I spend WAY too much time thinking about garbage

daryl.weaver 11/29/2012, 12:04 pm

Don't laugh, but I have an idea for a simple composter design using pickle buckets and an electric grill rotisserie. I saw an ad at naturemill.com for a hoity-toity expensive composter, but at $250 for the cheapest model, no thanks! But that got the old noodle turning, and here is what I came up with. What are your thoughts? Do you think it would work for quick, small-batch processing? I purchased a tumbling composter last year, but I find it takes me about 9 months to produce a batch, and I'm just not that patient.

I spend WAY too much time thinking about garbage Compos14

Please give me your thoughts before I work on a prototype.

**Kelejan** 11/29/2012, 12:25 pm

I think it looks interesting, daryl. I can follow quite well what you are trying to achieve. As you say, small batch processing. I will take some experimenting to see what is actually produced and you never know, you may have hit on a winner.

I hope to do try a prototype and let us know the results.
You could try different size mesh wires, prhaps interchangeable?

As a wormer, could you change the "tea" to leachate? Very Happy

daryl.weaver 11/29/2012, 12:53 pm

Sound silly but where do you get the worms? Will bait shop worms work? Are certain kinds better than others? Do you fish (no pun intended) them out of your compost before adding it to your beds, or dump it in worms as all?

**donnainzone5** 11/29/2012, 12:57 pm

This may also sound silly, but I once asked Mel how the worms would get into a square foot garden that had weed cloth on the bottom. He replied, "The worms will come."

He was right!

**Kelejan** 11/29/2012, 1:02 pm

daryl.weaver wrote:Sound silly but where do you get the worms? Will bait shop worms work? Are certain kinds better than others? Do you fish (no pun intended) them out of your compost before adding it to your beds, or dump it in worms as all?

I got my worms earlier this year when I discovered them in my compost due to adding manure. They are Red Wigglers, touted to be the best for production fo castings etc. Yes, I fished them out as I was sifting my compost, then I started a worm bin this August and looking to my first harvest in the New Year.
If you live in Canada I would be happy to send you some worms to start, if you cannot find any yourself.
I used to fish with my dad and brothers when I was young. I was never a girly girl. :-))

daryl.weaver 11/29/2012, 1:07 pm

donnainzone10 wrote:This may also sound silly, but I once asked Mel how the worms would get into a square foot garden that had weed cloth on the bottom. He replied, "The worms will come."

I've never seen any in my sfg beds, but that wouldn't surprise me. I don't see how they would get into my tumbling composter because it is elevated.

daryl.weaver 11/29/2012, 1:14 pm

[/quote]
I got my worms earlier this year when I discovered them in my compost due to adding manure. They are Red Wigglers, touted to be the best for production fo castings etc. Yes, I fished them out as I was sifting my compost, then I started a worm bin this August and looking to my first harvest in the New Year.
If you live in Canada I would be happy to send you some worms to start, if you cannot find any yourself.
I used to fish with my dad and brothers when I was young. I was never a girly girl. :-))[/quote]

Thank you for your sweet worm offer, but I doubt your Canadian worms would speak southern very well. I live in Mississippi. If we have nothing else here, we have bait shacks....that and single teenage mothers, but that's another story.

plantoid 11/30/2012, 5:23 pm

Just lay a pile of half done compost( with animal droppingsn and beddings is good ..very very good ) on the bare ground ( sometimes you can even use wet conctere so long as it does not get severe frostings ), wet it well ,cover it with a black poly tarp and weigh it down so it will sweat and make a bit of heat .

Leave for a few days , open up lightly water and re-cover , repeat every four or five days ..don't disturb the heap other than on /off with the tarp and adding a drop or three of water to keep it well moist but not wringing wet.

After four weeks have passed .. like as not you will have quit a few local rotting vegetable matter digesting worms in it , leave it covered for three months and they will be well established .

littlejo 11/30/2012, 7:20 pm

Hi Daryl,
If I were you, I'd figure out a way to just attach the motor to the tumbler.
If you get the contents right, and turn daily, it should take no more than 1 month.
Jo

CapeCoddess 12/1/2012, 9:20 pm

Last spring I laid down a big piece of cardboard, from a new slider door, onto the lawn to kill the grass where I want to make a new garden next year, and when I looked under it end of summer there were tons of worms under there. Altho, it's not far from my compost corner, so they may be just visiting.

CC

**Kelejan** 12/1/2012, 9:30 pm

What kind of worms, CC? Little ones, big ones.

CapeCoddess 12/1/2012, 10:16 pm

They are earth worms and red wigglers. I think they like paper and cardboard. I've been putting shredded office paper in my pile lately coz the red wigglers swarm it. So amazing.

CC

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Ah, a wormer! I have questions.

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