Is it worth buying a compost tumbler?

I don’t find making compost requires a lot of effort.
I have a couple of compost caddies in the kitchen and when they are full I simply go to the bottom of the garden and and empty them into one of my compost bins.
They are the sort that you put the vegetable material in the top, and when you want some compost you open the little door at the bottom and scoop the compost out.
It’s just occurred to me that perhaps that’s what you mean by a compost tumbler
But if it’s not, what is it?

Possibly, I don't know anyone who has one. Perhaps buy one and let us know. Also there are those fast composting bins but they are expensive. I wondered about a solar panel heater going in to the compost to heat it up. But don't know enough to experiment with that.

I did have one a long time ago, I found it very heavy to turn. It may be that things have improved mechanically but to be honest I would say don’t bother. One of those handy gadgets that isn’t much better than the old fashioned way!

I came across them on a website the other day (this one: www.henchman.co.uk/products/compost-tumbler-range.html) so I've started reading about them... They're not exactly cheap on other websites like Argos either so I need to do more research I think

I’ve seen these and I don’t know if they would generate enough heat to rot the compost down. You could only put a certain amount of material in there or you surely wouldn’t be able to turn it. Even with a good accelerator you still need some heat to build up. I suppose they must be tried and tested. Last year we cleared a large area of shrubbery in our garden and found a plastic compost bin full of garden waste. It predated us and we had lived here six years, and still some of the material was in an unrotted state. I assumed because it hadn’t had the sun on it.

This is the one I have . It's a Blackwall Compost Converter and we got ours through Northumberland County Council, but you can get them elsewhere. I think ours cost about £30
It seems to make the compost quite quickly with very little effort.

That’s like the one that was in the shrubbery.

I had one exactly like that when we lived in London jane, but the contents never really seemed to break down properly despite using an accelerator and turning it regularly etc. It was in a shady corner, maybe that’s why? My northern garden gets much more sun however the places it would be least intrusive are shady and my previous experience puts me off having another one. My dad always did it successfully, it feels like something that should be easy to do!

Mine is in a shady corner, hidden behind a hedge.
I never turn the compost. Sometimes I stir the top layer a bit when I put new stuff in.
I think a lot depends what you put in. Mine is mainly kitchen waste - fruit skins, vegetable peelings and so on. I’m careful about what garden waste I put in - I don’t put twigs or hard stems in, and I bag up leaves separately and only put them in when they’re already quite rotted, because they do take a long time to compost.
I put worms in too and get great satisfaction from taking the lid off and seeing a seething mass of little red bodies making my compost for me

yes have had one for years
its a cylinder on its side in a rack.fill the top grab handles and spin.a bit of muscle needed but worth not having to shovel turn .

My DH is really keen to buy one so I will watch this with interest

I really think the round plastic ones are best that you can usually buy cheaply from the council. I like to have 2 side by side. I don't use the little slider at the base but pull the whole thing off then shovel the compost on the garden.
I don't find the wooden ones heat up much.

I will be teaching some grans to suck eggs when I say that to get proper heat build up in compost, you need a large heap, or, preferably two, side by side, so that one can be turned into the other periodically. As loopy says, small wooden compost containers don’t generate the heat necessary to rot down the material properly. The bigger plastic bins do work pretty well, but the smaller ones don’t, and I can’t think how the tumblers generate any heat at all, but someone will no doubt come along and put me right on that.

Yes read some research somewhere that said the size of the heap was the crucial factor. I am still working on the most manageable system. Someone at the allotments has a row of about 6 large plastic bins. I am wondering about having a solar mat that heats up water and threading the pipes through the compost heap.

My husband was given one of these compost tumblers by a fellow allotment holder. Complete waste of space, so glad we didn't pay for it. Turning the bin turned everything upside down but didn't mix it up as we'd misguidedly expected. Nor did it cascade down to the bottom of the bin. It stuck to the walls at the bottom (which made it top heavy when we turned it) and the whole thing turned back the way it was before. The bin mustn't be filled too much - if that happens the weight makes it impossible to turn. We didn't have any compost from it, just a nasty mess and lots of black flies.

Apparently adding coffee to bins makes the compost heat up and keeping the heap wet. I wonder if pouring water from the kettle is good. Am tempted to buy a compost thermometer. Also would wrapping bubble wrap round help retain heat.
You can see I have too much spare time!

Definitely a waste of money. I have had one for 5 years and it is so hard to spin it and with no wheels, it is too hard to move.

No don't waste your money. I had one thinking it would make composting easier. It was too heavy for me, and my DH had trouble too. What a disappointment.

Years ago I bought a double cubic metre compost bin. I have quite a lot of lawn and all our garden waste goes in . It does heat up well and OH digs out the filled and matured one and puts that into a dustbin s to dig out and used as needed. This method would only work in a bigger garden. I cannot see how the tumbler types can work properly.
Last summer my compost heap reached 76C. Ours is never crumbly but it does smell sweet. Which avid composters will understand.

Friends had one with similar disappointment. Too heavy to turn etc. I have two of the large plastic council ones and they are very effective, although in shade. I have never added those little red worms, they just seem to find their way in.

Mine is same as jeans from northumberland CC. What however is a tumbler. My worm pals do mine and the occasional rat

We bought one to avoid attracting rats into the compost converter in the photograph up thread. I found it much too heavy and it didn’t work as efficiently as our traditional compost maker. We gifted it to someone and have stayed with the original. We haven’t had rats either thankfully

There is an art to compost making.
Try dancing widdershins and naked around the heap on the first of May at sunrise.

Or preferably Google a few gardening sites and take their advice. It needs a proper balance of material and moisture to get it working well.

nellie
I always thought of you as a scientific sort of person