Compost pile or barrel?

Let the rain leach it. The leached water goes right into the soil close by unless one is on a good slope. The only consideration I see valid in this senario is the land size and the neighbors. If I had an acre or more it would be a pile unsless restricted by covenant.

Hey don't they keep out flies, too? Mine makes great chicken feed (grubs).

The main purpose of making compost is to use it elsewhere rather than where it's made. There is little or no lateral movement of nutrients or minerals. If they were to be made available only where the compost is made, the garden area would be limited to the area taken up by the pile and rotated periodically.

We all know the benefits of compost tea. That's the same as leachate. It's valuable enough that some compost systems are made to collect it. What little escapes from mine is absorbed by the previous batch which is stored under the tumbler. Nothing leaches from that since it's sitting on ¾" plywood and enclosed on 3 sides with metal. Amounts to maximum recovery of all nutrients contained in the material used.

Martin

If burried at least 18 inches animals should not be a problem. I have road kill in mine at a little over a foot with no problems.

Temporarily knocked the temperature down to 140º for a couple days by adding something that nobody would because of the amount of advanced planning and work involved. That was 15 gallons of fine-shredded white pine boughs. Although 120 gallons of that material is reserved for hilling potatoes, there was room in the tumbler and it was dry enough to absorb some of the excess moisture that was in the batch. Today, back up to about 160º and one can smell the pine needles cooking from 50' away. That's a lot better than the feathers and fur stink of the first few days!

Martin

The slug of shredded white pine boughs was enough to hold the contents over 100º for 10 days. Yesterday it was 80º and today it's barely above ambient temperature. Since the tumbler is full, nothing more can be added to produce another heat cycle. In other words, it's done.

Now faced with a minor problem. I'm set up to produce 4 batches per year and 150 gallons of finished product each time. The way things went last year, this is the 5th batch in 12 months for a total of 750 gallons on hand. The area for storing 450 gallons is full and the fall batch is stored below the tumbler. Can't empty the current batch until the previous 150 gallons is moved and probably won't be able to begin using any for another month. I could put it in 5-gallon pails but would need 30 of them. (I do have more than that many.) Could bag it but would then need to find a place to stash 15 bags. Great situation to be in when one has more compost than one can use.

For those skeptics who think that a tumbler can't succeed in making compost, I'll end up with 750 gallons of it in 12 months. That's an average of over 2 gallons of finished compost per day despite 3 months or dormancy. That's 116 cubic feet or 4.3 cubic yards. It's not done via a daily feeding of coffee grounds and several tea bags, it takes just as much planning as someone making a huge pile. The main difference is that I can do this in an area 40" x 40" surrounded on 3 sides by black raspberries. If that production were stacked in that small area, it would be over 12' high. It can be done and if one really wants to learn how to do it. Just took one batch in 1996 for me to see what I did wrong and figure out how to correct it. Haven't had a failed batch since and don't ever plan on having one in the future.

Martin

I have ronbre's old barrel composter. It's sitting, empty, behind my garage. I use it for finishing potting mix in the spring, but I love my piles, and DD and DH love the fishing worms they find in the piles. I rotate them around whereever I'm putting a garden next.

Get an old second hand cement mixer truck and use it for a tumbler for you compost - you will have one of the biggest compost tumbler in the neighborhood -

I think I'm failing on compost. I moved here in October, and compost the toilet and kitchen waste, but it's not composting. I guess I might have too much carbon?

Your problem is just the opposite. Human manure is real high in nitrogen and requires a lot of carbon to effectively compost.

Martin

I use both. A barrel next to the porch to accumulate. Once it gets full, I'll haul it out to the pile and dump it........

Winter batch out today and totally unique spring batch went in. There were about 45 gallons of loft droppings plus 30 gallons of fine-shredded white pine boughs as nitrogen base. A week's worth of kitchen scraps wasn't much but added a little more to the starting N portion. Carbon was roughly 75 gallons of shredded white oak and maple leaves. After 6 turns, mixed and compacted enough so that there was just room for a bag of cocoa bean mulch. Topped it off with one mouse!

