Arriga
Cool Member
Posts: 94
Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:20 pm
Location: Charles Town WV

Composting Question

Where can I find a 55 Gallon drum to make my own compost tumbler? To buy one is very expensive

Newt
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Posts: 1868
Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 10:44 pm
Location: Maryland zone 7

Arriga, some sources might be a food manufacturer near you. If you have a Coca Cola or Pepsi bottling plant, pickle manufacturer, car wash (gets soap in them), craigslist.org, chemical suppliers for food items that are non-toxic, freecycle.org, thefreestite.com, freecycle.com, totallyfreestuff.com

Also see if your city or county has free rainbarrels that you might be able to convert.

Farm Waste Not Want Not is a yahoo group you can join.
https://groups.yahoo.com/group/farmwastenotwantnot/

Newt

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hendi_alex
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Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2008 7:58 am
Location: Central Sand Hills South Carolina

I've read several independent reviews comparing various tumblers and have been convinced that tumblers don't work any better than traditional composting either in an open pile, fence enclosure, or some kind of bin. So I can't really see much reason for a person to limit themselves with a tumbler for just a marginal or perhaps non significant benefit. Now IMO a tumbler would be nice to use for table scraps, to contain the materials and keep out pests. But some sort of worm bed would satisfy that need better and would provide an unlimited supply of earth worms for the garden, yard, and compost pile.

bflocat
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Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2008 1:23 pm
Location: Western New York

I completely agree with hendi_alex. Unless you are limited by space, making a simple pile can work just as well as a tumbler. It's not as simple as flipping and dumping to get out the compost, but taking a shovel and digging out the good stuff isn't all that tough either - and it's definitely cheaper. We used an old sandbox frame (made from 2x8s) and plopped it in a flat spot. I like it more than our old bin, because we can fit a lot more in it. We have a worm bin that we use for kitchen scraps through the winter, but in summer we toss most food waste into our big compost and bury it a bit. Never had any trouble with critters.



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