive in my eyes! I raise rabbits that are generally fed hay (except lately since our pickup isn't running; send good thoughts our way to get it fixed!) so they can generate embarrassingly large amounts of compostable matter. We have an area about 10'x10' between the shed and fence that is currently acting as a "composting field" until I can decide whether I want to do raised beds or just till the stuff in and plant directly in the ground. We bought a composter from the city (nothing but a trash can with the bottom cut off and aeration holes drilled in) for $5 and it does OK but it fills up quickly with the rabbit manure and hay. Once I decide what to do with the compost I've already got, I'll probably buy several more of the bins from the city. I'm sure the open piles compost quicker, but with a 2500 sqft back yard I really would rather have something that at least LOOKS somewhat nice, especially since it will be viewable from anywhere in the back yard.

No reason to buy one when you can build one for virtually nothing.

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Gresford:
We live in an appt (YUK!!!) but looked up vermieposting. In our basement we're using a recycling bin, more than one if needed, for composting when the ground is frozen. From what I've read (but not tried) an old cooler would be just as usable.
HBN

The size operation you are talking about might be better handled by worm beds.

I picked up one of the big barrel types on the curb. Nice in that you can rotate the barrel easily but it doesn't mix / breakup the organic matter very well. As a result, it seems to take forever for the items to breakdown. I'm thinking of adding an agitator bar next spring...maybe that will help.

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CJ

I find that pallets (free)work just fine, been using them on an urban lot since the 1970's.
True, they will rot after a while, so when they are ready to fall down, I just take down what's left and replace them.

Just four pallets, three screwed togeather w/long deck screws (so you can take them back apart easily) and the front, cut in half, length ways, held togeather with screen door hooks, so you can remove the bottom half, or the top half, or both.
Added a couple of short length of 2 X 4 between them just to keep them lined up.
I also find that between the outer slates and the inner slates are good places to store various stakes, poles and such.

Did try a 55 gal ( metal)drum, mounted on stand above the bins, cut door and did the tumble trick, worked alright, but the metal drum was rusting out from the plant material very quickly. Plastic would have worked better, I think. Just to much screwing around IMHO.
As far a paying a couple of hundred dollars for a container to things to "rot" in, that kinda defeats the whole idea of living wisely.

Piles work just fine, but maybe not so pretty, and there is a lot of, make it look pretty for the neighbors/ city ordnance's sake.
Good luck.

Bought one of the nice back door green compost bins. What a rip off! Almost broke my DW's arm once when she was trying to turn it. It dripped smelly juice and just did not work. I was fortunate to sell it for $50 at a yard sale. Took a beating on that buy. Have a nice pile of compost behind the barn now. We put everything but meat scraps and bones in it. We have to be careful not to draw in Coyotes.

You can always make your own or just make a pile of stuff in an out of the way place, something I would do if I could. but i live in a place where they are picky and it must be neat so I bought a plastic one.

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