Due to much of it being dry, added 5 gallons of water. Six more turns and fully mixed and damp throughout. Added water was somewhat against my better judgment since the winter batch had none added and came out wetter than I'd like. As a result, it's going to take a month to properly dry and cure.

With the overload of nitrogen to start, this batch will probably not receive much in lawn clippings. Grass would have been the main water source but will have other uses for that this year. Instead, as it breaks down and compacts, it will receive mostly shredded white oak leaves. I don't want this batch to be quickly done but rather strung out into June. Then the winter batch becomes mulch while the spring batch cures and the summer batch cooks.

Summer batch already planned to have shredded white oak leaves and loft cleanings as a base. By then there will also be a lot of garden refuse coming on and needing disposal. Also won't be rushing that one since I don't have to try to work in a fifth batch. 600 gallons of compost per year is more than ample for my needs. Especially when accomplished in just over one square yard of area.

Martin

Spring batch continues to remain warm and slowly shrinking. Thus far, it's probably going to be the most generic batch that I've made since there's not much more in it than might be expected from a 40# bag from WalMart. Most "exotic" ingredient so far has been a few wood mice.

It's the winter batch which has been one which really worked well. In the past, deer heads always went into a pile. No pile for last year's Thanksgiving Day deer so anything not edible went into the tumbler. First heat cycle began working on all that good stuff and when last seen the skull had lost the ears, skin, and snout. When dumped, didn't see any sign of any animal parts. It all remained curing below the compost tumbler until today when it was used as bean and tomato fertilizer. Did finally find the skull but as thin as an egg shell and it quickly mixed with the rest of the compost. Scapulas were about half the previous size. Ribs were gone as were the vertebra. That's what is possible with a tumbler if one is willing to put in the effort to accomplish it.

Martin

Why don't you take your parents' barrel while continuing to use your compost pile? I am a dump the compost and let it rot kind of girl. Stuff doesn't break down especially quickly but the junk is generally easy to use in about a year. One thing you need to watch with a compost pile is weeds. They love compost piles and can take them over very quickly.

To break down quickly, you need to put a compost starter in the barrel. This isn't especially inexpensive. You must turn them a certain number of times every day. I'm not a good turner so the stuff I put in last year hasn't done better (maybe a bit worse) than the compost dumped in the pile. My mom gave me a bunch of starter when she gave me her barrel thingie. I think I'm going to make DD turn the thing so I can put compost down before I add mulch for the year.

Mine is similar to the one with the little boy.
http://kerryg.hubpages.com/hub/Compo...--Easy-Compost

__________________
Moms don't look at things like normal people.
-----DD

I have two tumbler barrels for food scraps. While one tumbler is being added to, the other is finishing. I have large piles for composting manure. I siphon off just enough manure and old hay from the big piles to make the barrels cook. When I was putting food scraps in the big piles, we had rats and coons and neighbor dogs over to rummage. Not acceptable. The tumblers solved that. All of our composting has to be done under cover; too much rain.

I have an unprotected compost pile. I have no dog or critter problems. Burry the fresh stuff at least a foot and there should be no attracting orders.

Some of mine is made on packed gravel.

Just use a little dirt It is cheaper too! I do not even use that.

Hope someone can help with my son's problem. He and his wife are vegans and recently bought a composter. He says they are overwelmed by a large swarm of gnats at the composter. They want to stay away from pesticides to keep their garden as organic as possible so how can he get rid of the gnats?

Compost gnats and fruit flies are just a slightly higher form of life than the microherd which breaks down organic matter. They feast on fresh fruit and vegetable waste. If in a tumbler, frequent turning will disrupt their cycle by working the larva deeper into the material. If a stationary bin, a layer of grass clippings or shredded leaves will somewhat prevent access to the food source.

Martin