Compost bins

Help, my compost bin has fallen apart from old age and it is time to invest in something new. Since most tropical gardens produce a lot of compost I thought you folks might have some ideas for me.

My soil is heavy and crisscrossed with roots so burying the waste is not viable. Also, both the layout of my property and raccoons eliminates open piles. I need a sturdy bin.

There are so many new ones on the market, some with internal air chambers, some rotate, you name it. Has anyone had a good experience with a compost bin lately.

can't help ya, A. I have open piles. I have critters too, but they don't seem to bother the compost bins. DH took a large sheet of hog panel and closed it w/ tiewraps to make a circular bin. that's it. hog panels are sturdy and the holes are small enough that compost material doesn't fall out of it.


edited to correct my facts

This message was edited May 24, 2010 7:43 AM

I have open piles out in the woods. I don;t compost anything but yard waste, no kitchen scraps of the like so the animals leave mine alone. I call mine the "Magical Mystery Compost Piles" because I throw all sorts of stuff out there and when I go back later there are fully formed and rooted new tropical plants ready for me to re-harvest

I've had luck with a 3' wide piece of chicken wire forming a circle with a 3' diameter. I have the ends coming together towards the veggie garden (where the bin is located), that way when I'm ready to turn it, I just open the ends and pull out the finished compost.
I've had this for over 5 years and it's in as good of shape as when I started with it.
Barb

I just bought the Aerobin Composter from Costco, sadly I haven't started using yet as I have to put it together so I cannot comment on how good a composter it is. It was fairly expensive but on sale and free shipping so I am giving it a try. I have a very small backyard and cannot have an open compost pile. Also needed something to hold up to the Florida heat in the summer here. Upon first inspection it does seem very sturdy. I will be putting it together this weekend so I can comment more then.

Good luck on your search for one.

The Aerobin o at Costco is the one I have been considering; I wish there were more reviews for it though.

I wish I could have an open wire bin but that is not an option. My old black plastic bin lasted 20 years but it wasn't always easy to use. The door at the bottom never worked and turning the compost was hard. Thank goodness for my cordless drill and an auger, that is how I aerated the mix.

I have a huge compostumbler and i have to say that I have not successfully made a full batch of compost yet. It cost a lot of money and now I use it to mix potting soil. I have been so disappointed. Now I just spread the compostables around and let them rot into the soil.

Thank you, I have wondered about those things. I wish I could spread my compostables around but between fussy neighbors and hungry raccoons that would never work here.

I made my own rain barrel a while back by picking up a used 55 gallon polyethylene drum (agricultural), cutting off one end, cutting a round hole, inserting a plastic spigot assembly, inverting the cup end to become a cap, and diverting the downspout into the whole assembly. Even with the cement block to elevate it, it cost me less than $20.00.

I'm thinking I could turn another plastic drum into a compost tumbler pretty easy using a 2" wide PVC pipe to run down the middle through both ends, cutting a door in the side (and hinging/clasping it), and mounting the whole assembly between two reclaimed lumber saw horses. I doubt if it would cost much more than the rain barrel.

As for a tumbler not working, I think it needs a starter from an existing compost heap, and a bit of soil. I may be wrong.

-Joe

Well I followed the directions. I bought compost activator. They aren't really made for a lot of heavy stuff so you can't put much actual soil in it.

I have successfully made sort of semi broken down leaf mold. Now I just chop the oak leaves with the mower and spread on the beds with alfalfa pellets. I tried for two years and never got one whole successful batch of compost out of it. I had the percentages right and so on. I really tried.

I should say that i have composted successfully for about thirty years.

Moving to the south and trying to garden has been a journey of discovery, for sure. I should have done more research. It's easy to find people who are disappointed with the things.



This message was edited May 26, 2010 8:03 PM

I too have made rain barrels from free drums. Mine came from the car wash and the detergent used was deemed food safe thus the containers were also. They are painted the color of the house and hidden among the shrubbery. I attach a short length of hose that I thread through the bushes and voila, they work well.

Peony, I envy you your "in situ" composting. It is really the best way to go and your beds will be the envy of the neighborhood soon. It often takes a bit of time but that is really the best way to build good soil.

I think it works cause I don't compost food scraps, just garden waste and chopped up oak leaves. Thanks for the good word.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=123572

This is the one I have and it works great. I put leaves, coffee grounds, and raw veggy type food scraps (lettuce, carrot tops, tomatoe ends, etc.) in it. The first batch took about 6 months to make rich black dirt looking compost.

Peony,

You could teach me quite a bit about composting. It's probably better for me to start composting with a conventional compost set-up. I think you've changed my mind.

