Anyone familiar with the "automatic" indoor composter?

I am considering getting this automatic indoor composter.

http://www.naturemill.com/


1. I want to save money and not buy any more $7 compost bags. The cost of garden beds, tools, books, baby plants etc makes for expensive veggies as is.
2. Outdoor compost bins will attract rats, squirrels, roaches, roadrunners, rock lizards (huge!) etc. out in my yard which attract Texas rat snakes. need I say more?
3. I am kind of a neat freak and don't want to look at an ugly outdoor composter setup in my backyard landscape.
4. Yes, I know this thing seems expensive but tumble-type composters can be the same price.

Hope someone is familiar with this or at least agrees with me that it is worth a try.

I have seen this on-line before and thought it looked pretty neat but haven't bought one. Let us know wether it is as good as it looks if you decide to get one.

just picked up a used one on craigslist yesterday. plugged it in and 'primed it'....easy to use. quiet. there are videos on their website. but I have to be patient and wait one whole week before I can take a peek and see what's up. (this is only for the initial set up). takes all kinds of kitchen scraps, and occasionally you have to prime it with saw dust (comes with sawdust pellets) and baking soda.
fingers crossed!

Worth a try if you got it cheap enough. It looks like the half finished compost drops to the collection tray after a week to age a week in the collection tray. Basically in the video you can see the leaves and things of recently added matter drop to the collection tray. I'd guess you'll have the best luck with loading it up and letting it cook.

Hadn't heard of that concept before. Not in my league--I couldn't even re-purchase the $40 composter I've had a few years, the way my finances aren't, these days.
Would Bokashi be a solution for you, or indoor vermiculture?

Nicola, thanks for the ideas of Bokashi and vermiculture. The Bokashi composting sounds interesting, but the websites I looked at still mentioned that the almost-finished product needed to be buried in the soil to finish off decomposing. I live on rock and digging any hole in the ground is a problem, so Bokashi is not feasible as a longterm method for us. I dislike worms so Vermiculture is no good either.

I will go ahead and get a NatureMill machine and keep my fingers crossed that it works as described. Their website posts a lot of good reviews so I am hopeful.

Thanks

This looks like something I would use. Please post again when you get it as to whether or not you like it!

Yes, keep us (all) posted.

hillcountryhick wrote:. . . . . I dislike worms so Vermiculture is no good either.
. . . .

Thanks

What's not to like about worms?

I, too, would be interested to learn what you find out turkeyleg and others that try this. Does it really only take 2 weeks?

I thought my husband would "poo poo" the idea, but I was surprised the he like the thought of it. I'll be following along to hear how it works in the real world. It's something we might consider.

sounds very similar to the composting toilets.
I have a friend who was very successful with that.
I have just started the bokashi method and find it works like a charm, but then again, I have lots of burial sites.

Keep us posted as to the results... thanks

I actually found a mention of nature mill in a book on composting that I checked out from the library. I haven't finished the book yet so I don't really have any information other than to let you know the author felt it was worth mentioning... and it definitely isn't literature geared toward selling it.

I'll post if I come across anything interesting in the book regarding it.

This is something I could get interested in too. It would pay for itself fairly quickly if you are buying compost like I do. I haven't been very successful with making my own. This would be a great gift for my brother so I'm forwarding it to his wife. Can't wait to hear how it works for you.

I always like to look for product reviews through independent websites. This machine is available for purchase through Amazon.com, and though it only has eight reviews, they are all negative. Apparently it works well but not for very long:
NatureMill on Amazon

I just now ordered one online , with a couple of boxes of starter sawdust. I should know better because I am an Amazon fanatic. I never buy anything without reading Amazon reviews on it. I guess that I must be buying this because it suits my need for cleaniliness and neat gadgets....I will be putting this indoors in my laundry room, which is big enough for this and my seedstarting light set-up. I just KNOW that I would NOT be willing to have any kind of conventional tumbler or stacker composter. It would have to be far away from the house and back patio and I would run the risk of running into varmints each time I wanted to put something into it. I will let everyone here know about how it works for me. Hard to believe that its reviews by the New York Times or Popular Science ,etc....could be that wrong.....

The reviews by the New York Times and Popular Science probably aren't wrong. They probably just only used it long enough to get the first batch of finished compost. All the Amazon complaints have to do with longevity - the unit works but then starts coming apart.

