Comments on: Best Backyard Compost Tumblers

By: light bulbs

light bulbs — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:05:31 +0000

Because I have so much I just pile it up and turn it with a pitchfork

By: BrightHome

BrightHome — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:11:14 +0000

I love the idea of building one for yourself. consume less! Thanks for sharing that link.

By: Organic Compost

Organic Compost — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:41:14 +0000

Go Green! YAY!

Organic Compost

By: CD

CD — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 06:46:13 +0000

Very Cool! Go Green!

By: dwgsp

dwgsp — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:40:46 +0000

It seems to me that the best compost tumber is the one that toy build yourself. Instructables has several examples.

http://www.instructables.com/tag/?sort=none&limit%3Atype%3Aid=on&q=compost+tumbler

/Don

By: Teresa

Teresa — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:20:26 +0000

I bought the composTumbler for my family and it’s currently unused in the yard. My dad has advanced degrees in mechanical engineering but complained that it was difficult to assemble. I only saw it after assembly, and it seemed very sturdy and well built. The design could be improved by replacing the door mechanism with something more user friendly (perhaps one that swings open rather than one than requires that you place it down every time). The crank on the side kept on interfering with plants nearby and would be better replaced by handles on the body.

However, the composTumbler works! it’s solid and huge. Ideally, you’d have two, so you could add to one while the other finished composting. My parents stopped using their composTumbler because they couldn’t keep adding material if they wanted it to produce finished compost.

So, I bought them the NatureMill, which was a big mistake. They were really angry at me for wasting so much money. There is no way the NatureMill can do what is advertised because there’s nothing in there to release the contents into the lower compartment, for example. Which assumes it produces any compost to begin with – bad assumption. When you plug it in, the light turns on and it makes some noise. I’ve never seen the crank inside move. It’s very poorly constructed (out of styrofoam) and is much to small to handle even one person’s food scraps (granted, I got the regular sized one).

I’m interested in a review of the composter on the gaiam website, the one with an inner cylinder, that supposedly allows you to add continuously and still produce compost. anyone try that one?

By: ras

ras — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:59:52 +0000

This is awesome. We need one at my building, I’ll print this off and give it to my strata. I tried to cut up an old oil drum and make one but it isn’t going too well.

By: Will

Will — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:45:50 +0000

In a normal compost system, worms do a good proportion of the work (at least here in the UK). Does anyone know what the loss is from not having worms doing their work, or whether worms can be added to the drum?

By: gmoke

gmoke — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:48:28 +0000

Try the Rodale Institute and Organic Gardening and Farming magazine. They are likely to have done compost tumbler tests.

By: VoyageHomeLoans

VoyageHomeLoans — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:42:03 +0000

Very Cool! Go Green!