Thank you, and have a good day! :)

-Joe

Oh joe, I think you should do whatever works well for you. That is the beauty of gardening isn't it? I do a lot of experimentation myself. I learned as a child from my grandparents. Even now I try to find the most economical and less environmentally impactful methods.

I just don't want any one to spend nearly 300 dollars on a composter that doesn't work (or didn't work for me).

Peace

Phyllis

Repurposing your tumbler to mix potting mediums is an excellent idea. Trying to incorporate peat, bark, perlite, compost, etc. in large quantities can be daunting. No sense in wasting the technology even if it didn't work for it's primary purpose.

I seperate all my coffee grounds, sprinkle them all over the garden and flowers including pots. Good for the dirt and keeps bugs away. Kitchen scraps you can dig a hole between your plants and bury them. When you till they will have composted and mix right in. May get a few stray plants from any seeds but can be controlled. I have open piles for everything else.

I have a round composter that you pull forward to turn on its base. The problem is, it gets awfully heavy for me to turn. It also leaks compost fluid as you turn it and makes a mess. It advertised as collecting the fluid in the base that has a spout for draining, but does not work that efficiently in real life. I then bought another expensive tall composter with a 'door' on the bottom where finished compost is supposed to be gathered. However, the heavy weight of unfinished compost on top fills in any gap you've made during your collection, so harvest is little. I recommend going with something cheap and homemade!!! Don't waste your money on store bought composters.

Pamela, that is the exact same composter that recently gave out on me after a good 20 years. The only thing I could find fault with that one is that the doors were difficult to open but that may have been fixed over the years.

Jamie, I am glad you mentioned the difficulties in the composters you turn on a base. I had a suspicion that would be a problem.

Wish I could just dig a hole and bury waste but the soil here is heavy and laced with tree roots. When I plant something I actually have to use a reciprocating saw to get through the roots, I could never do that on a daily basis. I have a worm bin and it works well but we seem to produce more lettuce leaves and apple peels than they can keep up with.

I know the open bin would be perfect - were it not for the wildlife and the neighbors. LOL

I finally put up my Aerobin 400 yesterday, actually it was very simple to put up in less than 10mins. Seems very sturdy. A little bit of an eyesore as I just painted my rain barrels to match my house and now this green/black contraption is now the focal point, guess i'll have to plant around it to disguise it a little. It's actually quite large, I originally put it on two cinder blocks but it was too high. I wanted it high enough so that I can access the tea that it makes at the bottom.

Here's pic one with the rain barrel for size comparison

This is a close up. The lid on top isn't actually anchored, you can take it off which is good if you want to put lots of leaves in there and not have to use one hand. Bottom front is where you access the compost from, this slides out it's not a hinged door so it will be interesting harvesting the first batch. I did notice which was pretty neat that on the front and back door they have a filter under the handle.

This is from the top looking in. You can see the air holes on the bottom, you're supposed to line the bottom with sugar cane mulch or straw so that debris doesn't fall down there. All the moisture filters through (supposedly) to the bottom reservoir and you can collect the tea from the little outlet you can see in the picture above....time will tell, sounds good in theory.

Last picture is of the front access door removed, this is where you'd actually harvest the compost. The middle part does not move but provides aeration.

As I said I cannot comment if it works, but so far I'm happy, I don't have a lot of room as you can see so the rotating / ball type composter's and the open ones are out of the question. My fingers are crossed.

It looks like this one had some excellent reviews in Europe and Australia where it has been in use for some time. Good luck with it.

Those are fancy you all have shown here. Here is our setup. I remembered to take a pic. We have six such bins. We practice cold composting, just too strenuous for us to turn over (and low on our priority list). That's the purpose of the six bins. We stagger the contents and in that way the conversion from waste to compost takes place so that when one bin is ready for use, I have 5 others in diff. stages of decomposition. It takes about 3 years for a bin to turn into black gold when you do no stirring of green/brown material. B/c we have six bins, there is always a bin ready for the current season. Strangely and luckily, critters don't bother the bins, except for ants, and they do the aereating for us. I have never noticed any foul smell, but we're fortunate that the bins are far away from the house.

this is just being fuzzy on my part, but I have numbered the bins so I can sort of keep track in my journal of which bin is at what stage. I found house numbers in a bargain bin at Lowes/HD and used tie wraps to affix them to the bins

I love that setup and wish I had a place for something like that. Sadly, our HOA would run us out of town on a rail if we tried open bins.

DH bit the bullet and invested in a Aerobin for me and I already love it. I have followed the directions and it already has that sweet composty smell which I find amazing as new bins can often be kind of whiffy until things start breaking down.