Compost tumbler is like a garbage bin for collection of food wastes and garden wastes, except that the materials must be turned.
Converting Garbage Bin Into Compost tumbler
A compost tumbler can be built inexpensively using metal garbage bin. Simply drill several holes in the base of the garbage bin and several rows of holes 5 inches apart all around the sides of the garbage bin. These holes allow air movement and the drainage of excess moisture.
The compost tumbler can be turned on its side and roll around the yard. This will allow for mixing and aeration of the materials inside the compost tumbler. Alternatively a support frame can be built to allow the compost tumbler to be rolled horizontally. This would require the construction of support shaft at the 2 ends of the compost tumbler.
Filling Up The Compost Tumbler
Composting requires a well mix of materials high in both carbon and nitrogen. High carbon materials include paper, sawdust, wood chips, straw and leaves. High nitrogen materials include food scraps, grass clippings, and manure. Nitrogen fertilizer may also be added into the compost tumbler if necessary. All items must be in small size to ensure faster decomposition.
Temperature And Moisture Level In Compost Tumbler
Temperatures in the compost tumbler should be between 90° and 140°F. If the moisture level is correct, the compost should be damp. Dry sawdust, wood chips or dry straw should be added if it is too damp. Water should be added if too dry.
Compost barrel is also known as compost tumbler. Compost barrel is the most popular compost makers in the market as they are able to convert yard waste into usable compost easily and quickly.
Compost Barrel
By manually rolling and turning the compost barrel, composts are mixed and the decomposition process is speeded up. Compost barrel available in the market come with attractive design, making them a decorative piece for the garden backyard.
Though compost barrel is able to hold ample of compost, it is also common to have multiple compost barrels in the garden. This is to allow the continual collection of leftovers and yard scraps while the other is composting. Just begin filling the second barrel after the first compost barrel is full.
Popular Compost Barrel
Compost barrels are normally made in black and dark green. Black absorbs more heat which is important for the speeding up of decomposition. Black is usually popular in northern and southern hemisphere where there is little sun. Dark green is also popular as it matches well with the garden green.
The Composting
Turn the compost barrel several times a day. Mix and aerate the materials to build up a heat core for fast decomposition. In 6 to 8 weeks, the finished compost shall be ready for the garden.
Dig it into the top of vegetable and flower beds or spread it as a mulch layer around trees.
The difference between mulch and compost is only in the degree of decomposition. Mulch contains materials that are not yet broken down completely. Compost is the final stage of decomposition and is homogenous and looks like a rich brown soil.
Mulch can be spread as compost on soil surface. More commonly compost is added after digging into garden soil so as to improve the soil by adding humus and attract worms. This is especially useful to loosen heavy clay soils and enhance water holding capacity of sandy soils.
Making Bark Mulch
Almost any kind of wood chips can be used as bark mulch. Bark mulch is bark shredded off trees and grinded into finer size pieces. Bark mulch is usually screened for easy working with in landscape. Bark mulch decomposes and will change color.
Mulching In Garden
Most gardeners want mulch. Mulch is simply added on top of the garden bed in a thick layer of 10 to 30 cms thick. Mulching thickly on the soil surface will protect the surface roots of the plants by:
Reducing water evaporation by up to 80% thus retaining moisture in soil
Helping to maintain a constant soil temperature which reduces water usage
Iinsulating the soil, keeping roots cool in summer and warm in winter
Adding nutrients to soil thus attracting them as it provides food for worms
Adding compost can improve the quality of soil as it improves the physical condition and increase the fertility of the soil. Compost added to soil can also reduce insect pests and disease infestation. For garden with problem of poor water holding capacity, adding compost can improve water retention capacity of the soil. Compost is also known to solve erosion problem in the garden.
Easy Home Composter
Compost can be produced easily with easy home composter. Just dump all your plant parts, lawn clipping, and kitchen waste to a trench or bin. Here are some useful home composting tips:
For gardening, spread compost at one inch thick in home composter. If mulches and amendments are used, half inch of compost would be sufficient.
If the supply of the compost is less, then side dresses the compost by placing it around plants or rows, keeping a distance of one inch away from the stem. Side dressing in home composter is best done in late spring and early summer.
Apply compost in the fall for maximum effect. You can also do it in early spring. In climate where decomposing in home composter is faster, apply compost more frequently. Whereas in climate where compost decomposes slower, add compost at a slower pace.
Applying Compost
Add compost to the hole made for planting seeds and seedlings. Adding compost to the hole at the time of planting is most beneficial for the perennials. For annuals, one dose of compost will be more beneficial. For shallow rooted crops, just leave the compost on the soil.
