Anyone try one of those rotating compost drums?

[spinbaby]

I’m just composting yard waste now and leaving off the kitchen scraps because I’m afraid of attracting critters. I’ve been looking over those drum composters thinking they’ll let me compost kitchen scraps and maybe get me faster compost. Anyone have an opinion on these?

[ret5hd]

1. We had a metal one. Worked great till it rusted thru...

We haven't seen one yet that we feel is a good replacement.

[shraby]

2. We made one out of patio blocks for the floor, regular cement blocks for the walls,

and it's 4x8 and 4-5 blocks high

It could be sized depending on the space you have. Most of our kitchen scraps of meat, etc goes to the birds. Crows love it.

All the garden waste and house waste except meat gets tossed in. At the end of a year, we have about 2-3 feet of nice black dirt in the bottom.

We don't turn it and don't allow neighbors to put their grass clippings put them in there because we have to know there are no pesticides in it.

[spinbaby]

3. Sounds like the one I have now

No kitchen scraps, though. We composted kitchen scraps when we lived in the country and every evening, the raccoons would drop by to see what was on the menu. Now that we’re in the city, I don’t feel like our neighbors would appreciate critters and I’m half afraid the critters would be rats.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. I've used one for years...love it! Sturdy plastic, metal frame

Similar to this

https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/gardening-tools/wheelbarrows-carts-and-hand-trucks/7214786?x429=true&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=CjwKCAiA767jBRBqEiwAGdAOrwbNJkysFlHK0njNfzVdk6RrCJ-ffGFItZFjMXHIcq21nNO4dCmOJhoCEWcQAvD_BwE

[KPN]

5. No, but I use a black plastic trash barrel on

wheels and with a tight lid. I drilled about 60 holes or so in the barrel with a 5/8” bit. It’s worked great. I actually have two of them. The nice thing is I can tip the barrel on its side and roll it back and forth to mix the compost every 2 or 3 weeks until it gets a little over half full. After that I use a garden pitch fork to mix the upper layers. Overall, it works great and it only costs me about $20 for each barrel (I get them at my local Ace Hardware store). I store them right outside the back door — no odors, no critter issues and easy access. Stuff composts very quickly— a layer of greens, a layer of browns, keep it moist and mix every so often.

[MyOwnPeace]

6. Have a plastic tumbler........

never really worked out the correct recipe - product ends up looking like you're visiting a horse stable. I do use kitchen scraps for the most part, adding grass and leaves to mix up the total.
Since the mix is so moist I then empty it into a ground pit where I'll work it for a few more weeks with grass clippings and surrounding dirt. I've had it for over 11 years.

[steventh]

7. I love my tumbling composter

I've had it over a year. It makes decent compost in a decent amount of time. No smell. No wild animal visitors. And there are lots of wild animals in this country area.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/FCMP-Outdoor-Tumbling-Composter-with-Two-Chambers-for-Efficient-Batch-Composting-IM-4000/202672114

[spinbaby]

8. That's the one I was looking at

Come April, I think it will go out back by the garden shed.

[steventh]

9. Frequent spinning and adding a little water in the 2 chambers help speed the composting process.

You can't add too much water because any excess drains away. Home Depot assembled the composter free of charge. The assembled composter was too big to fit in my car, so I had a friend with a van transport it from the store to my yard. I hope you get good results from your composter as I have from mine.

[hunter]

10. We have one, with two bins. It slows down in the winter and doesn't quite keep up...

... so I'll have to dump one bin before it's entirely done composting. But it's composted enough not to be attractive to rats, which is why we bought the composter.

Our neighborhood has trouble with rats because some neighbors leave food outside 24/7 for dogs and cats. We don't feed our own dogs outside, and I always make sure our bird feeder is empty and there's no spilled seed left on the ground before the sun goes down.

[NutmegYankee]

11. I use an 80 gallon drum tumbler.

It's a Lifetime Brand composter and it works, though the batch process takes several weeks each load. I've never had critter problems, but the drum is a very heavy duty plastic. The only annoyance I had with this unit was the assembly is complex and I assembled it on a buggy evening getting eaten alive.

[spinbaby]

12. Still shopping

And while I was browsing composters, I came across a gizmo called a Food Cycler, which is a kitchen appliance that takes food waste, dehydrates and grinds it up, and produces something you can use as a soil amendment. Fascinating idea, although I think it’s too expensive—$299 plus regular filter expense—and I don’t want another kitchen appliance on my countertop.

[onethatcares]

13. $299.00 is crazy but

if you are in the city and only have so much space ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

I just hate spending dollars on something that should be relatively free.

Food scraps + water + some grass clippings + some leaves/cardboard/shredded paper = compost.

I used to use a thrift store bought food processor to grind all of it up, then decided the micro organisms could do it without the use of electricity.

[spinbaby]

14. Simpler is usually better

I did a lot browsing through compost gadgets, but haven’t committed to any of them yet. For now, I’m still making do with a messy pile and a shovel.

[onethatcares]

15. buy a manure fork

cover the pile if it gets too wet, turn the stuff once a week or every two weeks, add greens to heat the pile up if needed. Simple is better. The earth has been doing it for years.

[spinbaby]

16. I'm an old lady

I’m not going to turn compost every week or even every two weeks. Nothing moves until I burrow into the pile to get compost.

[onethatcares]

17. I am an old woman

named after my mother,
my old man is another
child that's grown old.

thank you John Prine

Seriously, I'm an old guy pushing 70, I have two compost piles, I don't try to move the pile but just enough to aerate.

If I had a one acre garden and a tractor I'd be smiling. As is, three 6 x 12 raised beds is enough.

[spinbaby]

18. This why I was looking into composters

So I could aerate without the work of turning the pile manually. I don’t do vegetables, just my flower beds.