Compost Tumbler
 

We've toyed with the idea of buying one for years. Does anyone have experience with these and can you please share your thoughts?

Lisa

Hello, Lisa.

I understand the draw you feel. I [I]used[/I] to have that same feeling until I learned the truth. The advertisements make wild claims to produce finished compost in just a few weeks (3 or 4??). This is baloney, and research proves it. The units look great too, don't they?

The product that a tumbler produces after the claimed period of time is so high in ammonia that it poses a danger to the plants it is placed near. The compost may appear ready, but it is not.

You really are better off buying a unit that touches the ground. You know-the kind where the bottom is open to the soil. Let all those worms, microbes, and bacteria find it so they may help you compost. I recommend getting a larger unit. It seems to me Costco is selling a perfectly good unit for approx. $40, which is a lot cheaper than a tumbler.

I volunteered to make compost for a demonstration site at one of our city parks last year. [I actually enjoy making compost.] There are different compost 'machines' on display. They were the traditional 3 bin system, a tumbler, an Earth Machine, and two units very similar to what Costco is selling. I composted in all the units. I used coffee grounds from local coffee houses, throw outs from local grocery stores [It's shocking how much is thrown out.], leaves, grass clippings, shredded newspaper, small twigs/branches, straw, and kitchen scraps.

The units with ground contact produced the best compost more quickly. Of those units, my favorite was the traditional 3-bin system for ease of use and fastest composting. The loser......by far.....was the tumbler. I noticed early on that the material wasn't heating up. I tried everything from adding more high-nitrogen material to reducing moisture to increasing high-carbon materials to adding compost from the other units to (finally) emptying the entire contents and forking them into the 3-bin system. Guess what? Within a short time, the material started heating up.

I was so bothered by the tumbler's performance that I encouraged the Park & Rec supervisor to have it removed. (He wouldn't.)

Now, there are links somewhere that tell you the same thing I told you, but I don't know where they are off hand. It seems to me that one study was done at Ohio State University. It has an excellent extension service there. Another was done at either UC Davis or Oregon State University. I'm a volunteer Master Gardener with Oregon's extension service. (It's pretty good too!)

My wife, my son and I are leaving for a Spring Break vacation to Olympic Nat'l Park and Seattle in two hours, so I am a bit pressed for time. Otherwise, I'd be happy to track down the links. Sorry.

I hope this helps.

Michael

[COLOR=purple]I'm going to agree with that last post. The huge advantage of the decomposers (worms, etc) would outweigh the aesthetic value of the clean tumbler at my house. There are some cases where the tumbler has some merit, though. In very tight quarters, like a ultra small piece of property, I'd say that the tumbler would be better than choosing not to compost due to space restrictions. I think the warning regarding the unfinished nature of this compost is sound, though. You'd probably need to age it after it was finished in the tumbler. Also, this article brings up the good point that you might want more than one tumbler, because if your compost is nearly done, you don't want to suddenly add a bunch of new kitchen scrap to it.[/COLOR]

[URL]http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-and-Environment/2003-04-01/Compost-Tumblers.aspx[/URL]

Glad you asked Miss !!! lol
I've been wanting one for years ...

Gonna have to stick with my "bio-dome" for now ... :roll:

~ Tom

Besides all that true information, I would have to spend many, many dollars in tumblers to match the compost I get in my two 6'x5'x6' compost enclosures that cost me about $40 in materials. Today I filled an 8'x4'x1' raised bed kitchen garden with 6 months worth of compost with enough left over to do another one as soon as I buy the lumber for it.

I've never owned one but had toyed with the idea of getting a tumbler until I read the above posts. But I can tell you that 2 of my neighbors have tumblers and they've set idle for years....

[quote=wilderness1989;51795]I've never owned one but had toyed with the idea of getting a tumbler until I read the above posts. But I can tell you that 2 of my neighbors have tumblers and they've set idle for years....[/quote]

Most of the tumblers I've seen have been running on idle, too.;)

wow! great info here! we bought a tumbler on sale with the thought of using it in the greenhouse during the wintertime when the ground was frozen and buried in snow. will read LG's article and surely do more checking on it. thanks all! :O)

the only good thing those tumblers are for is making your own soil. They are great for that.
I agree iwth everyone they really are all just hype. But like i said they are great for mixing soil .
tahmato

I have read other reviews/tests on the tumblers that give the exact results as Michael, amongst them a popular local organic gardening group and the mekka of composting in Belgium which all state the same :: it doesn't work, at least not in terms of the timing they announce nor in relation to the money spent.

Some problems are obvious : you have to introduce living organisms or draw a very good roadmap for the worms to arrive at their work, it gets hard to turn when it's almost full and since it is a typical 'fill with time' system and not a 'fill completely and start composting' like a standard bin you cannot get the produkt in a few weeks. What you can get is medium prepared material to continue composting in a bin but than it is defenitely too expensive.

I am on my second compostumbler and I have a very different opinion of them. I agree that they do not work as advertised if you add a little now and then and hope for a 2 week miracle. It doesn't work that way. You need to prepare ahead of time for what you have around to fill the tumbler the same day.I do get compost in 2 weeks. Mine hits 150 degrees in 24 hours. I leave about a 5 gal. bucket of the last batch of compost in it. I add a bucket of coffee, woodstove ashes, maybe a quart, 3 or 4 lawn mower bags of fresh grass clippings, a wheel barrow of chicken coop straw and poop, same for duck pen. Together a heaping barrow full, 5 gal. pail of kitchen scraps, 2 shovels of soil, half a garbage bag of leaves,cut up garden trimmings, straw and brown grass clippings. I mow about half of the leaves and straw and dump it in the tumbler. After it is 3/4 full I spin it 5 times and check moisture. I usually pour molasses water on until it seems right. I turn it 5 times morning and afternoon. Almost always it is done after 2 weeks, 3 if I need to adjust the mix after a week. It starts over, but heats quickly.The tumblers aren't for everybody. It takes patience, planning and luck, but it can be done.I also have a 3 bin system and would never give it up. No worms in the tumbler stuff is a bummer.

I re-read this thread and have some concerns about the ammonia. I have 2 gunneras growing 20 feet apart. One was getting crowded by crabgrass. I removed that and put down a 2" layer of fresh out of the tumbler compost around it to smother any new grass. There were new leaves starting up from the crown at this point. I haven't seen any since and it has been over a month. The other one I didn't add the compost to is doing fine. I am afraid I killed it. I figured once the batch had cooled down after 2 weeks that it was fine to use. My question is; How do you know if there is too much ammonia? Can you spread the stuff out to evaporate it off or is it just a matter of time? I suppose I could incorporate it into my 3 bin system after coming out of the tumbler and that would take care of it.The tumbler has its merits. Not giving up on it yet.The education continues.

oh2fly, ammonia is a base. You can easily tell if there is too much with a pH strip. Counteract it with something acidic. Try less wood stove ashes (base) and more poop (bacteria produce acid).

Thanks granny. I will adjust the mix next load.