We want to purchase a composter in the next week or two. What brand and type do you use and what type would you like to own? I need help with finding the best product @ a good price. I would like to have any websites information that you have.

We have lots of old hay, leaves and even more old cow 'patties' :~) and want to use them to replenish our garden spot before spring. Thanks for you help!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), November 12, 2001

Answers

hi debbie.

i have found that my chickens are the best composter going. i throw leaves, grass and everything else that is good for compost and safe for chickens in with them. you would be amazed at the great looking compost that you get. my gardens love it.

-- george in nh (rcoopwalpole@aol.com), November 12, 2001.

I like palets,,, free, last awhile,, build it any size you want/need

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), November 12, 2001.

Why buy a composter? The composter is merely a container in which to put the materials to be composted. None of the commercially-available bins is significantly better than what you can piece together out of scrap wood or pallets. Use of discarded material for the bin simply carries the recycling concept one step further. In fact, if you have a lot of material and you want to get it onto your garden area, you might consider sheet composting- just layer the material on top of the garden soil, wet it down, and leave it till Spring. Then, either till it under, or better yet, plant right through it and whatever has not decomposed will form the first layer of mulch.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), November 12, 2001.

We just have a big lump in the backyard away from the house. Turn it every once in a while. If we had any energy, I suppose we could dig a hole first, but why?

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), November 12, 2001.

We're doing sheet composting and have a bin made from scrap wooden pallets also. I've had two "boughten" composters in the past, both found at the local dump where people discarded them. Neither one worked as well as the composter made from wooden pallets.

-- Grannytoo (jacres40@hotmail.com), November 12, 2001.

We bought a compost tumbler. Although it was expensive, it is worth every single penny! It is so easy to use and just being able to turn the crank to turn it is worth it alone. The best thing is that (although they claim compost in 14 days) it really is closer to a month. It really does work! Here the websit if your interested: http://www.compostumbler.com/

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), November 12, 2001.

I do just what Ann does - just a pile that gets turned. My pile is so full of worms that all scraps disappear in just a few days. The soil is very rich and black.

-- Dianne (willow@config.com), November 12, 2001.

The only problem with the compost tumblers is that a lot of the nitrogen is "gassed off" during all that tumbling. Not a problem if you are just using it for mulch or to add organic matter to the soil, watch out if you use the compost for fertilizer.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), November 12, 2001.

I use two modified plastic truck toolboxes, feed preprocess technique and 200 lbs of redworms out here in my study to produce about 700 lbs of vermicompost a month.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), November 12, 2001.

If you must have a tumbling composter, may I recommend you save your money and build it yourself from a recycled barrel? Pop open the lid, clean it out, throw the stuff in, replace the lid. Roll it every day, just as you would turn the high priced crank on the store bought composter. If you want it to sit in your garage, take some casters, attach them to a piece of plywood in the corresponding corners, lay it on the floor wheel side up, and set the full barrel on it. Turn. I use the wonderfully free pallets, myself.

-- Dawn Olson (olsoncln@ecenet.com), November 12, 2001.

Find a corner of your yard and pile everything up, turn with a pitchfork as needed. Add a can of beer from time to time and your done. Dont like the pitchfork idea, use a garden tiller. If you have a tractor with a front end loader use it.

Not sure how large your garden is, but even in the warmer NC your not going to get much during the winter out of a compost pile

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), November 13, 2001.

We're on a city lot. Built my compost bin in the alley next to the fence. Hubby wired 4 (free) pallets together. One opens like a gate. I can stand on the deck bench and throw in kitchen scraps. I also add leaves in the fall. I do not turn mine, just let it slowly break down. I do add water occasionally when I think of it. We live in the desert and it rarely rains. Every spring, I add it to my garden soil. So easy.

-- connie in nm (karrelandconnie@msn.com), November 13, 2001.

Have two garden areas (preferably fenced). Populate one garden area with chickens (house them suitably, too, please!) for a year or so. Throw all your compostable stuff in for your chickens to dig in and turn for you. At the end of the year, you will have great compost, thanks to your chickens! The next year, swap garden areas. Note: chicken manure is hot, so watch what you plant.

We do a somewhat modified version (we don't move the chickens, just the compost.) We scrape our chicken yard out and deposit everything where we want it during fall. By spring, ready to plant with nice compost and fertilizer in. Lazy, eh?

-- sheepish (WA) (the_original_sheepish@hotmail.com), November 13, 2001.

I have 6 fence posts in parallel rows of 3. Chicken wire makes the back and the dividers and thus I have a 3 bin system that was next to free and can be built in any size. A hole in the back corner of a yard with a cover would work fine too. I have looked at those tumblers with envy but the fastest compost I ever made was with stacks of tires. Restack and refill a couple times a day and the cook up really well and I have compost out of them in about 2 weeks. Cost? The pain in the butt to haul the tires from the garage. You can build a wonderful composter much cheape rthan you can buy one.

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), November 13, 2001.

We have a large pile contained by pallets, a large area being sheet composted, and use chickens. Plan to add worm beds. Don't spend any money you don't have to!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), November 13, 2001.

I don't recall who made my several pitch forks but I don't think it matters much. Just get one that's sturdy and well made.

A pitch fork and a small piece of ground to put the pile on is all I've ever used for composting. I don't even do that anymore but prefer to "sheet compost" which is a nice term for just laying it all down as mulch where you need the compost at. It'll rot into the soil naturally with a minimum of labor.

Food scraps and the like I compost through my hens. Their brand is Plymouth Barred Rocks.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (live-oak@atlantic.net), November 13, 2001.

I am so glad that is how you all do it! My husband thinks we should buy a composter because it will be faster. From what you have told me, I think we should use the money to buy chickens and a to build a chicken coop! ;~)! Thanks again.

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), November 13, 2001.

Commercial made compositors appears to be quite good (no experience), but very expensive. The thought occurred about buying a large old used hand operated concrete mixer. You would need to make a cover for the top, but you sure could empty the compost into a wheelbarrow and put it where needed. They sell new concrete mixers at HD, so there has got to be some old ones out there somewhere.

Like the earlier idea about letting chickens do the composting. The idea of a chicken tractor is appealing. A combination is even more appealing.

-- ken in ok (you@surfbest.net), March 14, 2002.