Are compost tumblers a myth?

If you do a search, I think Desert Cat (user name) had bought one last year and posted some pictures of her composting with it! :)
 
I agree with Pat. I don't get all involved with a compost pile. I just heap it up and water it once in awhile. If I feel like it I turn it now and then but if not I don't bother. Cold composting actually keeps more of the nutrients in the compost (I keep telling myself). One thing I always do though is pee in a gallon milk jug and pour it on whenever the jug gets full. If you tarp it there's no odor and even if you don't the odor lasts only a few hours. There are lots of busy critters in there that know what to do with it and it really speeds the process along.
As far as tumblers go I tried one and wasn't at all happy with it. I turned it into a soldier fly larvae habitat so I could get rid of things like fish remains and old meat without using the garbage bin. Those things really have an appetite.
 
I looked into those compost tumblers and all I can say is.....it will be a very cold day in H-E-double hockey sticks before I spend $400 to turn leaves and fruit peels into anything other than 24 carat gold.
 
I ran across one listed on Craigslist that was home-made from a 50G plastic barrel (one of those blue ones) that had a rod (perhaps thick conduit?) run through the center (horizontally) if the barrel is standing up. That rod was then attached to a frame made of 2x4's so that the barrel is a few inches off the ground. This allows the user to spin the barrel top to bottom (head over heels) easily from what I could tell.. I've got one more barrel like that and will try building one in the coming weeks.. I'll post some pics..

The site below has one that is pretty much like what I described :

http://greenopolis.com/goblog/joe-laur/spin-barrel-making-rotating-barrel-composter
 
By the way.. I made one of these tumblers a week ago and it works great.. I think it cost me about $12 in hardware from the local ACE hardware store. The lumber I had sitting around and also the barrel.. Easy peasy! The kids love spinning it around and around and around and around! ;)
 
The MAIN drawback, for me..........It would take a VERY long time to make a ton of compost, which I can make in 6 to 8 weeks using, multiple 3 X 3 and 4 X 4 "pallet bins". Turning that size piles is, really, not that difficult (unless you're lazy...LOL). And, probably, most compost makers suffer from OCD, when it comes to making compost (got MY hand raised) and don't mind turning the piles, in the least. The KEY, as has been stated, is proper (approximate) mixture, moisture, heat (I cover the tops of my piles with black plastic) and SMALL (ground up, crushed, shredded, ect) pieces.
 
hoodat said:
I agree with Pat. I don't get all involved with a compost pile. I just heap it up and water it once in awhile. If I feel like it I turn it now and then but if not I don't bother. Cold composting actually keeps more of the nutrients in the compost (I keep telling myself). One thing I always do though is pee in a gallon milk jug and pour it on whenever the jug gets full. If you tarp it there's no odor and even if you don't the odor lasts only a few hours. There are lots of busy critters in there that know what to do with it and it really speeds the process along.
As far as tumblers go I tried one and wasn't at all happy with it. I turned it into a soldier fly larvae habitat so I could get rid of things like fish remains and old meat without using the garbage bin. Those things really have an appetite.
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I totally agree w/ hoodat, well except for the whole urinating thing (probably works never tried it personally) but about everything else, just pile it all up and let nature take it's course, too many complicated things in life to make composting complicated!!!! I religiously add to my pile, not so religiously take care of it!!!!

I also have a tumble composter I inherited from my gma, and it is HORRIBLE at making compost but EXCELLENT at making soldier fly larvae, which isn't a bad thing if you have chickens.
 
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