Hi - Just wondering if anyone here has attempted to build their own compost tumbler?
I've been looking at the Maze range - but question their heavy duty cycle - and they want over $200
You always see old pool sand filter spheres being given away or sold for very little on FB marketplace and these are designed to take lots of weight and water at pressure, not to mention have the big screw top opening on top.
Have you built a tumbler? How is it holding up?
IMO compost works best when on natural soil to allow all the microorganisms, insects and other good bits get in and out easily (as well as many other benefits).
Tumblers are a bit of a pain and don't work as well.
Just checking you are aware bcc have a compost rebate for composting equipment such as tumblers
https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/composting-rebate
I personally gave up after the first 2 months just too much effort imo
just too much effort imo
Depends on how well you want it to run. I've got two compost bins now (the second being funded by that very rebate), and whilst I could do more for it it's doing ok. Collect my fruit/veg waste (small bin on the benchtop) and toss that in every few days + some shredded paper. Give it a turn every few weeks.
TBH because of my lack of maintenance it's probably decomposing in a less environmentally-friendly manner than if I just tossed it in the garbage, but I'll get back to running it properly eventually.
Depends on how well you want it to run.
haha i was flat out getting it to run at all tbh , my misso went all out and bought the fancy sub-pod boxes and all the accessories to go with it and a few sets of dedicated containers for scraps - but i am a supppperr impatient / easily distracted type of operator and within a few weeks the whole subpod setup had been invaded by random little cockroaches and flies and a lot of the fruit/vege scraps had gone mouldy even though I had gone to the trouble of cutting them up into little pieces ___
Hmm - I thought part of the sales angle for those subpod things was that it was easier than "normal" composting (which I believe is what I'm doing, although it's less involved than what you were doing…). I did consider getting "compots", but opted for a standard bin since we wasn't sure where we wanted to put them (haven't got much of a garden yet) and had concerns about the system actually working (especially with me managing it).
We don't bother cutting everything up, just toss whatever it is in the benchtop collection bin (or some metal mixing bowls we use because I haven't emptied the now full collection bin). I (eventually) toss all that into the actual compost bin (this one I think) and chuck on a layer of shredded paper. Used to use a pitchfork to give it a turn every couple of weeks, but I've since bought a proper compost turner (https://www.bunnings.com.au/tumbleweed-compost-mate-tool_p33…). I just drill that in ~7 times (centre + 0,60,120,180,240,300°) and pull up some of the bottom stuff every few weeks (probably should do it more often)
Since I haven't been managing it properly we do have a lot of what I assume to be maggots and tiny bugs in there (can post photos if desired); I presume/hope this will come good when I start managing the bin properly…
@Chandler: Yeah we had a very similar bin to the one you had some years back and yeah we used to just chuck in peels/scraps etc but my misso was complaining about opening the lid and often finding random cockroaches and maggots inside yeah… so we went this way..and in a way ended up in the same spot haha
@Jimothy Wongingtons: Yeah I suspect just not enough management.
Our first bin I was on top of and numerous times when I was turning it I'd find earthworms in the nice earthy compost. This second one which I've been mismanaging I turn it and it's dirt-bound decomposed matter, with a side of tiny bugs, and the layer of maggots when you open the bin. Pretty sure it's just not enough browns: I've recently been trying to correct it. See how I go.
I have two large unused pots with drainage in the bottom, I don't air the compost just dump it there and after a while it change to those black compost. Don't forget to mix with some brown, I used shredded paper/cardboard.
have you considered jump dumping everything in a pile in the back yard? you will need to turn it over periodically
Don't bother, you can get it for free and be sustainable. I picked one up 1 street away before council clean up and got another free on Marketplace nearby. I only use tumblers for say prawn shells that I don't want the rats to get at.
You can make a big pile of hot or cold compost just on the ground if you don't have anything. If you don't want to be messy, enclose it in mesh, chicken wire, pallets, etc.
This is good advice in my opinion.
Rats are an issue with food scraps, and a tumbler is overdoing it for composting green waste.
I used an old plastic drum originally used to import 200kg of olives. Rats chewed through the 8mm thick drum to get to scraps!
OMG: yikes.
I also was very surprised to see a rat wondering a around my fruit trees.
Not what I wanted to know about.
Mice I can tolerate and deal with, but not rats.
I think it is one of the downsides people don’t mention much, but it is hard to leave food around outdoors and not get vermin.
People who have pets fed outdoors (or chooks etc.) who think they don’t have vermin around their house just have very sneaky and cunning vermin!
@mskeggs: Thats what a friend of mine who is a Pest controller said.
