How Do You 'Turn' Compost in the Compost Cone?

dogstarheaven

Have got a black one from the local council at 330l (or something like that) where the opening is at the bottom with a lid at the top. The bin is slightly cone-shaped where it tapers at the top. I'm finding it extremely difficult to turn it. As I have a tiny city garden, it's sited on a concrete path in the corner of the garden, and have no extra space to empty it out and mix it up (besides, that'll be a job and a half as it's so big!). The only way I can reach the decomposed compost this yr has been to take some out from the bottom opening, but that's dragging it out with my hands, but the bulk of the semi-decomposed waste is sitting on top, and prevents me from accessing more. Also, I'm only able to access where it's at the front and not from the sides or back...

Such a wasted buy!

I've got my male partner to save his urine several times a week in the summer to help the compost along, and it's helped enormously. But, I'm wondering how much urine can be used, esp. as the weather's cooler now.

Any advice welcome:beer:

Lotus-eater

I pull mine off completely and you are left with a lovely cone of rotting material, put the now empty composter next to it and fork into its new home.
Urine, I would slow down during the winter, in fact I don't think I use any in the winter, I don't put that much in as you have either, maybe once a week.

DogsBody

We do ours exactly as Lotus-eater says - it's a 2 man job to pull the bin up over the top (or are we just weak and feeble? )

The theory is that you do exactly as you are doing, and take the 'finished' compost out the bottom door, the stuff on top falls down and you can add more stuff on top of that - we have to use the pokey stick to 'help' the contents fall down when we take usable stuff out. If you don't have room to take the bin off the pile, stand it next to the pile and fork the material back in, can you get away with taking some out of the bottom and putting it straight back in at the top (pokey stick, everone should have one!) - while not 'proper' turning, this will help mix up the still to be composted stuff and speed it along a bit if you really have no other sensible way to do it!

Our lad stops weeing on the compost about now, unless it is very dry - we find that the lidded compost bins seem to dry out more than the open ones (obviously ), and if it's warm they can get too dry to work. Play it by ear, I guess

Datchet

Unless You can be bothered to chop EVERYTHING as it goes in - into sub one inch long ( Yawn) then they are almost impossible to "turn" from the bottom. I kick mine over and re-stack. But I appreciate that I have the room to do this, some may not. One solution is to have two heaps ( or Daleks ) and let one rot while the other fills ( again... its space)

Kay_Peel

You are doing the right thing by opening the hatch at the bottom and dragging out as much as you can by hand. You can also use a handfork to dig into the middle and sides.

I've been doing the very same thing this morning. One of my compost bins is so hemmed in (and full!) that I can't move it, so I do it by hand wearing stout rubber gloves and an old overall.

I lay down a sturdy groundsheet in front of the hatch and pull out as much as I can reach with a handfork. Every now and then I tip the contents of the groundsheet into the top of the bin and take the opportunity to mix in some hedge clippings, rotting leaves and scrunched up newspapers. If it's too dry then I put in a washing up bowl full of water.

With the other compost bins, I lift off the bin, resite it and shovel the compost back in - but guess what? - I find that hand-turning is the best way to get usable compost quickly. You are introducing a lot of air and can break up the layers and matted grass cuttings effectively. I also find that I don't have to turn the compost as often - I just give it a stir with a big stick every now and then.

So don't be down-hearted about the work involved - it really is worth it.

Good luck!

Lotus-eater

It's absolutely true, it is worth it, but it's not mandatory.

I have 2 compost heaps (actually I have 4, but only 2 of the black cone type) and I use them for kitchen waste and vermin eatable waste (I also put wire underneath them), it takes about a year to fill one up, after it keeps sinking, I also make sure I put as much paper and cardboard as possible in them, because kitchen waste is very wet.
When one has been filled up, the other is about ready, takes about a year, that's without serious turning, but I do stick the fork in now and again and mix it up a bit (if I remember), I think it's important to start off the way you mean to go on, so as soon as it gets to a foot or two in height I will start moving it around, if you wait until it's near the top, you won't be able to shift it at all.

dogstarheaven

Since it was bought around April time, the bin got v full v easily with a mixture of daily kitchen waste(excluding non-animal, cooked, dairy) and occasionally large amounts of garden green waste. Once the bin got to this stage, I'd attempt to turn it with a stick, then I'd add a thin layer of semi-decomposed leaves on top. I thought with the leaves, it'd add some compost bacterium would help it to decompose better as a way to compensate for not turning it thoroughly. Do you think that's ok as an alt. solution for my predicament?

I really don't have enough space/path to empty the contents out as I have a narrow path that's 2' wide that leads to to the bin and about 5' x 2' path to the back gate. The rest of the garden are 2 raised beds and a flower bed at ground level.

As it's Autumn now, do you think it's wise to help the compost bin by wrapping it with a protective layer like bubble-wrap/hessian? Or do you think it isn't worth it?

My partner's urine isn't going in the bin as often as it was before. I asked the question coz I was worried about the worms/bacteria in it in that it might be too 'acid' or whatever urine contains (urea) for them to stay healthy.

Laz123

I have the same bin as the OP which was given free by our council in return to attending a one hour composting course. It is difficult to extract the compost from that small opening. Twice I've had to tip the whole lot out and sift through to get the mature stuff and shovel it into a barrow, then return the rest into the bin. The important thing with composting, as already mentioned, is to include paper or cardboard into the compost which causes a chemical reaction to improve the process. I use all my shredded private papers which works a treat. It also helps to prevent identity fraud.

pcyam

dogstarheaven wrote: »

I've got my male partner to save his urine several times a week in the summer to help the compost along, and it's helped enormously. But, I'm wondering how much urine can be used, esp. as the weather's cooler now.

Any advice welcome:beer:

I was wondering why does it matter if its winter, does it react differently??

TIA

Kay_Peel

There are two kinds of composting - aerobic and anaerobic. You add urine to aerobic compost heaps but it's not a good idea to add urine to anaerobic ones.

What do I mean by that?

I do aerobic composting in summer. It just means that I have a 'hot' bin that cooks all those weed seeds and fries the waste. Once it cools down I turn it - and lo and behold it heats up again and starts cooking. I add loads of nettles and (a bit) of urine to help it heat up. After about the fourth 'turn' it no longer generates any heat - and this usually coincides with the onset of Autumn when it's time for anaerobic composting.

With anaerobic composting you just leave the heap to be colonised by worms, insects and bacteria that will break down the waste slowly over the winter months. It won't get hot - in fact it will get slimy and it will get smelly if you add urine. You'll know that you've put too much urine in when it starts to stink of ammonia.

My advice is to only add urine to hot heaps that are turned often over the summer months.

forgotmyname

So technical, I just keep chucking stuff into mine until i cannot get the lid on. After a week or 2 it goes down.

Start of next year i will remove the cone and it will be lovely compost. Anything lumpy gets chucked back in.

I never put meat in there, But tea bags, veg peelings, waste fruit, grass & bush clipping, Rhubarb leaves, Even
though the FIL says i should not put rhubarb leaves into it. I always notice a lot of ant activity after putting
rhubarb leaves in.

Maybe thats my secret, Ants.