Compost tumblers

My father has one. He uses it.
I don't have one. I don't use it.
I make a pile of material. I rarely to never flip it.
My compost is just as good as his compost.
My way is a lot easier and less expensive.
I also make a lot more compost than he does, about 100 to 200 cu-yds/year.
The tumblers seem gadgety to me.

__________________
SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

I'm glad those of you who are successfull with the tumblers are happy. But hey, a whole lot of us who aren't have followed the directions.

Not to worry, Foxtrapper..... give me a pitchfork and three bins any day.

__________________
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III

Or, one can get one big enough to really be meaningful. Columbia Co, WI has 2 which can each handle 40 tons per day. Roadkill deer virtually vanish in 5 days!

http://www.co.columbia.wi.us/Columbi...1/Default.aspx

Martin

We used to have one. Now we have piles. I like the piles better. I start my compost in the spring let it winter over and by the next spring it's good to go. I always keep 4-5 piles going at once so I always have compost.
Karen in NE Indiana

__________________
Miracles are like snowflakes
They happen with little fanfare and they're everywhere.

I am 6 days into using my tumbler.
I loaded it just like the instructions said.
It "was" cookin'.....at about 110-120.....but for the last 2 days, it has not heated up past 85 degrees. Awesome.
I can see the grass has "mold" on it.....don't know if that's normal.

Don't know what to do to get it 'cookin'......Help, please.

__________________
I am sure of two things: There is a God, and I am not Him.
The movie Rudy

You didn't say what size you have but it may be normal for the smaller ones. Those are more passive than the big one. If you do have the big one, it could have been too much moisture or wide C:N ratio. The grass would appear to have mold since it would have turned white from the heat. At the same time, seeing white moldy grass could mean that there was too much grass. Finding more carbon material right now is often a problem. This fall, shred a lot of leaves and bag them and keep them dry. Then you'll be able to start a batch with just the carbon base and work the nitrogen material into it.

My present batch has gone through 5 or 6 major heat cycles of up to 160ºF. The present one wasn't planned but my son culled some pigeons and tossed them in several days ago with some loft droppings. 20 gallons of grass clippings really filled it up. I can smell them cooking today!

Martin

If it takes 14 days to make a batch of compost, what do you do with your clippings and scraps for the 14 days that you are twirling the tumbler?

__________________
Alice
* * *
"No great thing is created suddenly." ~Epictitus

If the batch is hot, you can keep adding both and it will be consumed almost immediately. At that point it's like a slow cooker. Put a chunk of meat in this morning and it's broken down to BBQ by suppertime.

Martin

Found one that was like brand new on the curb a few years back. Never got it to work right...suspect that's why it was on the curb. Way too much to do around here to have to be fussing with a contraption to make compost. The compost piles are much easier.

If I really want fast compost, I dump a big load of straw or dry grass in the rabbit colony and leave it for a few weeks. The rabbits eat some, break up the rest into small pieces and add poo. The stuff makes great compost which can go right on the gardens...and I don't have to turn it, feed it or fuss with it.

__________________
CJ

It is the big one. It was free....my dh's fathers wife gave it to me.

My greens were fresh cut grass and my browns were straw.
The stuff is moist to the touch (not 'wet'...when I grab it and squeeze it, it doesn't 'ring out'...but damp to touch).
Someone suggested that I throw some dirt in there so that the bacteria gets things going?

__________________
I am sure of two things: There is a God, and I am not Him.
The movie Rudy

Not everyone has a rabbit colony, flock of chickens, or herd of goats to generate a huge mountain of organic refuse. The simple 30-40 gallon bins are ample for an ordinary urban household with not much more than a gallon or two of scraps per week. Neighbor has one which she empties once a year. That would never do for me with the pigeons going through 50# of food per month. Nor would I ever go back to devoting as much ground space to piles as before when it can be used for food production. The minute or two per day spent adding kitchen scraps and easily turning the tumbler are minuscule compared to the time and effort required to properly tend a pile. Bottom line is that if it doesn't fit, don't wear it. The big Compostumbler fits me just fine and it's going to be worn forever.

Martin

Can you tell me what I need to do to get it cookin' again?

__________________
I am sure of two things: There is a God, and I am not Him.
The movie Rudy

I had one some years ago. It was fairly expensive as I recall. I was so digusted with it that I sold it at a yard sale for almost nothing.


Nomad

Fresh grass clippings are generally enough to start another heat cycle. But also remember this. Heat cycles and their temperature are determined by the quantity of material and percentage of nitrogen. Once that available nitrogen has been expended by the bacteria, it's gone no matter if in a tumbler or a pile. Bigger the pile or tumbler, the longer and hotter the heat cycle. In the Columbia County tumbler link, deer totally vanish in 5 days. You won't see that in any pile.

Martin

This is why I am a proponent of continuous composting in a fallow garden area. Nutrients "lost to the soil" are not lost at all but right where one wants them.
Much less nitrogen lost into the air than with a "tumbling"device.

I suspect that that the tumbler is a tool that is most applicable where standard composting will not fit.

The opposite is true in the case of nitrogen. By passive composting in the open, there is a constant loss of nitrogen into the atmosphere. When done in a contained unit, with the proper C:N ratio, the N is absorbed and retained by the C. Leachate also suspends much of what would normally be lost back into the air.

Very true. My overall home garden area is about 1250 square feet. Originally my compost area took up over 10% of that. That approximate 12x12 area, 144 square feet, was planted to Dundee black raspberries in 1996 when the tumbler took about 16 square feet. Although I've churned out monthly batches at times in the past, I find that 4 big ones per year are more than ample. As the material breaks down, with the greens losing 90% or more of the bulk, I end up with an awful lot of good compost every 3 month or so. The big one holds 22 cubic feet/18 bushels/164 gallons when full. It's not much less than that when I dump it. That also happens to be just what can be stored under it until needed. My rich winter batch is resting below the tumbler. The spring batch can't hold much more but I can't dump it until I find room for the winter batch. Right now, every square foot of garden space has something growing in it. I could probably bag the winter batch which would be about 150 gallons but would need a place to store the bagged stuff. Then I'd still have to find room for that much more when the summer batch is over. If you think that that tumbler isn't capable of putting out a lot of great compost in a year's time, 4 batches of 150 gallons is 600 gallons. That's equal to 120 5-gallons pails. And it's all done in about 16 square feet of garden area, about enough room for 2 tomato plants.

Martin

Harry it does work. But let's take it a little futher then just throwing grass in a bag. First, use the better yard bags as they are a little tuffer. You will be turning the bag daily and the cheap kitchen bags puncture and rip to easily.

My recipe for Easy Compost:

1. Fill black bag with grass clippings.

2. Add one shovel full of chicken litter, or any other source of manure you might have on hand.

3. Add one shovel full of garden soil. This adds the feeding Microbes, enzymes, etc. to start the composting

4. Add 1 to 2 gallons of water.

5. Keep bag laying on its side and do not tie it off at the top as the waste needs air. Turn bag daily for approximatly 14 days or so and then use wherever you need it.

I've used this method with great success, a whole lot cheaper then a tumbler, and with a tumbler you have to wait till its done with one batch before starting a next batch. The trash bag method you can start one anytime you got enough waste ready.

__________________
r.h. in oklahoma

Raised a country boy, and will die a country boy.