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Composters?

L

lostmind

Has anyone ever used one of these: http://www.naturemill.com/pro.html

I'm considering getting one for the house... I compost outdoors in a black square thing I got for free and it seems to be decent, but the wife doesn't like to go outside in the winter time and add the veggie scraps to it. So our composting pile is mostly yard waste honestly. Most veggie scraps are put down the garberator (how the hell do you spell that?!).
 
lostmind said:
Most veggie scraps are put down the garberator (how the hell do you spell that?!).
Click to expand...

G-A-R-B-A-G-E D-I-S-P-O-S-E-R-S!

It sounds nice but $400??? We keep a smallish tupperware bowl with a lid that food scraps get added to. Once every week-ten days it gets added to the pile.

Mike
 
Looks like a neat gadget for someone in an apartment or something, but if I was going to spend that much money, I'd invest in a good Worm composter (or vermicomposter)
 
We tried the bucket of scraps under the counter thing for a couple months. Mostly it rotted, stank, attracts bugs in just a week, got slimey, and even though it was a 1.5years ago we started (late july in 2007) this, we still have no usable compost in our compost bin. I haven't added anything to it since october last year.

During the summer I turned it, I used compost starter, I shredded a ton of dry leaves and newspaper to counteract the slimyness and so on. In the winter I leave it alone. Basically as much as people like to say making compost is fool proof, my experience says it isn't. Then again I may just really suck.

Vermicomposting I think is pretty cool but my wife is too grossed out by it. I don't know if the battle I'd have to wage to get one is worth it. Now if I had a storage shed or something... but I have a tiny, tiny yard. $400 seems so much easier, if the unit works. :)

Not that we need to compost to reduce the amount of household garbage. Between heavy recycling and using the "garbage disposal unit" (thanks Mike!) we throw out only 1 standard green bag of garbage per week. That's with a 5 month old baby girl and all her diapers (we tried re-usable's and we aren't cut out for it. Honestly the amount of "accidents" from those things resulting in more laundry probably outweighs any benefits from less diapers in the garbage. jmho).
 
WE are badly needing to start composting.

(It's a garbage disposal, or dispose all;))

I plan to build a box or something. $400 sounds retarded to me, but then again, some people think that $50,000 to renovate a bathroom seems logical. To each their own.
 
Lost,

It reads as though you have very little green stuff (grass clippings, flower leaves, even weeds) to add. It needs greens to compost.

My son could not wear disposables - he broke out real bad and we tried all the brands we could. I was surprised, changing his diapers didn't really bother me.

Mike
 
Actually I think my problem is the opposite, it's all too slimey. Or at least, the center turns slimey. We have a really rainy climate here and I think this is causing toomuch moisture but who knows. I'm thinking this spring to empty the bin out and just pile the contents in a hidden corner of the yard and start over....

Maybe in 5 years the pile will be usable.

The problem with disposables was the leaks. We had to wash her 3x a day, everyday for the week we tried them out. My daughter is breastfed so the #2 aren't as bad as they could be (formula fed babies produce some nasty sh!t!).

Oh and this is $400 cad, which is nearly $300 usd. There's a $299 unit too I think I've found. Hmmm wonder if I can find one on craigslist.
 
It works wonders. BUT!! And I stress BUT! There are better usinits out there, "tumblers" and such that go outside and can handle large loads of dirt and such. Get one of those and keep the compost outside where it belongs.

I had a $300 tumbler that i found on the isd eof the road out in La and used it for two years. I can't tell you how much compost that thing produced. Also look into the multi-level worm composter that produces worm casting and compost. Great bargon for the money.
 
lostmind said:
Actually I think my problem is the opposite, it's all too slimey. Or at least, the center turns slimey. We have a really rainy climate here and I think this is causing toomuch moisture but who knows. I'm thinking this spring to empty the bin out and just pile the contents in a hidden corner of the yard and start over....
Click to expand...

Add mroe dirt and turn it more often. You can also set up a tarp over it go it doesn't get direct rain.
 
There is a $199 model available now!

I saw one of these once at a dinner party and it was pretty cool but at the time it was $400 which seemed steep. Now I see on their website that they have a $199 version which is almost the same. At that price it starts to make sense if you can get some good compost out of it and you don't have to deal with the compost pile all winter.
 
lostmind said:
Actually I think my problem is the opposite, it's all too slimey. Or at least, the center turns slimey.
Click to expand...

Generally, that means the stuff is packed too tight and cannot get enough air. As Iggy said, add some dirt or simply turn it more often, but use a pitch fork instead of just rotating it.

lostmind said:
The problem with disposables was the leaks. We had to wash her 3x a day, everyday for the week we tried them out.
Click to expand...

Ah, the joys of a garden hose and neighbors who don't call the cops because your baby is outside naked! Both the kids loved it.

Mike
 
Way too expensive!!!!!

Low temperature composting is the best way to go, it retains the most nutrients!
Bokashi compost and composting redworms are a sensible alternative to the Nature Mill and other high heat methods of composting .

http://bokashicomposting.com/

~Pepperjack
 
Ok, so I've just spent a few hours researching composting yet again. Bokashi seems neat but I'm still not sure of what to do with it after you've aged your full bucket for a month or so. Put it in the ground? Add it to the regular compost pile? hmmm. Every article talks about how to make it, not what to do with it.

I get distracted wayyy too easily.
 
I remember as a young lad my mates dad's compost pile used to smoulder all the time, he must have been doing something right/and or wrong..
 
lostmind said:
Actually I think my problem is the opposite, it's all too slimey. Or at least, the center turns slimey. We have a really rainy climate here and I think this is causing toomuch moisture but who knows. I'm thinking this spring to empty the bin out and just pile the contents in a hidden corner of the yard and start over.....
Click to expand...


Put a drain in the bottom and the slimy will stop.
 
I do the worms but if she is not happy with that toss in a bit of shredded junk mail to your kitchen scraps to absorb the moisture and make sure it gets plenty of air for good decomposition. It wont smell if it has enough air and isnt too moist.
 
POTAWIE said:
I try to avoid colored inks in my compost but I sometimes add layers of b+w newsprint
Click to expand...

I put down layers of black and white newspaper around the plants when I first start planting out. I usually don't put out any weed paper until everything is in the garden. The newspaper saves pulling a lot of weeds in the meantime.
 
Little to do with compost, but a good tip nonetheless.

At the risk of jacking the thread entirely, I have found that my 1 ft raised beds make weeding a breeze and keep the dogs out.
 
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