Calling Green Johanna Users - Should I Get One?

JustKeepSwimming_2

My council is offering subsidised Green Johannas & I'm debating whether to get one. I've read the threads about rat problems, which I think could be beaten by putting it on top of some galvanised wire. It will also be around the side of my house, which is used fairly often by myself & next door are also in & out of their house a lot, so it may be too nosiy for the blighters anyway.

Are there any other problems is using them? Do they smell? Are they "hard work"? I'd need to position it near to an established clematis & passion flower - would any leakage into the nearby soil cause any problems to the plants? I'm quite new to all this gardening malarkey, & waould hate to kill of the few plants I've got :rotfl: ,but I need to finally sort out my garden.

I would only be putting a small amount of cooked meat into it as we don't often eat meat.

I have a brown/green bin collection but it is very restrictive on what can go into it - only certain garden waste & no food stuff at all, even apple cores etc. so so I'd have a fair amount to "compost".

What do you all think? Thanks.

londonsurrey

I think it depends on where it's going to be situated. My understanding is that Green Johannas work best in a cool site (think north facing and shaded) whereas Green Cones work best in a warm site (south facing and exposed to full sun).

I've been very impressed with the Green Cone I have, so if the Green Johanna works as well as it, I'd really recommend it.

A._Badger

They're absolute rubbish! I had a standard conical bin in my previous garden and it worked well. The Green Johanna (heavily subsidised, judging by the absurd retail price of these things) that my wife was sold by our dopey council turned out to be extremely flmsy - the concentric rings being held in place by small screws. If anyone moves the bin once it's assembled those screw threads are easily damaged.

I can see no reason at all for the high price charged for these. The plastic mesh at the bottom, ostensibly to prevent in the ingress of rodents and other pests, could be just as easily achieved with mesh.

Aside from that they have nothing going for them. They are not thick enough to be well insulated, being little more than a set of just plastic rings held together by small screws,

We've had ours for three years or so and I'm itching for the chance to chuck it out and buy a decent one!

angelavdavis

I got a green cone and it was the worst thing I ever did.

I opened it up one day to dispose of my cooked leftovers and it was a mass of grey rat bodies inside! The rats had chewed through the rodent proof basket underground to get access and were nesting in there!

My OH and I then spent four months getting rid of them from the compost heaps, under the shed, dug out rat runs along our garden walls. Read this

Tried bokashi, but I didn't like the faffing about so I have chickens now, which can attract rats if you aren't careful putting the food away at the end of each day but at least you get the benefit of the eggs too.

I have also had a wormery for about 17 years which I bought from wigglywigglers. It is far more rodent proof and takes anything the chickens don't eat.