For better health of the lawn, top dress it with compost every year or two.
Do not use improperly made compost. If the compost is not well decomposed, do not use it, as it may contain germs and weed seeds.
A compost tumbler is a barrel-shaped container that has some form of framework so that it can be rotated by hand for aeration purposes.
Fill the tumbler with the same ingredients as the usual heap and leave it for a few days to allow the composting to start. Turn regularly every couple of days. The turning action of the tumbler ensures that the composting bacteria are never short of oxygen, so they keep working at full speed. The constant mixing also ensures that all the ingredients are well composted and that there are no dry edges. This can be very useful when weed seeds or diseased material are being composted. A tumbler has the added benefit of being vermin-proof.
Benefits Of Compost Tumblers
Compost tumblers offer several benefits over the standard compost bin as the aeration rotation is designed to accelerate the decomposition process.
Compost tumblers are generally easy to use and come in a number of sizes and styles. Most tumbler are designed with optimum size to allow young and old to tumble even when full. It doesn’t even require a strong arm and strong back to turn a tumbler!
Unlike compost pile kept open at the backyard, tumblers are in closed environment and therefore much easier to retain moisture so your compost doesn’t dry out. Also in wet weather it won’t get too soggy. The enclosed environment also keeps unpleasant odor inside the compost tumbler. As they are fully enclosed they are pest proof from such common pests as squirrels, raccoons, rats and dogs.
Aeration Of Compost Tumblers
Simply fill the tumbler with the required materials and tumble every couple of days. In order to function properly, the tumbler needs to be filled all at once, so is not suitable for adding material a little at a time.
As aeration of the compost material in the tumbler is the key to speedy decomposition. Lack of air would produce a smelly decomposition which cannot be used in the garden. Most tumblers put heavy emphasis on aeration design with ease of use. At rotation, the tumbler rotating around its axis through the width of the bin would ensure contents fall from top to bottom of the tumbler and are thoroughly aerated. Some tumblers incorporate a breaker bar across the middle to help break up the contents as they fall.
Compost For Gardening
Compost tumblers tend to heat up very well, and after three weeks or so will produce an immature compost in which the original ingredients will be unrecognisable. At this stage it can be used directly on the garden, or stacked up under cover to mature to a finer product, leaving the tumbler free to be filled again.
Healthy plants come from a healthy and nutritious soil. By backyard composting using a tumbler, an environmentally friendly gardener produces his own natural black gold economically for his vegetables, herbs and flowers. This is turn provides healthy, safe, and great tasting food for him and his loved ones.
The decomposition of organic matter is actually a process of recurring digestions as organic matter repeatedly passing through the intestinal tracts of soil animals. In this process organic matter is attacked by the digestive enzymes secreted by microorganisms. Garden compost is the end product of this complex feeding pattern involving hundreds of different microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects.
Composting In Soil
Composting is simply the replication of nature’s system of breaking down materials on the forest floor. This process results in a product that significantly improves soil fertility and helps keep the soil in a healthy balanced condition where nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus are produced naturally.
Garden compost is the aerobically decomposed remnants of organic materials (those with plant and animal origins). Compost is used in gardening and agriculture as a soil amendment, and commercially by the landscaping and container nursery industries.
Compost is often called “humus” which is defined as organic matter that has reached a point of stability, where it will break down no further and can remain essentially as it is for centuries, or even millennia. In simple term, garden compost is the end product of decomposed organic matter.
Anaerobic Decomposition
An aerobic process is one that require air (usually refer to oxygen). Aerobic organism is living things with an oxygen-based metabolism.
The opposite of aerobic is anaerobic. To encourage the most active microbes, a garden compost pile needs the correct mix of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and water. Decomposition happens even in the absence of some of these ingredients, but not as quickly or as pleasantly. For example, vegetables placed in an airtight plastic bag will still decompose but will do so in an anaerobic manner since there is limited oxygen available.
In an anaerobic decomposition process the absence of air encourages the growth of anaerobic microbes, which produce unpleasant odors.
Artificial Composting
Artificial composting is the controlled process of decomposition of organic matter, producing compost through aerobic decomposition of biodegradable organic matter. The decomposition is performed primarily by aerobes, although larger creatures such as ants, nematodes, and worms also contribute.
Composting can take place under small scale such as garden composting. Large scale industrial composting uses same biological processes but with different techniques.
