Composting tumbler bins

[Djones]

Who has one and why would you buy it again?

I have 6 hens, so there’s so poop and straw, and occasionally a night’s worth of horse manure and shavings. I think a tumbler would be all I need to compost our kitchen scraps. A compost pile won’t work for me for a few reasons.

Who has one (a tumbler) and why do you like it or hate it?

[S1969]

I don’t have one, but I’ll tell you why some people hate them. If you want to use it for garden soil, you have to stop adding to it at some point and just tumble it. So it almost requires that you have two of them, because what will you do with your other compost while you wait for what is added to one of them to break down.

Otherwise you can’t separate out the old compost that is ready to use, from the new compost that just got added last week – meaning you are putting raw manure or half a tomato into your garden.

I have the kind that you add at the top and take out from the bottom. You can’t tumble it, so it can take a while if you fill it with new compost. But, on the other hand, once you have usable compost at the bottom, you can continue to add compost to the bin.

Pros and cons of both.

[luvmyhackney]

Had a tumbler and sold it for this: https://www.burpee.com/aerobin-400-insulated-composter-prod099964.html

I was in a townhouse and needed something that blended with the trash cans. It worked pretty well.

[Djones]

I am looking at tumblers with side by side bins for this reason, for sure!

[clanter]

unless I knew the source of hay used to feed the horses and how it was grown I would not compost the manure for use in gardening

Many farmers and home gardeners have reported damage to vegetable and flower crops after applying horse or livestock manure, compost, hay or grass clippings to the soil.

Herbicide carryover in hay, manure, compost and grass clippings

[Djones]

Yes I am well aware of that issue.

[Bicoastal]

My experience is along the lines of what @Bluey said. I filled it quickly and there it sits. And tumbles. And sits. And gets watered and tumbled. And sits. I can’t add new material to it. I regret it.

[ReSomething]

The wheelbarrow wouldn’t fit into the framework so we could unload either one of the two compartments easily, then a raccoon broke the latch on one and finally the cranking mechanism developed a crack. That was my original style mantis compostumbler. (I think it was a mantis) very nice thing otherwise. Made nice compost but basically it’s just a pile now, that I have to bail out…

[CanteringCarrot]

I’m quite happy with my tumbler. It is divided and one side is actively added to while the other is resting. I’ve been surprised by how much I can fit in there and how quickly it breaks down. You have to make sure you’re tumbling it for long enough and frequently enough. I’ve never watered it?

I have six hens (kept on hemp straw), various kitchen scraps, and misc bits of yard/garden waste. It’s been quite suitable for my needs. The bonus is that the dogs can’t get into it!