Composting question......

[PAChickenChick]

I made a tumbler for the cost of about $35....

Scrounged around "New Home" sites ect... and found two 6ft 4x4 treated lumber posts... Had some bags of cement from another project...found an old 5ft 1inch wide black metal pipe at my Parents house(it's gotta be able to support some serious weight)...bought two metal things that look like "U"s and are meant to hold pipes up against something for about $0.87 each, bought a plastic FOODGRADE 55gal. drum for $30 off Craigslist.

So here ya go....
Decide if you want your barrel to be vertical (like a trashcan) or horizonal. Measure the length of your barrel plus leave about 5 to 6 inches to make sure it spins freely.
Dig holes for your posts...planning on burying the posts atleast two feet down. Mix cement and pour in holes...(save some money by putting rocks or broken bricks in holes to take up room so you use less cement)....keep it level.
After it dries attach the "U"s to the tops of the landscaping tees.
Using a drill and bit (in my case 1 inch bit) drill holes on either side of your barrel. MAKE SURE THEY ARE AT THE EXACT SAME HEIGHT OR YOUR BARREL WILL BE LOPSIDED AND NOT SPIN PROPERLY. Now you need to cut a door to fill / remove the compost. Decide how big of a door you want and drill a hole in all four corners of where the door will be (this is so you can turn the corner with your jigsaw when cutting the door out) If you are doing the Vertical barrel make your door is closer to the top of the barrel but not at the very top. If you're doing the horizonal one it doesn't matter where you put it. Keep the cut out piece of barrel cause you don't want your compost to spill out

Because you've weakend the barrel by cutting out the door, when you go to re-attach it you will need a sturdy piece of wood (like a ferring strip) to go across it. Attach the ferring strip to the cut out piece using a few bolts with nuts. You will attach this back on the barrel by using a bolt that comes from INSIDE the barrel then out, goes through a nut and then through the end of the ferring strip and gets secured with a wing nut so you can easily unscrew / screw it to remover / replace the door. Drill a bunch more holes all over the barrel...random or uniform doesn't matter, they are just for air flow.
Now slide the barrel onto the black metal pole and then slide that into the "U"s and your set.

When you're starting your compost and every now and then you have to add regular dirt into it so it gets the micro organisms started...and I also heard to add water occasionally.

 

[Becaco]

PAChickenChick, could you post a picture of your compost tumbler?

 

[PAChickenChick]

As the way my luck always is...I broke my camera the other night

I'll see if I can get the picture another way. In the meantime....if you do a YouTube search on "compost tumbler" the first video that comes up is the one that I got my information from. I'm going to try to attach a link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FcPz4XF-yUM

The only difference between theirs (in the video) and mine is that I made mine horizonal instead of vertical and since mine was a 55 gal. plastic drum I had to cut a "door" out in it. They have a screw top lid.

I'll post again when I can get a pic

 

[d.k]

* Weed seeds are supposedly killed if your compost holds the right temp long enough. You only need to add water if you are not adding enough moist ingredients usually-- even then, it's not necessary to add more than a pint or so. Don't use fresh tap water if yours is chlorinated. Might kill off some of the bacteria.

 

[Kismet]

Dear Jolyn,
I have a double barrel compost tumbler. While one side is composting, I add to the other. I emptied both sides in the spring, so now I am just filling up one of the barrels. I add to it daily - kitchen scraps that don't go to hens, shredded paper, chicken manure, sheep manure, trimmings from the garden, leaves - just about anything that will decompose. I turn it over once a day, if I am around. The smaller the pieces, the faster they will decompose. I'm pondering whether it would pay in the long run to get one of those mechanical shredders.

I really like the composter, but I also have a pile where I put the bigger stuff (hence the thoughts about a shredder). I turn this once or twice a year, and use the compost on the bottom in the spring.

 

[Jolyn]

Flies.....Is it normal to have flies in the tumbler? I'm worried about ewwwwwwwwww maggots.

 

[Jolyn]

Bumping up to see about the flies...

 

[bluie]

I definitely would not put the food in the tumbler unless its of vegetable origin and no sauce, butter, etc. Maggots/flies shouldn't be a problem in a compost tumbler, unless you have too much green stuff or you have put meat products in there. I am paranoid about weeds. Patandchickens always lets hers dry out real good in the driveway before adding them. I have so many weeds that can resprout from the roots that it scares me to put them in, but I probably should be more brave. Definitely don't put weeds that have seeds on them in a tumbler, it prob doesn't get hot enough to kill the seeds.