Inside Pet Food attracts Ants, Cockies etc
Outside Pet food attracts Cockies, Rats, Mice etc.
Hopehully you have cats.
Where you have an issue with rodents chowing throw plastic lids,drums etc to get to the scraps,chook or dog food etc, get some Vicks or generic vapour rub and lightly smear (outside edges )at first signs of rodents (chew marks or footprints,urine stains. They hate the salve on their paws because they have to clean them orally. Just a very thin smear or thicker and wipe of excess . The prevention last for many months. The smell of the Vicks also repels them
I wasn't aware the rats could and would chew threw plastic. Looks like a tumbler on legs with that Vicks trick could be an option?
Rodents even eat electrical wiring.They use the copper to wear down fast growing teeth and to grab a hit of copper.They are pretty damaging pests, but keeping the numbers down, is way safer than bombarding them with high toxicity bait when they peak the population levels. If you have any grain or scrap eating outdoor pets/livestock you have rodents. In fact wherever there are humans or a foos source they generally flourish. Cats get a tiny proportion. Wildlife is a way easier meal for cats.Wildlife evolved without cats in their environment so have never fully adapted to the threat, so easy pickings.
When rotating your veggy patches keep one empty at a time, then dig a deep hole in the empty one and put all your scraps it the hole layering earth and scraps until the hole is full.
Then that patch is ready to be used as the worms will eat all the scraps super fast.Just don't throw any meat or dairy in the holes, even the old veggy plants or lawn clippings go straight in the holes
All tree and shrub waste is used as a chop and drop and becomes instant top mulch for the other gardens.
This is the easiest way i have tried the other ways and they are to labour intensive get the worms to do all the hard work for you.
You will find it hard to keep up with food for the worms once they get cranking
.
The only negative of this approach is that it disturbs the soil microbiome. I'm a no dig person. If you're going to use that method, just lay the scraps/waste (alternating green/brown) on top of the empty vege patch. Also less effort.
worm farm, in an old bath tub.
Doesn't that make you grubby at bath time?
just squirmish
https://www.instructables.com/DIY-Compost-Bin/
Find a local working busy community garden. Track down the resident guru, and get some ideas and tips.Or maybe see if they will trade scraps + donation$ for compost.
I use one of the Tumbleweed Gedye style compost bins - it was left at our place when we moved in. Wouldnt bother with a tumbler - too small.
Old as hell just sitting on the dirt in the corner of the vegie garden, throw fruit/vegie scraps in there, a couple of $2 bags of horse poo from the side of the road, mix in a stack of dry leaves from the trees that drop, and turn it with a garden fork every week or so for a good compost to improve the vegie garden we've created in the backyard. I dont bother cutting up old scraps - let the bugs and process take care of it all.
Is anyone running a worm farm style of contraption in combination and separate to your composting device/area to get castings?
Looks like worms and tumbler style compost bins are not a good match - due to heat and the rotation. My primary goal is to generate some nice healthy soil to spread around gardens and to health some fruit trees establish.
I have an accidental compost turn worm farm running very well. Bought a gedye bin from council rebates and few months later I found worms were thriving in them. They actually turned everything into casting quicker than thought so I keep throwing food scrap and shredded paper in there. Then I move the bin to collect the bottom casting. A few months later I got a cheap worm farm from Aldi so have moved some of the worms over there to get some tea but this worm farm taking way less scrap than the other. So I will probably get another gedye bin to rotate so I don't have to turn over the mess to collect casting every few months.
I had a twin tumbling compost before but its volume is way too small, unless you are a single household who only throw an apple core and a banana peel in there each day. The 200l from Bunnings might fare better but you'll still run into periods that you have to stop throwing scrap in there to get everything decompose. So best to get more than 1 bin. Mind you I also run a separate 2 compartmens of pallet type turning compost but is getting tired of turning them every few days so probably have to give up on that and send lawn clipping into council bin soon.
I have used two largish black plastic pots like.. 25cm diameter. Half bury one into the ground. rest the other one on top (on the rim). put a brick on it so nothing can knock it off. And manually flipped the two plastic pots to reduce food waste to compost. Did it at a time when I was living temporarily at someone's house and didn't have access to our compost bins at home. Worked quite well. Set up about 5 of them all around the garden, as each one got 'full'. The more you turn, the more quickly the waste gets composted. Mind you, that was only 2 adult's worth of food waste for a month. Black plastic pots are everywhere to be collected for free and have the holes so earth worms and little critters can go from the soil into the enclosure to help with the work.
Does it have to be a tumbler? Why not get 3 pallets (free) and screw them together and dump your stuff in there?