Garden composting provides a healthy environment and nutrition for the rapid decomposers, the bacteria. The most rapid composting occurs with the ideal carbon to nitrogen ratio of between 25 and 30 to 1. In other words, the ingredients placed in garden compost pile should contain 25 to 30 times as much carbon as nitrogen. For example, grass clippings average about 19 to 1 and dry autumn leaves average about 55 to 1. Mixing equal parts by volume would approximate the ideal range. Industrial composting pays strict attention to this ratio. Garden composting is done with various ingredients and therefore not as straightforward to approximate this mixture.
If gardening is as simple as a bucket of water and some fertilizer, then a compost tea sprayer is the probably the best tool for such simplicity.
Compost Tea Sprayer At Work
Benefits Of Compost Tea
Compost tea provides more benefits then compost to a plant. Using a compost tea sprayer to spray the plants regularly is like applying a powerful plant supplement around the garden. Compost can only be applied to the soil around plants whereas compost tea can be sprayed on plant leaves by using a compost tea sprayer.
Compost tea sprayer can reach every corner and every height of the plants. When compost tea is sprayed directly on plant leaves, it increases the amount of nutrients available to the plant and helps fight foliar diseases. It grows healthy and beautiful flowers and plants. In the case of vegetables, compost tea increases the nutritional value and improves the taste of vegetables.
Proper Use Of Compost Tea Sprayer
Aerated compost tea is better in quality then normal compost tea. Aerated compost tea is produced when the compost mixture is fed with constant supply of oxygen. This requires bubbler or air stones with the addition of ingredients such as alfalfa, fish emulsion, powdered seaweed, corn meal, green sand and more.
When spraying compost tea with a compost tea sprayer it is important to watch out for clogs. It is advisable to attach some cheese cloth or a piece of panty hose with some rubber bands to the compost tea sprayer’s intake.
To build a homemade compost tumbler from scratch is time and energy consuming. Fortunately there is compost tumbler assembly kit available.
Homemade Compost Tumbler Kit
A homemade compost tumbler kit includes everything necessary except tools. The essential items are tumbler drum panels, end caps, tumbler door, frame legs, drive handle, drive gear and lots of bolts and washers.
Tumbler Assembly
The assembly of homemade compost tumbler begins with the tumbler drum. To assemble the tumbler, simply take the 2 drum panels and lay them end to end with the mixing fins facing up. Use the holes in the fins for alignment and the 2 tumbler drum panels can be bolted together once they are aligned. The body part of a homemade compost tumbler is now in shape.
End Caps Attachments
First attach one end cap and position the tumbler standing up so that the center fin is aligned with the screen on the end cap. Slide the edge of the tumbler into the rim of the end cap and leave a gap for the door panel. Slide the door panel into the end cap rim and the holes in the inside will line up nicely for bolting.
Next attach the second end cap so that when the homemade compost tumbler is finished the vents will both be rotating together. The bolts in the tumbler slots are adjustable to get the panels and cap to fit correctly.
Once the second end cap of the homemade compost tumbler is in place, install the 3 tie rods to hold the tumbler together. Thread one nut onto each tie rods and thread the tie rods through the holes in the end cap. The ties will come out through the other end cap. The homemade compost tumbler is now fully assembled. The remaining task is to install the accessories such as aerators and the door latches.
Support Frame Assembly
The support frame is for the drive gear to turn the homemade compost tumbler on the drive support. Gears are provided to be installed inside the support frame for turning the compost tumbler. Simply turn the homemade compost tumbler on its side to attach the gear drive to the gear teeth on the tumbler drum. Both stub axles are to be inserted into the center holes of the end caps. Once they are all in place, position the drive support over the tumbler drum and push it into the stub axles.
The homemade compost tumbler is now almost ready. The final leg assembly is relatively straight forward. Simply bolt the legs and attach the braces to the tumbler drum. A nice looking homemade compost tumbler is now ready.
The whole assembly process can be even more exciting if it is done together with family members or even with neighbours. Going to the garden to turn the homemade compost tumbler can be even more fun for everyone.
CPL Distribution are now delivering a range of FSC, recycled and peat free composts and soil improvers straight to your door. For car free people like me a great service. You can already get mail order compost from www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/ and www.wigglywigglers.co.uk, amongst others, but its good to have another supplier. CPL sell solid fuel normally and will […]
I took a quick look in my ‘4 Worm Experiment‘ bin this morning and found two of the adults engaged in some hanky panky! Of course, as per usual I ran for the camera to see if I can get some decent images.As you can see, when worms mate they line up facing in opposite […]
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