Composting

[nabob]

Hi, I am thinking about buying a tumbling composter bin, has anyone got one , are they any good??
I have plastic one but animals ???? keep getting in and burrowing in even though I have netted it off!

[Mosaic]

Gardeners World on R4 recommended deterring burrowers by regularly dowsing the compost with cold water. That might be cheaper than a special device.
And manic composters dig out and stir up the composting mix by hand - only recommended if you like pointless digging.

[woofgang]

If you are on a meter then it won't take long to spend the price of a compost tumbler in water use. Even if you use butt water, that still means spending more on tap water to water the plants you would have used the harvested water on. I have given up making compost because it attracted rats even when I only composted plant material and nothing edible.

[Mosaic]

I tend to forget that our local abundance of water isn't the same everywhere. Think I'll just go and pour a few gallons down the drains, for entertainment.....not metered either.....

[waterboatman]

Stand the composter on some heavy duty wire mesh and that will keep the wee beasties out.

[Mosaic]

'Aviary wire' is better than any kind of wire netting for such purposes - I got some over 25 years ago to keep my rabbits in their run, and I still have it knocking about the garden.

[Old_Geezer]

Sounds like they might be worth a try anyway.

I was convinced to get a compost bin once. Tales of sticking your garden refuse in and getting free compost out. Turns out it doesn't work like that at all. You have to keep fiddling with it; or, like mine, you get a permanent bin of garden compost in your garden. Tumbling might help with it.

[alavahalf]

"I have plastic one but animals ???? keep getting in and burrowing in even though I have netted it off"

Have you actually given it a thought .. you are attempting to ..''compost' .. you are trying to break down waste to organic matter .. for whatever end result you require.
You haven't stated what is included in the existing compost to attract animals.
Hoping not to be labeled a 'Manic' composter I now have 10 compost cones spread over my 3 allotments. As far as I know I have no animals in any of these bins. Each and every one is in a known stage of de-composition.
From information received and gathered from 'Old timers' the only reason to attract 'Animals' to your compost is by adding cooked veg or meat to the bin .

Very early this morning I spotted this thread and thought " If only you realised how easy it is" ... I have added 2 links .. the first is compost I started 12 months ago and the second was started 24 months ago.. all created from nothing, other than an empty plastic cone.
Nothing technical .. but it is all about layers of various waste and in no specific order .. just lots of layers... I can honestly say " I have never seen a rat .. but I have seen a few mice in my bins" .. but they are actually part of the process of composting ... as are the rest of the beasties found in a bin !

http://i67.tinypic.com/11091zk.jpg[/ .. 12 months

http://i63.tinypic.com/zns9ac.jpg[/ ... 2 months

At this stage neither needs seiving and both are ready to apply to the soil in the early spring. When I first started growing my own I thought of composting as some strange art only for the experienced ... now I know ... it's all about layering.
... and as I said " In no particular order" .. card board, leaves, shredded paper, seaweed, apples, veg of any kind, manure, grass clippings along with more layers of the same and anything else you may think of.
Do not not add any cooked food or meat of any desription and you should be without animals ... no mesh required !

Remember what is waste to you .. is dinner to something else .. as soon as you put it out in the compost, you loose your right to who you ask to dinner !

[woofgang]

alavahalf I had to get rid of my bins because of the rats. They ate the (plastic) bins and nested in the compost. I never added anything to the bins but garden clippings, weeds and spent plants. No peelings, no spoiled garden produce....nothing...certainly nothing cooked or meaty, not even eggshells. To add insult to injury, they brought their own food in and stashed it in my bins!

[diddlydo]

The problem with tumblers is that you need to be a professional weightlifter to tumble them when full! Stick to a normal compost heap and save your energy.

[cgoody]

Okay everyone thank you for all your replies. I put in uncooked kitchen waste, garden clipping, vacuum dust brown cardboard, hair clippings etc. Have been very successful over the years. However, rats are getting through the netting and now have a run into it! I will try putting it on concrete slabs with plenty of netting.