Is it worth buying a compost tumbler?

I do not understand how the tumbler would work properly. I like the old way, easily works well for us.

Absolutely everything goes in our compost and ALL the grass clippings together with ripped up cardboard and egg boxes and the contents of the paper shredder to avoid any slime. Slime indicates lack of heat and heat makes stuff compost. As I said I have been taught the theory!

As others have said don't waste your money beause they are heavy and difficult to turn and not very efficient.

Our gardener made a very simple compost bin with old pallets and string. He has three bays in a row now and the bottom halves of numbers 1 and 2 are ready to be used so he will fork out the non-composted stuff from the tops of those bays and heap that on top of bin number 3 and then we will leave all that to rot and start again in the spring with bin number 1. He likes the fact that all he has to do is undo the string holding the front and he can easily get at the contents. They are also easily moved to another site if needs be. I understand all the theory of what he is doing but lack the muscles he has.

As for accelerating the composting I have it on excellent authority that there is nothing quite like a lbottlearge of man waste no 1 to sprinkle over it all!

PS I don’t put in any grass clippings - therein lies the way to slime imo

I do exactly the same as jane and have exactly the same composter. Very successful. In fact I am going to take out a load from the bottom soon to mulch the roses, clematis and various shrubs.

Gunk goes into the top and black delicious smelling stuff comes from the bottom.

I think that’s maybe a man thing maw.
I don’t think I could manage squatting atop my compost bin though the neighbours might well be amused by my attempts

I don’t have a compost heap of any sort but I am full of admiration for serious gardeners who do ( all hail Monty Don whose compost looks superior to best roast coffee!)
However, nobody has mentioned the peeing in the compost thing yet have they?
Highly recommended on GQT on Radio 4.

I prefer Nellie's advice on compost making , much more entertaining than trying to turn those tumblers.

If you are determined to buy a tumbler there is one on the West Midlands groupon site!

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 .