I purchased an older version on craigslist for 50 bucks thinking it might be worth the gamble. The amazon reviews are all over the map, they either love it or hate it....but the ones that seem to hate it seem not to be able to follow simple instructions, or, they purchased a 'lemon' that broke down right away.
Mine is good looking, solid graphite metal in appearance and the fellow I purchased it from offered to carry it out to the car, when I went to grab an end and help him, I laughed.... it weighs nothing!! It's pretty much made out of a dense styrofoam material.
I have mine in my laundry room with my seedlings. And I can tell you thus far that it is quiet, a very slight buzz similar to a flourescent bulb...granted, it is only day 4 but zero odor zero leaks...
I followed the instructions meticulously and I believe this is the key...the long stringy kitchen waste and big ticket items go outside in my yard compost bin....this one gets the carrot peels and 'easy stuff'..I am strictly adhering to instructions, so no peeking til Sunday...at which point I will post an update!!

turkeyleg wrote:... so no peeking til Sunday...at which point I will post an update!!

Can't wait to hear your reviews. I have to start composting, but I'm learning that the house I recently moved into has bug issues.. including roaches and apparantly ants. I'm very nervous about starting a pile and increasing the population.

waiting on my NatureMill composter to be delivered. They offer $50 discount to referrals, by the way. Their website also mentions that they do not honor warranties on units bought from Ebay or Craigslist etc since these units are often overused, etc..... I'm just sayin'........
My answer as to why I dislike worms...It's gross. i mostly garden now in raised 15 to 18 inch beds so have to "hand till" in vermiculite and peat and it is gross when my gloved hands cut a worm in 2. Nastiness.....thank God it doesn't happen much because raised beds really do cut down on cutworms and other negatives. But I have to work in vermiculite and peat to get the friability and wetness just right..

The indoor composter is on the floor of my laundry room.
It made too much of a low hum to have it in the kitchen. Have already made about a shoebox full of compost in 2 days.
Cannot put bones, citrus peels, brassacas or "smelly" food, walnut shells, hair into it.
Yes, you can put "organic", paper or pine kitty litter and the POO into it, but they recommend you keep the machine outside the house then.

each time you add green ingredients, you add equivalent amount brown ingredients or sawdust and a little bit of baking soda. The sawdust pellets that came with it looks like hamster pellets or something.

So, I Do NOT have to have a little compost bucket in the kitchen. I just walk to the laundry room and clean the dinner plates out into the top of the machine.

I hope it lasts!!!! It is an awesome idea. \

Yes, it is very lightweight. basically a little motor like a slow 2 beater mixer positioned sideways. with a catch bin underneath in a drawer.

My hubby is pretty handy with electronics and mechanics and can probably change out any parts that may break. The website sells spare powercords, motors, bins, sawdust, etc. for a reasonable price.

Just wondered how this worked for you?

Virginia

Had to put it into the garage because it got a little smelly sometimes.  We like it a lot.  It makes  about 2 shoeboxes of compost every 2 weeks from left over food and a little sawdust....Our garden spent plants, insect damaged tomatoes, etc....get composted outside, sort of....I just put them at the bottom of whatever hole I happen to be digging up or they get thrown at the roots of a lawn shrub, etc....

That does not sound bad at all. Wonder if I could use regular sawdust? I work at a pine sawmill. Would a bag of dry leaves work as the brown, added through the year?

I think the instructions specify no leaves.  can't put it things that might get tangled in the 2 spinners in the machine, which is  like a sideways slow cake beater.....so banana peels get cut in 3 inch pieces, chicken raw skins, citrus peels get cut into 4 by 1 inch strips....

Yes, you can use regular sawdust.  but NOT from chemically treated wood.  would kill the bacteria in there you are trying to make your compost...  

So we have a some cedar sawdust  we use, it is temporarily being used as mulch, but I grab some and put in a small bucket to take inside...for the machine....

It is expensive. $400 or so....but it will pay for itself in a few years..Yes, you really do spend that much money on bags of compost over a few years....it is a simple machine and there are replacement parts on the website that are cheap.  

I am glad I got it.  We are BIG into recycling and I feel good that we are recycling our food we would be throwing out.  Sometimes we only have 1 or 2 bags of trash a weeks, because we recycle everything else..!